Having spent a fair share of his career acting like a grumpy old man stuck inside a younger man’s body, Ed Byrne is finally starting to grow into the slippers.
The 41-year-old Irish comedian is back on the road with his new show, Roaring Forties, in which he happily embraces middle age with open arms.
“I’ve always been a miserable old git, but now I’m older I feel like acting younger,” he says.
“But I guess in a way you could say that I’m rejoicing in middle-age.”
Byrne is returning to Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo on December 13 – and it’s a place he has more than a few memories in.
“It is a great crowd,” he says, “and for a venue of its size, it does feel very intimate.
“It is weird playing it as often as I have – and I've done it plenty of times, for stand-up, television and charity.”
But it wasn't always so familiar, he adds: “The first time I played the Apollo on my own was about six years ago, for my Different Class tour.
“I remember the noise of the crowd and thinking ‘this is not going to be like any other gig’. The level of cheer surprised me.”
Though he now lives in Essex, Byrne lived in London for 12 years and it was while writing his final column for Metro that he first stumbled upon the idea for his next stand-up tour.
The tentatively titled column ‘I sat on my own testicle the other day – it was excruciating’ from January 2012, complained about the troubles of getting older and proved a hit with readers.
“It was one of the most well received that I did,” he explains.
And within a year he would also be going under the knife, thanks to a hernia he gave himself when moving a compost bin.
“Most people would find rupturing their abdomen a very inconvenient thing,” he laughs.
“But for me, when it happened, I just thought there has got to be material in this.
“In my life, when bad things happen it can turn out to be useful. And as a comedian it’s nice doing bits about the different stages of your life.”
So far the tour is going well and has been welcomed by the critics. But not everyone in the audience has reacted in the way you might imagine.
“Four people so far have actually fainted,” he says, “at the point when I talk about having the hernia
“I do find it a bit odd. Though obviously, if it happens, I go off stage for a bit and let the first aid people deal with it.
“I don’t just carry on and make fun of them for fainting.”
Byrne has had a busy last few years with copious TV appearances, from presenting BBC2’s Volcano Live to driving through Siberia for World’s Most Dangerous Roads and making regular panel appearances on comedy institutions Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You.
There is also a new show on the horizon that will see him paired up with fellow Irishman Dara Ó Briain for what he describes as ‘a travelogue thing where we’ll drive across America’.
After that he has more touring and then not much planned, yet.
“I think I’m just going to enjoy having a rest for a bit,” he muses. “But stand-up is what I like doing most.”
Visit www.eventimapollo.com to buy tickets.
