Byrne Notice
Taking time out from a stay-cation funnyman Jason Byrne talks about his love of Ikea, channelling David Copperfield and sharing the stage with a naked PJ Gallagher.
Paul Nolan, 04 Sep 2012
Shortly after phoning Jason Byrne, Hoot Press feels a little guilty, as it turns out the comedian is in the middle of his holidays, before resuming touring with a show at the Galway Arts Festival.
“Because I spend so much time touring, I’ve taken my holidays at home,” he says. “I despise going on holidays (laughs). All I ever do is travel from airport to airport and maybe occasionally get the train. I was only recently away at a spa with my wife Brenda and I was sitting out the back of it, and they said, ‘It must be nice to get away from it all.’ And I turned to Brenda and went, ‘We live away from it all! We live in the fucking countryside, what are we doing here?!’”
Enjoying a stay-cation he may be, but Byrne admits that he never stops writing. He has been working on a script for a sitcom pilot and is continually working on material for his live shows.
“I’m supposed to be on holiday, but at night I’ll be sitting there at my computer writing bits and pieces,” says Byrne. “My wife will be looking at me and I’ll be going, ‘I’m just looking at the internet! Just seeing where we can go tomorrow.’ But yeah, I never stop writing. In fact, yesterday, I was doing something and I thought, ‘I have to write that into my stand-up’. I’ve become such an old man. My kids were down the garden and my wife was at the shops, and we have these extortionate ESB bills. I was wondering how the fuck they were so dear, so I kept switching things on and off. I went to the meter and I was watching these wheels going round and round, to try and see what was using the most electricity.
“After looking at the situation, I came up with an equation. You have the wheels spinning around very fast, versus washing machines, dryers, immersions and so on. Eventually, if you add them all up, take away some shit, the E=MC2 answer is – a kettle. That’s what it is, it’s the fucking kettle! The fucking wheel flies around, you wouldn’t fucking believe it. Next time I go up to my dad, he’ll love all that. He’ll go, ‘That’s what I’ve been telling these people for fucking years!’”
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