Conal O Mianain, 15 Jun
The Essex-based funnyman, originally from Swords, spoke to Derry News
about his upcoming show, in Millenium Forum on June 20. Byrne outlined
how, on paper, the show, titled 'Tragedy Plus Time' 'sounds terrible'
but that the subject matter, the death of his brother Paul, 'is a
surprisingly fertile subject for comedy'.
“I think the hardest thing about this show has been selling it in
interviews! On paper, it sounds terrible. Essentially, it’s about
dealing with death; specifically, dealing with the death of my brother,
Paul, who died a couple of years ago now. He was a comedy writer and
director, he worked with a lot of comedians, helping them build their
shows.
“As I joke about on the show, he would have wanted me to joke about his
death and turn it into a one person comedy show, so if you don’t laugh
at this, you’re the one disrespecting the dead! That’s the sort of
emotional blackmail I put on the audience. But it is a surprisingly
fertile subject for comedy. Funny stuff does seem to happen around
funerals and death; when emotions are running so high, where weirdest,
most incongruous things can actually become incredibly funny.
“I am very curious to know how this show will be received in Ireland,
Derry is going to be the first Irish day of this tour. I’ve done it
already all over Australia as well as Scotland, England and Wales,
where it’s been great, very well received and well reviewed and all
that. A lot of people are coming to the show and I think at first
they’re a bit like ‘oh really, is this what it’s going to be about?’
but they do seem to go away happy?! At the end of the day, it does try
and have a life affirming message. It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s
also about making sure you connect with people while they’re still
about.
“I don’t know how healthy it is to be talking about my brother every
night but I do know that when I stop doing this show, it’ll be like
another goodbye, you know?
“I don’t know that I would have been able to have written this show if
I was new to comedy. I’d never previously set out to write a show that
was anything other than funny, so it’s a new sort of thing - it’s kind
of a departure for me to do a show that’s got some serious bits in it,
or you know, has moments that makes the audience sad. It’s not
something I’d ever considered wanting to do. It’s not a new thing in
comedy or anything, you see it in sitcoms, like M*A*S*H, Scrubs and
even Ted Lasso. The idea of having a sad moment to be then punctuated
by a laugh, it’s not an unheard of thing, but it’s very new for me to
be doing in my stand up. I guess, quite perversely, I am enjoying that
change.
Ed also spoke about his appreciation of 'Derry Girls', having
previously replied to the hit sitcoms writer, Derry woman Lisa McGee on
X (Twitter), saying the best piece of advice he was ever given was to
watch Derry Girls: “Look at Derry Girls, that’s the perfect example of
a show that has serious moment’s in it and adds levity to it. That's a
perfect example of what I am talking about, about how in dark times,
the best thing to do is just laugh at the ridiculousness of things.”
The last time Ed Byrne visited Derry was for his ‘Outside Looking In’
tour in 2016. His #preshowpint wasn’t documented then like it is now on
his social media pages, and when asked about the pre-show ritual, Ed
asked for some recommendations for Derry pubs.
Keep an eye on his socials to see where he decided on. Tickets for the
June 20 Millenium Forum gig are still available at £29 and can be
purchased in the Millenium Forum Box Office or online at
https://www.millenniumforum.co.uk/