Class act returns to our stage

Ed Byrne brings his new show to New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

Irish comedian Ed Byrne could be forgiven for harbouring mixed feelings about his latest visit to New Zealand.

On the one hand, it was in Kaikoura in 2007 that Byrne proposed to his then girlfriend (now wife) Claire. So, he must have a soft spot for this country.

"It was in the Green Dolphin restaurant in Kaikoura," he explains. "We had been in Australia and I didn't feel the desire to throw the question out there. I don't want to be sycophantic, but it was only when we were in New Zealand that I felt it. It seemed like the ideal spot."

But the reaction from his hosts was underwhelming Byrne recalls. "When we got the bill I told them I had just proposed and she had said yes, and they just said 'Really?'. Perhaps, in retrospect, it wasn't the most romantic spot."

Then, on the other hand, there was the infamous incident during his first tour in 1997 when Byrne was threatened with legal action after an argument in a trendy Auckland bar, and the "story" somehow made the TV news. The Irishman still seems perplexed by the memory. "It was crazy and it did slightly colour my view of New Zealand. I had a row in a bar and it was on the ****ing news!"

But, after weeks of hard touring on the British comedy circuit, Byrne admits he's relishing the opportunity to get down to New Zealand for his headline appearances at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival between May 1 and 24 - preceded by some good, wholesome tramping in the mountains.

"I can't wait."

Byrne's career has gone into overdrive since that first New Zealand tour, when he appeared alongside a little-known British comedian called Simon Pegg. "Whatever happened to him?" he jokes of the British actor playing Scotty in the new Star Trek blockbuster.

Byrne himself now has a bulging CV of top-rated comedy performances on stage, TV and radio, and numerous appearances in theatre and film. His latest stand-up show, Different Class, was originally intended for 60 dates around Britain, but demand was so great that another 80 dates were added, leading to a punishing schedule for the newly married Byrne. So, could Claire be described as a "comedy widow"?

"To some extent, yeah. She comes with me a lot of the time. She's coming with me to New Zealand." Byrne sounds exhausted, and he admits his runaway success has had its drawbacks. Gone are the days when he could do a 20-minute routine as part of a bill. Now the audiences are coming to see him and him alone. "It's two hours a night on stage, so it's a lot more. I don't like to use phrases like `intellectual investment', because it makes me sound like a prick. But it's a lot longer than I would have normally toured. Life is on hold while this tour is on. But you have to make hay while the sun shines."

He says he is "curious" about how New Zealanders will react to the new show. As the title suggests, the material explores issues of class, and Byrne suspects he will have to tailor it for a local audience.

"New Zealanders don't really have that concept of middle-class and working class so much. And there are very fine differences. You have Westies. In Australia they have bogans and we have chavs. The lower working class in Britain listen to techno. In New Zealand and Australia they listen to heavy metal. I can't stand up there telling jokes people aren't going to get."

But some topics, he admits, are universal. Like marriage. "Half of the show is about my wedding."

Byrne's passion outside of his marriage and work is tramping and climbing. In the UK this translates as "Munro-bagging", scaling Scottish peaks over 300ft.

"I've got 13 so far, out of 284. This summer I'm planning to do a huge chunk. Then in September I'm going walking in the Alps. I've been on tour so long that the only things I'm reading these days are Trail magazine and books about mountain climbing."

He's even trying to write his own book about climbing, just one of the many strings to his bow that might one day take him off the road. "But I will still always do stand-up," he promises.

Needless to say Byrne will have his walking boots in his luggage when he arrives in New Zealand this week, and a ticket to the South Island. After a long winter on the road, he's eager to get off the beaten track. "New Zealand is like the light at the end of the tunnel," he sighs.

The New Zealand International Comedy festival will be held over three weeks from May 1 to 24 in Auckland and Wellington and also touring to the nation's regional centres as the Crunchie Comedy Convoy.

Among the national and international stars in the lineup are multi-award-winning Kiwi comic Dai Henwood, More FM breakfast host Jeremy Corbett, the infamous Puppetry of the Penis returns, New Zealand's Te Radar and Steve Coogan of Alan Partridge fame. Tickets are available form Ticketek.

* Ed Byrne: Different Class is at Auckland SkyCity Theatre, May 2-9; Hamilton, May 12; New Plymouth, May 14; Wellington Opera House May 15-16; Napier, May 17; Nelson, May 20; Christchurch, May 21; Dunedin, May 22; Oamaru, May 23.

For more details go to: www.comedyfestival.co.nz