Byrne is wrecked but ready to bring his hit Fringe show to Fife

Jason Byrne is bringing his new show to the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline on September 28.

After 23 consecutive years of touring, Jason is ‘wrecked’ but he is as ever ‘ready’, to entertain his fans.

The past year in particular has been extremely testing for the Irish comedian, but despite that, he’s waiting to spill it out on stage.

No one show is ever the same, so expect all the usual spontaneous Jason mayhem. Speaking to the Press from a deck-chair in Leicester Square, he explained what audiences can expect from his performance: “Just a terrible show that isn’t funny at all!

“No, seriously, I love the Alhambra - everyone loves that theatre! And my gigs are like a little religion, like a church, because I have the same people who come back every year. They also bring their mates.

“So the first half of the show is usually me working out who was here the year before. They want me to say hello to them and I start talking and they go ‘eh you forgot about Johnny who is over there, remember?’

“They remember the gig, but there are loads of gigs in different parts of the country so it is hard for me to remember all of them,” he said.

You may also be interested in:

Get on your bike for Kirkcaldy Cycling Festival

In pictures winners at Kirkcaldy Half Marathon

Fife nurse’s mountainous challenge for CHAS

“I will have done Edinburgh so there will be lots of local Scottish news I will be bringing, especially if it is a Scottish gig.

“I get people up on stage - I had great people up there last year and I always have a new stunt for them to join in with.

“All I will say is that this year it involves people in boxes and mini trampolines. I then have all the pre-written stand up and the improv from talking to the audience and as I said, that theatre is just great.”

He said gigging for the Scots is always fun: “I am from a working class background in Ireland and they are very similar.

“I talk about, in this show, my dad who is 80 years of age and I talk about him trying to cope with the modern world.

“The way he can’t be racist anymore or sexist anymore and he is trying to deal with transgender and who’s who and who’s what and it is hilarious.”

Jason continued: “He has been a bottomless well of stand-up, so my mum and my dad get it quite a lot.

“And then I have other stories of me.

“I am a year and a half separated so it is all stories of me trying to cook on my own and trying to live on my own without the noise of my children or dogs, so it’s all quite funny - don’t worry it’s not miserable!”

He said his family provide him with a lot of material, particularly his mum and dad.

He also uses local news and information in his routines: “I ask the audience what is going on and they tell me what is happening like if there is a local politician they hate for example.

“I think I was in Scotland actually and there was a mayor of the city who was in the gig and people were moaning about really expensive parking in the local paper and I went who is in charge of that?

“And someone went the mayor! and then someone went - he’s here! He wouldn’t shout out where he was and by the second half of the show he had left. That was quite funny. I will always talk about stuff that is happening in a particular town or city I have a show in.”

He revealed why he decided to name the show ‘Wrecked but Ready’: “It is all about me splitting up and having a tough year,” he explained.

“But it’s been a mixed year because I have written my second children’s book, I was a judge in Ireland’s Got Talent, I was doing TV stuff and doing all this while going through a separation, so that’s why it’s wrecked but ready - half of me is ok while the other half is me wearing underpants.”

Jason said he enjoys writing children’s books: “It isn’t easy though! You have to keep a child’s interest in a book,” he said.

“As my eldest said: you can’t patronise them, you have to make sure you know they aren’t that old, so you know they aren’t that young, you have to make sure it’s children’s humour, don’t put in adult humour, don’t put in childish humour!

“I would describe writing children’s books is like a maths equation. It’s not easy at all but it’s great.”

Jason revealed where his inspiration to be a stand-up comedian came from: “The first ever stand up show I went to was Billy Connelly. I was 17. I actually owe Billy Connelly a ticket because I snuck in!

“It was over 18s and it was the Olympia Theatre and me and my mate knew that when everybody went into the venue and the show started, no-one is at the door.

“So we snuck in after everyone had gone in, past the box office and up into the boxes. They were always open.

“People won’t pay for those tickets. So we went up there and watched Billy Connolly. We saw the show and I remember saying to my mate I would never do that. Never ever would I do that. I had total respect for Billy, he was amazing. I was crying laughing at him. There are only about five comedians I have cried laughing at and he is the top comic.

“I was asked to host a local charity show in aid of nurses going to Romania to look after AIDS babies and I was asked to MC it when I was 21. That was really hard.

“I absolutely hated it and after that I said I am never doing that again, and then I was 23-24 and I was at a comedy club in Ireland and I entered a joke competition and I won it. Then my mate said to the host - Jason would love to do some comedy and the host then gave me five open slots so I had to do it! I went alright I will try it.”

He added: “I kept doing it after that and got very good at it. And here I am still waiting to go back to my real job!”

For tickets to see Jason Byrne’s show on September 28, visit: www.alhambradunfermline.com