Claudia O'Doherty: "Sharks are the opposite of pandas"

A few choice words that have previously been used to describe Claudia O’Doherty; bonkers, quirky, imaginative, loveable, captivating, and er, ‘out and out freak’ – in a good way, of course. Add to that sweet, charming, and enthusiastic and you’re pretty much there.

A member of established sketch troupe Pig Island, O’Doherty toured her debut solo show Monster of the Deep 3D in 2009, and the awards piled high at both Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals. This year’s What is Soil Erosion?, despite being named for what O’Doherty herself calls “the most boring topic in the world”, enchanted audiences and critics alike; whether or not anyone came out any wiser about soil is beside the point.

You might not think, with all that going on, that O’Doherty could possibly be a world authority on pandas. Well, you’d be right. But she, David O’Doherty (surname coincidence) and image maestro Mike Ahern combined forces to write the definite guide to pandas in 2009's book 100 Facts About Pandas.

Being based as far away as possible from your co-authors could make collaboration difficult, but the distance between Ireland and Australia is no trouble for this super group. Working mainly over Skype, the O’Dohertys generate facts , then send them on to Ahern who comes up with pictures that make the facts even better. Or in O’Doherty’s words, “David and I would think of something stupid and Mike would do an amazing picture.”

And now they’re back, with some not-necessarily-facts about sharks, in – you’ve guessed it - 100 Facts About Sharks. “Even when we had the panda idea I think we always thought that it could be a series, so why not?” O’Doherty laughs. “Writing books is easy, why not write a series of books, right?”

As for the somewhat unusual journey from panda to shark, O’Doherty explains it quite simply; “Pandas just seemed a good place to start. They’re so cute. And then sharks seemed like a good thing to do after that because they’re kind of the opposite of pandas.”

This is not the first time sharks have made an appearance through her career – notably the mask from Monster of the Deep 3D. There seems to be a sea theme at play. “It’s true, it does seem that way! I do love the sea. Sharks are so scary and amazing, Jaws is an incredible movie, and the aquarium is kind of my favourite place. I think I might be at the end of that phase, though.”

Saying goodbye over the crackles that live in the wires between the UK and Australia, I ask for a quick piece of trivia to keep in the pub quiz arsenal. This fact I give to you; Actor Nicholas Cage’s middle name is ‘Shark’.

Fact.

Some important facts about Sharks:

9. The rarest shark of all is the fax machine shark. They were a lot more common during the 1990s, but the internet has had some effect on their numbers.

14 On the Greek island of Corfu, Christmas presents are delivered not by Santa Claus, but by Ozzie, the Great White Shark of Generosity.

72. Whale sharks have an airtight stomach, meaning that, when out of water, the animals may be inflated to ten times their already enormous size. They were commonly used in airship construction in the early part of the last century.