Cast your mind back to 1996, when a handful of fresh-faced young Irishmen reached the finals of the coveted So You Think You’re Funny award. Tommy Tiernan won the prize, with Jason Byrne coming in a close second.
“Tommy beat me by one point and he’s been my Edinburgh nemesis ever since,” laughs Jason. “He doesn’t know yet, though. Maybe I should tell him.”
A lot has happened in those three decades, with Jason earning a devoted following who come out every year to see him doing his high-energy stand-up, with props, stunts and sometimes outrageous audience interaction in huge venues. To mark this milestone, he’s putting together a special anniversary show, Jason Byrne – 30 Years of Byrning, that he debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is now taking on a major UK tour until November.
“I’ve been putting together a kind of celebration show but I’m not doing old stand-up because that never works,” he says. What he is doing, though, is asking fans to tell him which of his stunts they’d like him to do again. So, if you’re lucky you might get to see a reprise of one or two of the old favourites, such as him swinging through the air in his pants on a wrecking ball like Miley Cyrus, playing men’s delicate parts with xylophone sticks or a bizarre, straight-faced take on Riverdance.
Audience members filing into the theatre will be treated to video montage highlights from the past 30 years and, boy, is there a lot to choose from. In 1997, for example, he gate-crashed a live recording of The Late Late Show With Gay Byrne (no relation), wearing some of his father’s clothes, so he could see Bill Murray being interviewed.
When it was time for audience questions, an eager and nerdy-looking Jason (who’d had his hand up for a long, long time) stood up and asked the US star if he’d ever seen a ghost and, if so, was he frightened. Not missing a beat, the Ghostbusters actor replied that, yes, earlier that evening a “frightening moment” had occurred at Roly’s Bistro: “A waiter came, took my order, and disappeared.”
Staying in geeky character for the rest of the evening, Jason was invited for a nightcap at a Dublin city centre hotel with the rest of the studio audience, and later had to call his dad from a pay phone to ask him for a lift home. “He was like, ‘Ya eejit’– I’ve just seen you on the telly in my tie. What are you doing?”’ recalls Jason.
The Dublin-born comedian has whittled down some of his most entertaining celebrity stories, only sharing the ones that deliver the best laughs. A lot of his memories involve him being blissfully unaware of the sorts of interactions that would have normal folks screaming with excitement.
For example, he bumped into fellow comedian Dominic Holland in Edinburgh’s Cowgate a few years ago. Dominic had been a So You Think You’re Funny judge back in 1996 and it was his support (and Jason’s talent, of course) that led to him going through to the finals, and he wanted to thank him for his support all those years ago.
“I asked him if he was doing a show and he said, ‘No, I’ve just been in London, helping sort my son out as Spider-Man.’ I thought he meant his little kid was getting dressed up as Spider-Man for a party and said, ‘Oh, that’s nice. Fancy dress?” To which Dominic replied, “No, you know my son is Spider-Man? He’s Tom Holland.” And I went: “Whaaaat?”’
On another occasion, a musician from the rap group Freestyle Love Supreme who Jason knew quite well came to see him backstage after a show. Jason asked him what he’d been up to, and the guy replied that he’d recently done a film and a musical. “Oh, you’ve been in a musical, have you?” asked Jason. The pal to whom he addressed the questions was one Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose wife had to interject to point out that he’d just created Hamilton – only the biggest musical in the world.
“I was like, ‘You serious?’” laughs Jason, explaining that sometimes the comedy bubble can be so all-consuming that you don’t notice what’s going on elsewhere. Lin-Manuel, who joined him on stage in Edinburgh and did a summarised rap of the show Jason had just performed, also asked if he could bring a friend along. She introduced herself as America, which led to Jason saying: “Yes, but what’s your name?” before it finally became clear he was talking to Ugly Betty star America Ferrera.
He shares details about Bono asking him to perform at a star-studded private party, a baffling encounter with Lady Gaga and King Charles and Camilla’s response to his Royal Variety Show daftness.
Then there are Jason’s loyal fans, whose enthusiasm and eagerness to participate play a big part in the success of his audacious shows. He reckons the Huddersfield crowd are the exact same group of people each time, and among the regulars is a guy who drives a private coach and sits in the front row, another who builds his own planes, and a couple of 40-something women who dress like rappers. Jason refers to them affectionately as “my bitches”, and they seem absolutely fine with this.
One man proposed to his girlfriend at a Jason Byrne show, but didn’t have the ring with him, so Jason waited for him to go and get it before calling it a night. Another time, he noticed an entire wedding party at his Edinburgh show. It turned out that they bought tickets to see him every year but forgot that the dates clashed with their big day, so popped out to enjoy the show before heading back to resume the celebrations.
Like many other stand-ups who honed their skills in the 1990s, Jason learnt quickly how to deal with rowdy audiences. The first time he ever took to the stage for Late’n’Live – Edinburgh’s famously rowdy late-night mixed bill show – he was carrying rubber hands as props and the audience immediately told him to “f*** off”, but Gilded Balloon boss Karen Koren insisted he go back out again, saying: “You can’t let them beat you.”
He then developed his armour at the bearpit that was London’s Comedy Store, where you had to go out almost ready to fight, as well as make the punters laugh, and ever since then he’s displayed lightning-fast responses to unpredictable audience interjections.
“Heckling isn’t such a big thing any more,” he says, adding: “I welcome heckling, as long as it’s not a drunk ruining everyone’s night.”
Involving willing participants from the front row is a great way of making good use of that instinct to be involved that some people seem to have. And by now, they know that even if he takes the mickey or requires their physicality to make the gags work, it’s always done with goodwill.
Condensing all this madness – in addition to loads of new jokes – into an hour for Edinburgh was tricky, but Jason’s relieved the tour shows will allow him a bit longer to add more material.
But what of the next 30 years? Is he aiming to carry on for three more decades? I’ll stick around for now,” he smiles. “It’s not that bad a job, to be honest.”
Jason Byrne: 30 Years Byrning, UK tour 24 September – 20 November, jasonbyrne.ie
