Crowd pleaser Ed Byrne is embracing life as a forty-something as he brings his show to Courier country this week.
The Irish comic’s latest offering, Roaring Forties, is touring the UK after a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and tonight he arrives in Perth.
Although looking forward to meeting the locals, Byrne is hoping not to be mistaken for Sarah Millican this time.
Two years ago, he turned up at Perth Theatre for his Crowd Pleaser gig only to find fans of the comedienne had turned up a year early.
He told The Courier: “I remember the last time I was in Perth they had to turn people away who had shown up for the Sarah Millican gig that was due to take place on the same night, a year later!
“I always have a great time there. The audiences are always very responsive.”.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
The past few years have been busy for the 41-year-old. As well as becoming a father of two, he is now a familiar face on television, appearing on shows including BBC2’s Mock the Week and Have I got News for You. He also did an adrenaline-fuelled turn on World’s Most Dangerous Roads, when he took on some treacherous terrain in Siberia behind the wheel of a 4×4.
But having survived the freezing wilderness, the real danger lurked at home in his garden, where he gave himself a hernia moving a compost bin. He has since undergone surgery and is back hillwalking and enjoying the outdoors.
As for the show, Byrne turns to his home life for inspiration.
He said: “The show, like all my shows, is a synopsis of what I’ve been up to in the past two years. Turning 40 and having a second child are two of those things and so they get quite a big look in. The way I deal with getting older is I’ve started acting like a child more often because, I think, the older you get, the more latitude you have to be daft. I know that seems like an odd point of view.
“The thing is, when you’re young, people don’t take you seriously so you have to act more seriously to get respect or to be listened to. When you’re older, you can act like a loon and people have to figure out a way to deal with you.
“The show is evolving all the time. There’s always new bits being added, old bits getting dropped and constant tinkering taking place.”
Asked if he could see himself touring in 20 years’ time, he added: “Yes I can. I would hope I won’t have to but will do it for fun.”
Faced with getting older, Byrne said he is not threatened by up-and-coming young comedians.
“I’ve seen a lot of new, young guys that I really like. I like James Acaster and Daniel Sloss for instance. A lot of them seem to spend a lot more time on their hair than we ever did when I was on the circuit, but apart from that I don’t feel any great sense of ‘us and them’.”
As for the future, there has been talk of a sitcom, but Byrne said it was just something he’d been “tinkering away” on.
“It’s set in a shop that sells outdoor gear. That’s about it.”
Byrne is appearing at Perth Concert Hall on September 26 (call 01738 621031 for tickets and information) and September 27 at Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre (01383 740384). See edbyrne.com for more information.