Massive latex hands, reality TV and Michael McIntyre's bum: Emma McAlpine talks to the biggest-selling comic of the Edinburgh Festival.
Having just returned from a seven week tour of Australia; performing at the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals, Jason Byrne is still on the road. This time however, he’s driving around the Irish countryside with his three-year-old son in the car: “If he goes mental we’ll just reschedule the interview but I think he’s 40 seconds from falling asleep.” Byrne moved to the outskirts of Dublin a few years ago and used his fear of rural life (particularly its creatures) as material for one of his shows. So how is he coping with it now? “I’ve got used to it. I’ve now realised after two and a half years here that you don’t die that easy and most of the animals are terrified of you. The noises are them either having sex or being killed.”
In fact, Byrne seems more than comfortable living in the countryside, even stopping to speak to his local postie at one point: “Hi Katherine! Have you got anything for me today? All I wanted is money! Right go’wan.” In a scenario that could well have come straight out of Father Ted (which Byrne once appeared in as a referee), he explains that his local post office has just shut down so all the post gets delivered to the postmaster’s house: “But she knows all the names of the people in the village so it’s no problem.”
Recently, Byrne has been performing the bulk of his Edinburgh show in Australia and it sounds like the Aussies are loving his style: “We did 800 seats a night for three nights in Brisbane then a couple of 1400-seaters in Sydney. Next year I’m doing three months and putting the kids in school over here. An Australian mate of mine actually said to me: “We’ve got loads of circus kids out here, they’ll be fine. Can you believe that?!”
One of Byrne’s most impressive skills on stage is developing a strong chemistry with his audience. An inexhaustible ball of Irish energy, his shows often descend into madness as he gets the crowd involved with all sorts of crazy stunts and conversations. During one gig I attended, he got the audience to steal something during the break and bring it back on stage before the second half. When he returned, he was met with a sofa, a shopping trolley and a security radio.
Recently he tells me he encountered a group of mathematicians in the front row and asked them how many they were.
“They couldn’t count each other and there were only seven of them. Then I found out they worked for the government and it just got madder and madder. Eventually a girl arrived and sat with them and it turned out she was a mathematician too. There were meant to be eight of them which is why they were all so confused!”
While a lot of his shows can appear predominantly improvised, Byrne says that “about 80% is scripted. It’s just not fair to do it to an audience who are paying money otherwise! To make the show solid there has to be an even keel.” I’ve always assumed that, like a lot of stand-ups, most of his material is wildly exaggerated or made-up but he insists:
“All my stories come from fact; I don’t feel great telling a story that hasn’t happened. I think that’s why I do stand-up because the shit that happens to me all the time is unbelievable! If I go into Dublin city centre and I have to collect something simple or buy something - it’ll just turn into fookin’ mayhem.”
I find out more about his Edinburgh show then I’m expecting. This year there will be even sillier props and a bit of technological dabbling: “I’ve got massive latex hands with 10 ft pools attached and mikes in the palms of the hands. I will be able to whack latecomers into their seats and people can speak into them. It’s all technology this year. I’m using a projector showing some pictures of me as a kid with a lazy eye looking horrendous and I’m planning on using the internet as well. Expect pictures from the past and mad latex gloves basically.”
For many comedians, the Edinburgh Fringe can be an exhausting, soul-destroying and highly expensive time of year. Not so for Byrne. After taking part in a reality TV show called Edinburgh or Bust in 1998, where he was told: “this could be really good for you or really bad for you depending on how good you are at the festival”, he stormed it and has sold out at every Festival since, not to mention being the top-selling comic there for the last two years. So is he in danger of becoming the Michael McIntyre of the Fringe? “Ha ha, I suppose I am! But my bum isn’t as weird as Michael’s. He’s got a big weird bum.”
Jason Byrne will be at Leicester Square Theatre from Tuesday 28th-Saturday 2nd October
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