Desmond O'Connor (cabaret performer)

Des O'Connor was a member of the Cambridge Footlights at the same time as Mitchell and Webb, John Oliver, Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness.^[1] After a year away from Cambridge, he became musical director of the Footlights at the invitation of David Mitchell.^[1] At one point, O'Connor was a Latin teacher.^[1] In 2010, he was a presenter for MTV UK at Bestival and The Big Chill.^[2] In 2009, he was a composer, lyricist and musical director of Scott Mills The Musical for BBC Radio 1, working alongside co-writer Emlyn Dodd and director Patrick Wilde.^{[citation needed]} Wilde directed the musical Failed States, written by O'Connor and Andrew Taylor, which won Best Book and Best Lyrics in the MTM UK musical theatre awards in Edinburgh in 2006.^{[citation needed]} Failed States was revived this year^[when?] for a run at St James' Theatre, London and at Latitude Festival, 2015, to mark the 10-year anniversary of the London bombings.^{[citation needed]} He and Taylor also wrote the musical Toxic Bankers, which enjoyed an extended run at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2011.^{[citation needed]}

O'Connor produced and starred in And the Devil May Drag You Under and Desmorphia which showed at the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2009 and 2010 respectively.^[3][4] And the Devil May Drag You Under has also played in Berlin and at Latitude Festival.^{[citation needed]} O'Connor has made regular^{[examples needed]} club and festival performances in London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin and New York, and at the New York Burlesque Festival 2008.^{[5][failed verification]} He has a growing and loyal fan base.^{[5][failed verification]}

In 2008, he was co-producer of the Ministry of Burlesque's High Tease during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket in December.^{[citation needed]} In September of that year, he produced Fallen Angels with Julie-Ann Laidlaw, a show that has been subsequently produced in Berlin.^{[citation needed]} With Laidlaw, O'Connor created and produced Vive le Cabaret at the Pleasance during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010, which won Best Cabaret in the "Edinburgh Spotlight" awards.^{[citation needed]}