Byrne on fire in Villa
BE NERDY: Ed Byrne had the audience in stitches
WEARING a t-shirt and suit, lone ranger Ed Byrne took to the Villa stage armed only with his floppy hair, specs and a mic.
And he won us over from the get go.
The Irish comedian, known for his slots on TV quizzes and that Carphone Warehouse ad, shot straight from the hip with ‘you’re my favourite crown dependency’.
The self-confessed nerd and Star Trek fan (he is the anagram of Be Nerdy) had done his homework. In fact he’d done more than that, he’d only gone and walked all the way from Douglas to Laxey that afternoon. The keen walker had intended to head up Snaefell too but, realising just how far it was, hailed a cab back to the capital instead.
His stand-up show, in aid of island charity Junior Achievement, brimmed with family anecdotes and acute observations which had people laughing back the tears.
His wit attacked the subject of customs (‘anyone who can highjack a plane with tweezers deserves the plane’), the Grand Canyon (‘Americans are too proud of it. It’s as if they dug it themselves. It was like that when they found it and it’s not like you’d miss it’) and being married (‘on my wedding day I stood up with the wife I love, in front of the people she loves the best and the people she loves the best out of the people I know’).
The father broached the subject of parenthood, particularly of projectile excrements and youngsters wearing inappropriate clothing.
He spoke of pre-pubescent girls wearing slogans like ‘gorgeous’ across their bums (‘Fisher Pricestitutes I call them’) and spotty oiks armoured with crude rapper t-shirts. Apparently, rap star LLCoolJ’s name stands for Ladies Love Cool James - a nickname gained at school. ‘Mine would be LLEdBTGPHAAF... Ladies Like Ed But They Generally Prefer Him As A Friend,’ quipped the lanky comic, who had already stated: ‘I’ll never sleep with a woman skinnier than myself - we’d just start a fire.’
His improvised involvement of the audience was quick, clever and relatively kind. Although he did relish an attack on the girl who claimed to have met Christian Slater on the prom in front of Colours. And although this reporter was not looking forward to making notes on the front row, awkward attempts to write inconspicuously were unnecessary. Because, despite some rather surprising vulgarity, this comedian was a genuinely nice chap.
He ended with an impression of Scottish porn!
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Weather for Isle of Man
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 36 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
