Tragedy Plus Time: Irish comedian Ed Byrne to perform new show in Tauranga and Rotorua

Irish comedian Ed Byrne has returned to New Zealand for his Tragedy Plus Time tour.

Every time Irish comedian Ed Byrne visits Tauranga, he climbs Mauao.

“One year when I was really fit, I jogged up it,” he told the Bay of Plenty Times.

“I won’t be jogging up it this year. It’s a good measure of how I’m doing physically, whether I walk up it or jog up it ... "

Byrne has arrived in New Zealand for his Tragedy Plus Time tour, which starts in Auckland on July 26.

He will perform in Rotorua on August 14 and Tauranga on August 15.

Speaking on the phone from his Auckland hotel room, Byrne said he was last in New Zealand in 2023.

He did not perform in Rotorua but spent a day off there and “bathed in hot springs”.

“It was quite a nice place to unwind while touring.

“It’ll be nice to go and play there this time.”

Byrne said his show was “slightly more serious” than any he had done before.

“It tackles the concept of humour equalling tragedy plus time and the idea of dark humour getting you through the dark of time.”

Byrne said he talked mainly about his younger brother, Paul Byrne, who died a couple of years ago.

“And believe it or not, [the] quite funny stuff that that kicked up. And the stuff surrounding that and the somewhat volatile relationship I had with him as brothers.

“I just sort of cover all of that in the show. And it sounds like a downer, but it’s actually a very positive and dare I say, a very funny show.”

Byrne said his brother was a comedy writer and director, working with comedians and helping them to become funnier.

“The people who worked with him spoke of him as like a therapist - his main thing was helping people take the worst, darkest, saddest thing to happen in their lives and help them turn it into comedy.

“And I think he would very much approve of me taking his death as being the worst thing that’s ever happened to me and turning it into comedy.

“So as I say to the audience, if you don’t laugh at this stuff, you’re the ones disrespecting the dead.”

Irish comedian Ed Byrne. Photo / Supplied

According to reviews, this show was “apparently the best show I’ve ever done”, he said.

“But I’ll let people come and be the judge for themselves.”

Byrne said the thing he enjoyed most about stand-up comedy was the “immediate gratification”.

“You can literally think of a joke that day and try it out that night and know straight away if an audience likes it or not.

“I think with all other art forms, whether it’s writing a novel or a screenplay or a song ... it takes a lot longer before the news of whether it’s good or not filters back to you.”

During his time in New Zealand, he planned to go tramping “in the wilderness”.

“Personally, I don’t think sitting in a bar and getting drunk is wasting time necessarily. You’re still enjoying what a country has to give but I don’t want to just do that for the three days I have off in the middle of this.

“I’m going to try and get out there and hike ... get myself into some nature.”

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.