Previously a lead writer for such shows as Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You, he is now best known as a comic author for such books such as The Man Who Forgot His Wife and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain.
[4] He wrote the musical Just for One Day based on the story of the 1985 benefit concert Live Aid which had its world premiere at The Old Vic in London on 13 February 2024.
He attended classes at the Redroofs Theatre School and played Christopher Robin in the West End at the age of ten, before appearing in the horror film From Beyond the Grave with Diana Dors and Donald Pleasence, and the BBC Children's TV series Jumbo Spencer in 1976.
[6] O'Farrell moved to London in 1985, winning a talent competition at Jongleurs in Battersea, but gave up stand up-comedy in favour of comedy writing.
[7] After attending the open meetings for Radio 4's Week Ending he formed a writing partnership with Mark Burton[8] and they soon became lead writers on the show.
[4] The stage musical, also titled Mrs. Doubtfire premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington and opened on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in December 2021.
[15] On 2 October 2023, it was announced that John O'Farrell had written a musical based around Live Aid which was to have its world premiere at The Old Vic in London on 13 February 2024, following previews from 26 January, running until 30 March.
Two further novels followed, This Is Your Life and May Contain Nuts, the latter of which was nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and adapted for ITV by his former co-writer Mark Burton and starred Shirley Henderson and Darren Boyd.
[11][19] In 2007, he returned to non-fiction with the publication of An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge which was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week and went on to sell over 250,000 copies.
[20] O'Farrell has contributed short stories and non-fiction pieces to a number of charity collections: Nick Hornby's Speaking with the Angel,[21] Magic,[22] Mums, Dads and Being British edited by Gordon Brown.
In November 2015, he published his fifth novel There's Only Two David Beckhams described as a football fantasy set at the Qatar World Cup in 2022, which earned him his third nomination for the Wodehouse Award.
[26] O'Farrell has sold over 1 million books in the UK, and his novels have been translated into over 30 languages, including a Japanese manga edition of The Best a Man Can Get.
After O'Farrell's radio programme The Grand Masquerade on the Kit Williams 1979 treasure hunt book, the golden hare resurfaced, 20 years after it had disappeared.
Other TV appearances and radio broadcasts, include Crime Team, What the Papers Say, The News Quiz, Heresy, Quote Unquote, The Wright Stuff, The Daily Politics, What the Dickens, The 11 O'Clock Show, We've Been Here Before, Clive Anderson's Chat Room and Loose Ends.
In September 2006, O'Farrell launched Britain's first daily news satire website, NewsBiscuit, to create a new outlet for British comedy on the internet.
[41] On the death of Margaret Thatcher, O'Farrell led calls for Labour supporters to put their hatred behind them, and to donate to those who suffered under her rule.
She was the production assistant who had to sit on stage beside Humphrey Lyttelton during I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, and O'Farrell joked "I married the lovely Samantha!