This week Miriam O'Callaghan meets comedian Dara O Briain and political editor of the Sunday Business Post, Pat Leahy. Both men have been friends since their college days in UCD. They keep in touch even though Dara now lives in London, especially with a regular meeting every year on the Sunday of the All Ireland Hurling Final - hurling is a shared passion.

They first met in UCD, debating in the L and H. Dara, a shy teenager, only started debating in second year and became an instant star. Dara describes how he told his first joke at an L and H debate and how the adrenalin spike he experienced lead him to his current career as a comedian.

Pat and Dara founded the University Observer in UCD, a newspaper for the community there. Dara explains how Pat always had an excellent nose for a story and how the stories that were picked up by the national newspapers gave him his first real experience of journalism. Dara had gone to UCD to become a scientist, Pat a lawyer. But by experimenting in different things, Pat discovered an interest and ability for journalism while Dara discovered performance.

Both Dara and Pat are small town boys and describe their desire as young men to get away from all of that. They ended up sharing a house in Dublin for many years which became a place for great parties.

Both men turn forty this month. They don't think this is a particularly momentous moment - when you realise that you will never play in an AllIreland Final, that is a significant moment for men. Both have accepted this reality now.

Pat describes the challenge of working for a national newspaper in these challenging times while Dara discusses being Irish in England.

Their music choices were:
Pulp - Disco 2000
Mozart - Sull' aria from Act Three The Marriage of Figaro
Manic Street Preachers - If you tolerate this your children will be next

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About Miriam

Miriam O'Callaghan was born and raised in Dublin. She qualified as a solicitor before beginning her broadcasting career on ITV's This is your Life. She joined the BBC as a producer in 1987 and went on to become a reporter on BBC2's Newsnight.

In the early '90s Miriam returned to Ireland to present RTÉ's current-affairs flagship programme Prime Time, while continuing to cover the Northern Irish peace process for Newsnight.

In August 2000, Miriam co-founded Mint Productions, an independent production company that specialises in documentary and which won Best Documentary Series for Bertie at the 2009 Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs).

Unusually for a current affairs presenter, Miriam was voted Best TV Personality at the IFTAs in 2003. To her surprise, she won the RTÉ Guide Style Award at the 2007 IFTAs following another public vote.

Outside of her work on Prime Time, Miriam presents her own chat show on RTÉ One, Saturday Night with Miriam, during the summer and supports a large number of charitable causes throughout the year.