If you’re looking for high quality stand up from a master of observational comedy, you’ve come to the right place. With decades of experience, Ed Byrne holds the stage with confidence and finesse. His show centres around his children and what he might be able to teach them despite his own inadequacies. His self-deprecating style of humour draws his audiences in, inviting them to empathise and even share his insecurities.
We laugh at him because he shows us elements of ourselves
Although questions of legacy and self-esteem may seem like weighty topics, Byrne handles them with a lightness and ease which steers the show away from darkness. We laugh at him because he shows us elements of ourselves. There is a specificity to his observations that is wonderfully satisfying; Byrne has a knack for noticing the small things we all do without realising, from stretching out a cramped muscle to motivational quotes on Facebook. His throwaway comments are often the most effective in their subversive nature, slightly testing the audience without offending them.
As a white, middle class, straight man, there is a limit to how groundbreaking or boundary-pushing Byrne’s comedy can be. He is certainly not the first comedian to talk about the difficulties of raising children, or the first person to mock the middle class for their posh quirks. However, he still maintains a high standard of humour and makes a name for himself in this well-worn territory. Some of the humour may resonate more strongly with parents or those a few decades older than myself, but the overall standard is extremely high. In a month’s worth of extremely variable standards of comedy, Byrne is a safe bet for an enjoyable evening.
