Ed Byrne: Colston Hall

Tuesday 3rd November 2009

This is a Crackerjack review of Ed Byrne. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.

Crackerjack rating: 8 / 10.

Ed Byrne hopes his new DVD – out later this month – sells better than the last, which, he told the Colston Hall audience, was outsold by the WAGs' Workouts.

Well, if last night’s set was anything to go by, the snipey Dublin-born comic shouldn't have too many concerns as he effortlessly won over the appreciative crowd.

Ed’s a spinner of brilliant yarns about life and the obstacles encountered while attempting to live it.

One of the highlights is Ed’s routine about his inability to fit in. He’s an "inbetweeny". In class, he’s not quite middle class and not quite working class. In stand-up, too, he's "famous enough to do a DVD but not famous enough to sell it".

Much of his material tackles everyday irritants. The DVD piracy warnings that hope to encourage bored teenagers to obey the law with their dire music aimed at "the yoof", or those countless times when you've thought of a withering retort 20 minutes after the event. Or, in Byrne’s case, 18 months after the event. His habit of dwelling on the insignificant is detrimental to his sanity yet great for material.

He's "picky" by nature, pointing out the incongruities of Back To The Future or his long-standing grip with a militant feminist poster in his old Student Union bar.

He also offered one of the definitive stand-up sets on weddings, a sentiment-free reflection on the build up to his nuptials and sustained rant at the profiteers robbing him blind. Having run the gauntlet of wedding planning myself recently, it certainly struck a chord.

This is a seamless and perfectly timed show – in fact the only time Byrne was momentarily thrown off his stride was when a bulb in the lighting rig exploded – but like the true pro he is it became a high point in the show ("I don't want to end up the Curtis Mayfield of comedy").

Who knows – given the ovation that followed him off-stage there could easily be a time when Ed Byrne finds himself a household name. But knowing him, he'd find something about it that got on his wick.

Natalie Hale

This is a Crackerjack review of Ed Byrne. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.