Ed’s got saw points
E D Byrne fears we’re all in for a jolting shock as he prepares to bring his latest stand-up show to Venue Cymru.
The Irish comedian, known from TV shows such as Mock The Week and a breakthrough appearance in Father Ted, is set to appear in Llandudno on May 19 in his new show ‘Spoiler Alert’.
In it he tackles 21st century parenthood, and Byrne recalls the time one of his two sons was determined to touch an electric fence - joking that Brexit is the political equivalent of such perilously innocent inquisitiveness.
“I was telling the story of the electric fence for a while: suddenly it struck me that it was Brexit in microcosm,” says the 45-year-old, interviewed ahead of his Venue Cymru show.
“I don’t want to alienate half of the population or maybe a third of my audience, but it works as an analogy whichever side you’re on.
“The government told you not to do this and that it would be a terrible idea, but you said ‘no, we want to do it anyway’.
“So now we’re doing it and it’s proving a terrible idea. I do think it’s a fair analogy, but no doubt for some it will come across as me being a typical liberal elite Remoaner.”
The show’s title comes from Byrne’s belief that the current breed of parents spoil their kids rotten – whether it’s the ever-increasing size of garden trampolines, or his own kids’ demand for elderflower cordial.
“My dad wasn’t a bad dad, he was just a 1970s dad,” says Byrne. “If I never saw my children ever again from this moment on, I’d have already done more parenting then he did in my entire life.
“But, of course, I made a conscious decision that I was going to be an awesome dad. My wife will come back with tales from her friends of how awful their husbands are, she’ll see me smiling and say ‘all right, stop congratulating yourself just because such and such can’t be left alone with their children for two minutes’.”
In the show, Byrne extends his analysis on the culture of entitlement and says: “Where I think we’re not acting spoiled enough is in the political arena. We have a tendency to accept what’s happening and we are literally entitled to the government we want. We’re spoiled in all these little ways, but not spoiled enough.”
Spoiler Alert also continues a theme Byrne has tackled in previous shows – his gradual shift from working-class Dubliner to fully paid-up rural-residing member of the middle classes.
Where once he would do routines slating 4x4 owners, he now owns such a vehicle. And in the poster for his tour, he brandishes other signifiers of social mobility: a bowtie and chainsaw.
“It’s one of two I own: that one is the smaller of the two,” Byrne remarks of his chainsaw. “I use it for firewood, both for my wood burning stove and also for the barbecue. The first time I used one I was fine, though I think it worried my parents.”
Byrne will be hoping to find a good Indian restaurant around Llandudno – and will be keeping tabs on how well he goes down. He says: “I keep a tour diary of places where the curries are disappointing and where they are good, and where audiences have been good before.” ■ Ed Byrne: Spoiler Alert is at Venue Cymru, Llandudno on Saturday, May 19 at 8pm. Tickets via venuecymru.co.uk or the Box Office on 01492 872000.