Unlike those other universal tropes of sex/love (which can be elusive) and taxes (which can be eluded), the one thing literally all of us will experience is death – our own, and that of people close to us.
Do we want to talk about it? Mostly not. Should we? In Australia at least, most certainly more than we do. Can that conversation make us laugh, smile and even. . . Feel happy?!
If it’s with Irish comedian Ed Byrne, definitely.
The international festival fave and UK TV mainstay ('QI', 'The Graham Norton Show', 'Live At The Apollo') is no stranger to Oz, having toured here for decades and guested on countless Melbourne comedy galas and programmes like 'Good News Week'.
In the latest show he’s bringing down under, 'Tragedy Plus Time', Ed has taken a deep dive into personal life-changing loss, to show us there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and plenty to laugh about along the way.
Having just performed the show to a packed UK theatre, Ed chats on the phone to us about mining the darkness for the comedy gold – which led him to working in an entirely different way.
“Normally I build my shows doing clubs and working on material and it’s about what order you put it in to make it flow. This is the first time I’ve had to build a show from the ground-up, around a story, that didn’t feel right to do in comedy clubs,” Ed says.
Unsuspecting club crowds weren’t necessarily ones who wanted to hear about the death of a relative (or who Ed said he felt comfortable “inflicting” the story upon) – even if that relative was acclaimed comedy director Paul Byrne, and the storyteller his world-renowned comic brother. Nor did clubs’ short timeslots do the story justice. So into theatres he went.
“I’d seen four different shows [about the death of my brother] at Edinburgh Fringe in 2022,” Ed explains. “He was directing these when he died, so those comedians’ shows started being about one thing and then became about a friend dying, so they were very emotional for me to watch. I felt then, going to the Fringe with my own show about it – a year later – like such a f...ing hack, you know, like, this ground has been covered.”
“The simple fact is, at the time I had to write my next comedy show, it was ALL I was thinking about, it was ALL that was on my mind,” he says.
And of course, no one else’s story on the life and death of Paul Byrne – who requested the song ‘Disco Inferno’ play at the crematorium as his coffin rolled out of sight – would or could be anything like his comedian brother Ed’s.
“I mean, he died owing me money, so this is a good way to collect!” he jokes, giving us a taste of the show’s gallows humour. But when asked what his brother might’ve genuinely thought of the show, the love and respect they shared is clear.
“One of the things Paul would always do [as a director] is take any negative in people’s lives and try and find a way for them to make that funny. His thing was, you can be as honest, as raw, as depressing as you want, but there always has to be a joke. So I feel like I’d be doing him a disservice if I made the show too serious, too downbeat.”
That the process of writing, and workshopping, and performing, and promoting and touring the show has kept Paul (personally and professionally) ever-present in Ed’s life these two years since he passed, Ed describes as a “happy side-effect”.
“Obviously the majority of people coming to the show don’t know the guy at all but it’s quite nice that they leave the theatre knowing who he was.
“People who did know Paul have said that it felt like getting to spend another hour in his company, which wasn’t what I was thinking when I was writing it or doing it, but there’s so much of him in it that it’s nice when people say that.”
While Aussie fans get set for what overseas audiences and critics are already raving about, anyone who hasn’t yet felt the joy of seeing Ed live is assured they’ll leave uplifted – having had their heartstrings tugged, their funny bone tickled, and laughed, perhaps, ‘til they’ve cried.
“I’m not going to start singing 'The Living Years' by Mike + The Mechanics at you, but it is a spiritual journey,” he says, wryly, before adding matter-of-factly: “It’s a sad story, but I’ve made it funny because that’s all I know how to do.”
Words: Dianah Star
Ed Byrne 2024 Australia Tour Dates
12-17 March – The Virago at Gluttony - Rymill Park (Adelaide Fringe)18 March – Street Theatre (Canberra Comedy Festival)
23 March – Home of the Arts (Gold Coast Laughs Festival)
24 March – Odeon Theatre (Hobart Festival Of Comedy)
28 March-21 April – Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
24 April – Factory Theatre (Sydney Comedy Festival)
26 April – The Concourse (Sydney Comedy Festival)
27-28 April – The Princess Theatre (Brisbane Comedy Festival)
3 May – Astor Theatre (Perth Comedy Festival)
