Jason Byrne: teachers told me I was a dreamer - as if that’s a bad thing!
No-one does crowd work quite like Jason Byrne. Sit in the front row, or within his line of vision, and there is every chance you will end up on stage for one of madcap finales.
Resistance is futile - in full flight, the Irish comedian is unstoppable, and he almost always finds comedy gold among his audiences.
Byrne’s latest show, ‘Head In The Clouds’ was another huge hit at the Edinburgh Festival, and now he is touring it across the UK with a date at the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline on November 22.
On the road since the beginning of September, the comedian is looking forward to a more stress-free journey to the Kingdom.
“My memory of Dunfermline last year was nearly not making it to the gig!” he said. “I was in Stockton the night before and stayed at a friend’s house in the country up in the hills, and there was heavy snow through the night .We had to be dug out to get away in the morning. It was like something out of a movie - I swear the storm chased us to Dunfermline, and we were driving this Peugeot that I don’t think had seen snow it its life before. I thought we’d end up in a ditch or just not make it.”
Byrne did get there in time, and his abiding image of the west Fife venue is of it silent and empty before the doors opened.
“It was so beautiful empty,” he said. “It reminded me of the Isle of Man venue where we started this tour. It’s the only place I’ve seen with a bar at the back too!”
Byrne’s stand-up is a whirlwind, and packed with laughs from the very moment he hits the stage.
Three decades at the Fringe have made him one of its biggest names- easily selling out one of its biggest venues every night, as well as hosting the Assembly Gala preview, and also turning his hand to drama in the touching, personal tribute to his late father in this one-man show, Paddy Lama.
If the comedian from Ballinteer, Dublin, has a second home, then it’s Edinburgh.
“When you go the Fringe for four weeks the show becomes very Scottish,” He said. “Then when I go to England on tour, part of the act I just can’t do because it’s too Scots.
“The festival is brilliant - next year is my 30th year there. The connections you make are incredible and it creates so much - you can never let it go.
“My only complaint is we need the council to sort our accommodation costs for acts. They have lots of university halls of residence, let young acts in there and don’t charge them! What is happening now is a lot of acts doing just two weeks instead of the full four and they are missing out on so much. I'd love to have a big top in the Meadows, open it up and let all young acts in to perform for free … but someone would find a way of charging me!”
Byrne describes his ‘Head In The Clouds’ tour as “packed with all the madness and magic my chaotic brain can conjure up.”
“My teachers told me I was a dreamer - as it that’s a bad thing,” he laughed. “The best way to explain it is I’m starting to enjoy comedy again. I had six seven years of health issues and getting divorced, and getting through gigs. That was difficult. I feel I am really back to me old self.
“And audiences are always such fun. Don’t think about money, conflict, relationships - just come and have a laugh and enjoy! The great thing about this show is everyone leaves really happy.”
> Jason Byrne: Heads In The Clouds, Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, November 22 - tickets at https://alhambradunfermline.com/event/jason-byrne-head-in-the-clouds/