Interview: Ed Byrne
2:14pm Friday 28th August 2009 in Interviews
Interview: Ed Byrne
Comedian Ed Byrne is a familiar face on TV thanks to his appearances on shows such as Mock The Week, Have I Got News for You, Head On Comedy and the sitcom Sam’s Game.
The 37-year-old Irishman will perform his latest stand-up show Different Class in London’s West End from September before heading out on a national tour, including a date at King George's Hall, Blackburn, on November 15. A DVD of the show will be released on November 23.
IS THE TOUR KEEPING YOU BUSY? Yes, I kick off in September in the West End for a few weeks, and then in November, I tour it again for another month or so. It’s weird – I did Edinburgh with it last year, and then toured it in the autumn, and it sold out really quickly, so we put on more dates, and they all sold-out, so now we’re just mopping up. People just keep buying tickets, and we keep expanding the venues.
HAS ITS SUCCESS TAKEN YOU BY SURPRISE? I had a fairly steady rise from the time I started in the early 1990s, until around 1999, when it plateaued. Then I did a tour of quite large venues in 2002, and they were just way too big. The sort of venues I’m doing now and filling, I tried to do then – and didn’t. It was soul-destroying, playing to 200 people in a 1,200 – seater venue, and so I was very cautious for that never to happen again, because it nearly made me want to just give up. So the last couple of tours I’ve done, we’ve been a bit more cautious about the size of the venue, and then we just suddenly decided to re-engage with it, and there seems to be an audience out there that maybe wasn’t there seven years ago. It seems to have coincided with an increase in profile, I suppose, from doing more Mock The Week and Live At The Apollo.
WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT FROM DIFFERENT CLASS? There’s sort of a running theme about class, and how I come from a family that isn’t one or the other, not working-class or middle-class. I don’t identify with either, so feel quite happy to take pot-shots at both. It’s really about not belonging – I also do stuff about not being famous, but not being a nobody either. There’s also just a lot of stuff about whatever has occurred to me in the last couple of years. There’s a good half-hour about getting married.
DO YOU LIKE TO DRAW ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES? I do, and it’s something I’ve always done. I’m not saying I’m dubious, but I always find it odd when you see a comic and they’re doing jokes about how they can’t get a girlfriend, and you’re like, ‘But you’re married!’. If I’m going out with somebody, I’ll say that I am. If I’ve broken up with somebody, I’ll talk about it, and if I’ve just got married, then it’s jokes about that.
DO YOU RUN THE MATERIAL PAST YOUR WIFE FIRST? I think she pretty much accepts it – I don’t say anything particularly harsh. Anything I say is basically the truth, l For tickets to see the show at King George's Hall, Blackburn, call box office on 0844 8471664
