Most comedy shows involve a certain amount of personal-reflection and a certain amount of self-deprecation on behalf of the stand-up comedian in question.

However, it’s quite possible that Ed Byrne is taking that idea prettty seriously.

Irish stand-up funny-man Ed Byrne will entertain the crowds with his latest comedy tour, ‘If I’m Honest’, tonight (Thursday) at the Gaiety Theatre, from 8pm.

A regular face on television, thanks to his regular appearances on ‘Mock The Week’, along with his shows ‘Dara and Ed’s Big Adventure’ and its follow-up ‘Dara and Ed’s Road To Mandalay’, with ‘Mock’ host Dara O’Briain, along with his most recent show, ‘The Pilgramage’, Ed has been performing for more than 25 years, and he arrives on the island readily-equipped with a mastery of the ability to tell a story on any subject, laced wih his wit, charm and self-deprecatory observational humour, underpinned by a consistently hilarious vitriol and sense of injustice at the world.

Following on from his previous comedy live show, ‘Outside, Looking In’, which looked at the recent changes in his life, including becoming a parent to two boys, and a generational sense of entitlement, ‘If I’m Honest’ sees Ed having a good hard look at himself, digging ever deeper into a father’s sense of responsibility, and asking what it means to be a man in 2019, and whether he possesses any qualities whatsoever worth passing on to his two sons.

‘I do genuinely annoy myself,’ said Ed.

‘But the thing of your children being a reflection of you, gives you an opportunity to build something out of the best of yourself only for you to then see flashes of the worst of yourself in them. It’s a wake-up call about your own behaviour.’

‘If I’m Honest’ also brilliantly grapples with the frustration of reaching middle age, something Ed is firmly in the grip of, having just turned 50.

‘I’m bored looking for things, I’m bored of trying to find stuff, because I can never find it, and it is entirely my fault,’ he said.

‘Nobody’s hiding my stuff from me. Although my wife did actually move my passport on one occasion’.

‘I thought I was being quite upbeat talking about the small victories around growing old.

‘You know, finding positivity in being able to spot when a cramp was about to happen in your leg and dealing with it before it does. I was very happy with myself about that.

‘Self-aggrandising humour is a lot harder to pull off than self-deprecating humour,’ he continued.

‘But I don’t think I’m being massively hard on myself.

‘The fact is when you’re the bloke who is standing on the stage with the microphone, commanding an audience’s attention, you’re in a very elevated position anyway.’

There are still tickets available for Ed’s Gaiety show tonight, priced at £25.50, available from the Welcome Centre and the Villa Gaiety box office, on 600555, and online from villagaiety.com