Laughing Matters re-presented
the first Irish comedian to perform in Italy
twice
the effervescent Perrier nominated & recently married
Jason Byrne

Perrier Award Nominee

video from this show

Sunday 16 & Monday 17 January 2005



Comedians - especially Irish ones - love to give the impression that they've just, you know, kind of wandered in from the bar to do their set. With Jason Byrne, you wonder if it might actually be true.
He was probably born knowing how to make people laugh.
Byrne arrived on a stage laden with props (half of which he didn't use) and within 10 minutes had delivered a seemingly unrehearsed tirade on farmers, supermodels, American tourists and baby seals.
Few comics are as relentlessly physical. He used the entire width and depth of the stage as he prowled around, searching for his next target. His non-stop patter gives the impression that he's permanently on the verge of some kind of mental meltdown. But it doesn't take long to realise that it's really just the side-effect of a lightning-fast brain. Byrne has the same rare gift as the late Bill Hicks for effortlessly pulling comic riffs from whatever happens to be on hand (or in the audience) on the night.
Maxton Walker, The Guardian

"Then he stands in front of an audience for more than 20 seconds, they begin to laugh out loud - and they don’t stop until he goes away" The Independent

"Jason Byrne is the best comedian in Ireland. A truly original performer who has managed to harness his innate sense of anarchy and turn it into breathtakingly inspired stagecraft" The Evening Herald

"Jason Byrne is a truly unique experience, and quite simply one of the finest and most daring comedians around. Unmissable." Glasgow Herald

"If you are not on the floor helpless with laughter, you are probably dead" The List

"A comedy star of absurd proportions- unmissable" The Irish Independent


Laughing Matters presented the first Irish comedian to perform in Italy
Jason Byrne


Sunday 30 November & Monday 1 December 2003

There's no stopping this comedy caper.
After a full house on sunday come monday they threw all they could at us,
rain, more rain, an 8 hour transport strike...
that lasted 24 hours, they took away the taxis and still the monday night show went on...
how we made it to the Scimmie was a miracle
but boy was it worth the effort.

With as much explosive energy as a medium-sized thermonuclear device, Byrne unleashes a non-stop tirade of indignant fury that steamrollers his audience into submission. This fast-talking Irishman rages against anything and everything, seamlessly incorporating off-the-cuff comments about the night with topics that have clearly troubled his mind for some time.But he's no angry young man railing against the system, rather he cuts a Basil Fawltyish figure, driven to the brink of insanity by trivial everyday frustrations. And how powerful that mock fury is, the sheer force of his performance compelling even the most reluctant of audiences to listen in thorough absorption.Without that force, the quality of the material might not stand up to much scrutiny - but you are honestly too engrossed, and too busy laughing, to care.