Jason reborn
Comedian Jason Byrne tells MARION MCMULLEN having his heart unblocked helped give him a fresh zest for life
What was it like hearing you needed heart surgery last year?
Over lockdown I was doing things like Facebook live and these Joe Wicks fun workouts and people were saying ‘Gawd, you’re so fit’ and I really was.
I was keeping myself really, really fit. I did about 12 comedy shows last year, then I went back to Ireland and I didn’t feel great and when I don’t feel great I tend to run or cycle or exercise so I went for a run and I got a pain in my heart.
I went to a doctor. I was going to be flying out the next day to Milton Keynes for a show and he said ‘Just go to A&E. I’m only a GP and I don’t have the equipment, but maybe get yourself checked out’.
And that was the start of the whole thing.
What happened at the hospital?
I was booked in for an angiogram and they said ‘How about you don’t go to England and just don’t do anything for now’. So I had to take their advice and I took the angiogram and it takes about 48 hours for the surgeon to see it.
I was sitting in my house when I got a phone call and they said ‘Do you think you can come into hospital, like NOW?’ You really don’t want to hear that.
It turned out I had three blocked arteries – two at 70% and one at 90%. My doctor just put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘You’ve got three blocked arteries’ and I was ‘OK, so why am I the only one upset? Why are you not setting up the machine and the beeping and getting me to theatre?’
And he said ‘Well, I’m not rushing because I’m going on a golfing holiday for 10 days tomorrow so I won’t be operating on you for two weeks’. I was like ‘but I’m dying’ and he said ‘You’re not dying. I’m going to start you on blood thinners. This is cholesterol which has built up over years and years and another 10% is not going to build up in 10 days’.
So that was it. I lay on my couch for two weeks listening to my heart every day and night until he came back. He came back all tanned from his golfing holiday and put the stents in within an hour and that was that.
How long did it take for your to return to work?
I had four weeks off and most people take three months off. The doctor said I could go back [to work], but not to jump around. But I didn’t feel right. now I feel 100% strong, I don’t feel weak at all, but my doctor said to remember I’d had heart surgery even though he had gone through my wrist and not opened up my chest.
One of my first gigs back was in Stockton and they obviously knew, and they were looking at me as if to say ‘OK Jason, take it easy, don’t run around. Maybe do 10 minutes and we’ll be OK with that and we’ll all go home’. Every time I moved or took a drink of water there was a gasp and then ‘Oh, he’s OK, he’s OK’.
Now I’m back and it’s why I’ve called the new show Unblocked.
When you get a health scare as big as your heart or any kind of health scare... I feel like I’ve got a second chance at how I look at life.
I’m going to be doing comedy until I’m dead.
Are you now looking forward to touring again?
We’ve done so much online and I’m now speaking about a tour where I have to travel Britain and I’m thinking ‘maybe I could dial it in’.
If I had the money Abba has I could have an avatar with loads of Jasons just on a screen. Maybe I could move around my house in Dublin. That’s probably what is going to start happening, but I still think live comedy and live music is the best.
I went to see some bands recently, I went to see Duran Duran, and they were so good until they went and upset the whole crowd by saying ‘Thank you for following us for 40 years.’ We all thought ‘40 years?’ They were all up there looking amazing and we were looking like s**t.
You tested positive for Covid on your 50th birthday. Did you even get a chance to celebrate?
Every time I moved or took a drink of water there was a gasp
On his first gigs after his heart scare
My partner released two helium balloons with ‘Happy Birthday’ on them into the bedroom from the corridor and threw a bottle of wine on the bed and then left.
That was my 50th.
So what does the future hold?
I’m unblocked and ready to go! My arteries are unblocked, I’ve been unblocked from Tiktok and other social media, my brain is flowing at full capacity and I’m finally ready to unleash the full potential that is Jason Byrne.
I’m now living a full life and I don’t f ***** g care any more. I’m going to do two shows in Edinburgh. Unblocked and one about my dad called Paddy Lama – Shed Talks because he spent all his time in a shed. It’s me dressed as my dad and I just basically give the audience s**t advice for about 50 minutes.
I watched my dad die. I held his hand as he passed away in a hospital. He was driving a car, had a stroke and died in two days.
We cremated him because he said ‘Don’t put my in a hole in the ground because I don’t want people coming along p ***** g and moaning over my grave’.
He said to just put [him] in the garden, so that’s what we did... we scattered his ashes under his favourite tree.
■ Jason Byrne’s new UK tour Unblocked kicks off on September 15 following a run at the Edinburgh Festival in August. Go to jasonbyrne.ie for tour and ticket details.