Still a Byrning desire to get us all laughing

One of the UK’s best stand-ups is on tour again. Mock the Week star Ed Byrne strides into Courier Country with his latest show next week. He tells us why he’ll be bringing his hiking boots with him

Ed Byrne is the Peter Pan of stand-up comedy.

The Irishman has been a staple on the live circuit and television panel shows for two decades yet hardly seems to have aged in that time.

Don’t be fooled by his boyish looks – Ed turned 44 last week, has two sons, and recently marked 20 years as a comic.

Family life isn’t slowing him down, though: he’s in the middle of a UK tour that brings him to Glenrothes, Stirling, Perth and Dundee over the next fortnight.

However, comedy isn’t the only thing Ed enjoys doing when he’s in Scotland. He loves the outdoors and always tries to bag a Munro or two whenever he’s north of the border.

The completist, geeky side of him, he admits, means elsewhere in the British Isles he also collects “county tops” – the highest point in the county. “I’ve downloaded an app for them,” he says with a laugh, “and have started making a list of those I’ve done.”

Ed appeared alongside Dara O Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones in the BBC series Three Men Go to Scotland – he hitched a ride with the other three comics on his way to climb Skye’s Cuillin Mountains.

In fact, he owes his comedy career to Scotland. His first performances came when he studied at Strathclyde University.

As a student welfare officer, he was often called on to MC events and before long was performing stand-up at other Scottish universities.

He quit his studies to start a comedy club in Glasgow before moving to London, where he lived with the-then up-and-coming O Briain (the two are close friends and were best man at one another’s weddings).

Over a long and storied career, Ed’s been nominated for the Perrier Award, had the biggest selling comedy show at the Fringe in 2006 and released three comedy DVDs.

I call it the thorniest issue since Jesus was fitted for a hat

He’s a staple of television comedy, doing frequent stints on Mock the Week and making appearances on Have I Got News for You, The One Show and Live at the Apollo.

He’s also been on the Graham Norton Show no less than six times.

More recently, Ed has made the breakthrough from comedy to factual television, travelling to Central America to co-host the travel show Dara and Ed’s Great Big Adventure with O Briain and driving across Siberia with Andy Parsons for an episode of World’s Most Dangerous Roads.

He has also done pieces for Countryfile and The One Show and has appeared on programmes like Science Club and Volcano Live.

His show – Outside, Looking In – covers a wide range of subjects, from a recent gastric illness to the success of UKIP.

Ed also talks about his family in what he says is his most personal show yet.

“I didn’t make a conscious effort to write a more personal show but that was what was coming out when I started writing it,” he says.

“People come to see me for a laugh and I would like to think they go away thinking the show is quite heartwarming.

“A lot of comics may talk about the same stuff but what makes it mine is that what I’m saying is what I genuinely think on this subject and I try to make it as funny as I can. I think we all mine our lives to some degree or other.”

While there’s plenty of personal reflection in his new show, Ed also ponders on matters political – a story about his son sparks a passionate section about how we label young children, for instance and he also talks about feminism and transgenderism.

However, isn’t dipping a toe into the transgender debate (for which some have been vilified on social media) a little risky?

“It has become such a big subject because of Caitlyn Jenner (the former athlete Bruce Jenner, who transitioned last year) and some Twitter trolls were refusing to acknowledge her as anything but Bruce,” Ed explains.

“I thought it was interesting that it stills divides people. I call it the thorniest issue since Jesus was fitted for a hat.”

The feminist slant to the new show was sparked by Ed’s reflections on his early days in comedy and he admits to being a little uncomfortable about some of his more laddish material back then.

“My comedy reflected my life at that time – single and enjoying myself – and most of it was fairly harmless ‘the difference between men and women’ kind of thing. But some of the stuff about an ex-girlfriend I can see was a bit angry and I wouldn’t do it now.”

Even after 20 years Ed still gets a kick out of touring. “Apart from the travel involved, which no comic likes, I love it. I like the television things I do but nothing can beat a live comedy audience.”

He’s now writing a sitcom set in an outdoors shop.

So does he plan to introduce his sons to the pleasures of outdoors?

“My wife, Claire and I already have. So far they love it, camping and canoeing, that sort of thing.

“As they’re growing it’s hard to be apart from them when I’m on tour and I try not to be away for more than a couple of days at a time but one of the great things about my job is that it means I can spend a lot of time with them when I’m home.”