Byrne After Reading

The new stand-up DVD from Jason Byrne, The Byrne Identity, captures the Dublin comedian’s anarchic brand of humour to superb effect. Recorded in Vicar Street earlier this year, the DVD is released this month and boasts over two hours of bonus material, including footage from Byrne’s Edinburgh Festival Show.

Hot Press thought that the release of The Byrne Identity represented the perfect opportunity to quiz Jason on some of his favourite comedy DVDs. His first choice is Seth McFarlane’s masterwork, Family Guy.
“One of my ambitions is to work on Family Guy as a writer,” says Jason. “They just have such great freedom. Of course, it was taken off the air quite early on, but there was a huge outcry following its cancellation, and it returned. The characters are brilliant. One of my favourite scenes in all of the episodes is when Stewie, the baby, beats up Brian, the dog. The background is that Brian owes Stewie money, and Stewie goes to see him in the bathroom, where Brian is standing with a towel around him, having just got out of the shower.
“Again, Stewie asks him if he has his money, and Brian says no. That’s the cue for Stewie to finish his drink and smash the glass in Brian’s face. He starts kicking the shit out of him; he pulls the hand-towel rail off the wall and uses it to smack Brian around the face. All the while, Stewie’s shouting, ‘That doesn’t feel so good, does it? That’s what happens, man.’ At the very end, Brian is on the ground in bits, and Stewie throws him a towel and says, ‘Clean yourself up.’”
Staying with US animated comedy, Jason’s next pick is Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park.
“I saw a public interview with them in Montreal this year,” recalls Jason. “They write everything. They were asked, ‘Why don’t you get other writers in?’ and they replied, ‘Well, we wouldn’t really have time to go through the stuff and say, ‘This part’s not good enough.’ It’s our baby and we know how to do it quick.’ Then Matt got on the piano, and Trey got on the drums, and it was amazing to hear the voices coming out of their mouths.
“They got everyone in the venue to sing along to ‘Kyle’s Mom Is A Big Fat Bitch’, which was the song that really shot South Park to a new level of popularity. They had the words up on a screen, and everyone joined in. It’s so childish, but I think I have a childish head on me.”
On the live action front, Jason is fond of Extras, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s series about struggling actors.
“I’m a big fan of Stephen Merchant,” says Jason. “I know Steve now and I’ve done stuff with him. He’s great fun and he’s so dry. I prefer Extras to The Office, cos Steve was in it more and I loved his character. There’s a lovely scene in Steve’s office, where he says to Ricky, ‘Do you want to buy a television? It’s brand new and it’s still in the box.’ Ricky says, ‘No, I don’t want to buy a television, I want more work. I want you to get me in a movie.’ Steve goes, ‘Okay. (Pause) It’s a good television.’ Then Steve stands up and says, ‘Listen, I’ll ring that casting agent.’ Ricky asks if he’s going to try and sell him the TV, and Steve admits that he is. Then Ricky says, ‘Yeah, well you better just sit down.’ It’s beautiful, subtle stuff.”
Incidentally, comedy fans may be interested to note that Jason auditioned for a role in the pilot of The Office. Moving on to his next selections, Jason goes for The Day Today and Brass Eye, Chris Morris’ groundbreaking satires of current affairs shows.
“Those shows are brilliant,” he enthuses. “I remember when I was starting out doing the London scene, I was in a house with Chris Morris when the ‘Moral Decline’ episode of Brass Eye went out. I was there with Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, who wrote for it, and the crew from the show. So the show ended, and everyone gave a little round of applause. Chris goes, ‘Did anyone see it?’ We all go, ‘See what?’ He rewound the tape to the scene where the map of Britain is in a sick bed, and he stopped it on this frame that said, ‘Grade is a cunt.’
“That was a reference to Michael Grade, who was then head of Channel 4. Everyone went, ‘Holy shit!’ and got on their phones. Apparently, Chris had got in there and edited it himself.”
However, it’s not all contemporary comedy chez Byrne, where older comedy shows are also occasionally popped in the DVD player.
“Last Christmas, my best mate bought me a Laurel and Hardy boxset,” says Jason. “I kind of went, ‘Oh right, thanks.’ Then I put it on, and I was going, ‘Holy fuck!’ It was brilliant. They did everything themselves, all their own stunts. When I watched it when I was kid I’d think, ‘That’s really good.’ But when you get older and you get into the business, you’re thinking, ‘They’ve got to do that all the way through.’ There’s hardly any cuts in it. They’re fantastic.”
For his final choice, Jason opts for a more recent series.
“I love The Fast Show,” he says. “It’s interesting, cos The Fast Show people don’t like Little Britain. I was interviewing Paul Whitehouse, and Paul said that he thought that Little Britain was too easy, cos they dress up in fat suits and puke and piss and stuff. And he felt that nobody really cares about the characters, whereas in The Fast Show you really cared about, say, Ted and Ralph. But I like both of them. In Little Britain, the two of them in the big fat suits at the health farm is fucking hilarious.
“It’s so silly that a load of people go, ‘It’s just sick.’ But I think if you put that in front of someone who said they didn’t like it, eventually they’d just get into that whole world. Cos you can’t believe what they’re doing!”