Likeable stand-up comedian majors on matters domestic

Thoroughly likeable Irish stand-up comedian Ed Byrne entertained a near sell-out audience at Clickimin on Monday evening. The self-confessed nerd and liberal leftie, a frequenter of TV panel shows including Mock The Week, delivered a sharp form of broad-based humour during a 90-minute set.

A first-time parent earlier this year, his down-to-earth show majored on matters domestic: the pitfalls of his wife’s pregnancy, the use of some vivid imagery to describe his baby’s toilet habits and a witty, lengthy section about his pet cat and its idiosyncratic hunting exploits.

Sending up some of his fellow countrymen and women for their hypocrisy in being a wee bit intolerant of Eastern European immigrants, his liberal leanings made a perfect antidote to the sort of bigoted bile passed off as comedy by the Jim Davidsons of this world.

Byrne even demonstrated a mastery of the Shetland tongue, learnt through an islander he met at university. He probably thought he was far enough removed to make a pun at the expense of a particular London borough, only for one member of the audience to vocally object: “There’s nothing wrong with Croydon.”

For a full review, see this week’s Shetland Times.