On cats

From Live At The Apollo 2011

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Ed Byrne: Crowd Pleaser
Live Review

Crowd-pleaser is a double-edged sword. For a comedian, that’s pretty much the job description, but it’s not breaking any secrets to admit us critics often use it in a more backhanded way, to suggest an act who’s pressing the audience’s buttons but doesn’t do much creatively.

Well, Ed Bryne’s new offering is definitely a Ronseal show. But does it do what it says in the title with easy, unchallenging, observational shtick? Well, yes, a bit – but there’s also humour here that transcends the comfortable origins of the material.

Much of the show revolves around just three things that he has: a wife, a baby son and a pet cat. This is about as domestic as you can get, yet he manages to see new things in these much-analysed, universal topics. His take on the was his Missus demands household chores be done might not push the envelope, but he finds a nice hook on which to hang it all, while the routine about why we like cats more than people, unpromising as that premise might seem, actually produces a virtuoso routine even non-cat owners will identify with.

Babies are often seen as the creative kiss of death for comedians, and indeed Byrne’s talk of his seven-month-old is all puke, shit and piss – although he focussing on the pressure with which these secretions are emitted, rather than their foul content, so it doesn’t feel as if we’ve heard this particular angle before.

Yes, sometimes he doesn’t try too hard. After all, he gets a laugh by saying ‘Piers Morgan, who’s a cock…’ so why struggle for left-field insight? Some of the vaguely topical pieces about the Coalition government and the Irish attitude to immigration seem a little mundane, and he perhaps oversells a weird encounter with the now-dead Star Trek actor Paul Wingfield.

This comes as part of a section where he flaunts his nerd credentials – nerd as in liking sci-fi and video games, rather than actually understanding science – and there’s a nice flourish to the way he teases fellow geeks in the audience with the pedantry he knows they are feeling.

Talking of which, he applies such finicky principles to a T-shirt he saw a young teenager wearing – the second routine about age-inappropriate clothing he spotted in an airport in as many shows; but just as funny as the first.

Crowd Pleaser doesn’t have the benefit of the same strong, central theme that his last tour Different Class was built around; but it’s founded on robustly solid routines, with enough smart flourishes to avoid the predictable. You will be entertained.

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Saw him at Edinburgh festival, and was sadly disappointed. Less than half as funny as the BBC stand up show the night previous which was with less well-known comics. Great entrance though

Jo, August 2006

Seen Ed last year in Cardiff with a couple of work collegues, laughed all night, what a totally funny guy, would defo go and see his show again.

Mike Anderson, August 2006

A disappointing performance in the Fringe. Observational it was, just a pity that most of the jokes were based on obvious observations of which we are all bored. Surely you can do better than rehash the old "Christmas gets earlier every year" cliche.

Fiona, August 2006

Ed Byrne hosted the Montreal Just for Laughs all-Irish Gala this year. I thought he was one of the best performers of that night. His material is great, and he keeps you laughing the whole way through. I loved him

Julie, August 2006

Good show at the fringe... my first time seeing him. A bit too family-friendly but maybe that was due to catering to a large mixed audience? When he showed a slightly nastier edge was very funny. Some really good stuff there. Wish he'd either cut that hair or tie it back though - drove me nuts watching him constantly fuss with it

Scott, August 2006

Ed used to trade on his fresh looks and material, but he's looking and sounding tired now. Lord knows what he'll do when the voiceover work dries up

Lisa, August 2006

Brilliant, very funny

Kev, May 2006

Cant stand the guy - so pleased with himself and has no reason to be - his set is crap

Johnny Ramsay, May 2006

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