Paul Byrne was a lot of things to a lot of people. A talented comedy director and stand up fixer, he was loved by so many.
But to me, he was my pain-in-the-arse little brother and I will miss him so much.
RIP Paul Byrne 1977-2022
Thank you all for the lovely messages of condolence. Too many to respond to directly, they have been a big help.
Normal service will be resumed eventually and Iβll go back to boring you all with photographs of me holding beers as soon as I can.
My mother, my wife and my kids are all at the local carol service. My Dad and I are watching βAir crash Investigationβ. Truly, this is what Christmas Eve is all about.
Congratulations 2022. Despite stiff competition from 2020 and 2021, you have managed to be the absolute worst year of my life. Canβt wait to put you in my rear view, you evil bastard.
Come on 2023! Letβs be pals.
At Stansted Airport waiting for my parents. I havenβt seen them, they havenβt seen their grandchildren, since Feb 2020. Pretty damn excited right now.
Obviously, you should marry whoever you happen to fall in love with. Iβm just saying, if you snag yourself a Derbyshire farmerβs daughter, your chances of enjoying a scenic New Yearβs Eve increase dramatically.
Happy New Year from The Peak District.
In the car with the kids the other day. They start picking apart songs for not making sense.
βBut there arenβt 8 days in a weekβ
βHow can you have purple rain?β
I finally had to say, βTheyβre song lyrics. Theyβre not meant to be taken literally!β
Isnβt it Ironic
Here's a little thread about something I discovered about my Dad over the weekend.
I was back at my folks' house in Dublin and I noticed a photo on the wall that hadn't been there before. It was of my Dad in his 20s standing next to an odd metal structure.
For most people the period between Christmas and New Year can be weirdly uneventful but today I became the father of a teenager. Quite the βred letterβ day.
Tonight I have my first professional engagement for four months. Iβve never gone this long without performing stand up since I started 27 years ago. I am positively giddy with excitement.
This is me absolutely geeking out with the original Arthur Dent and the actual dressing gown from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy TV show. I was in sci fi nerd heaven.
I really wish I had it in me to simply rejoice in a victory for Irish women, but I canβt help but delight in this being a defeat some of the most despicable people in Ireland. Fuck you, Mc Guirk, you lost!
I love meat.
I pride myself on my barbecue skills.
I think pork is particularly tasty.
I also think anyone complaining about the production of a vegan sausage roll is a total bellend.
I contain multitudes.
So, there hangs, in The Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC a chandelier, gifted to the US by the Irish government, and my Dad made it AND HE NEVER MENTIONED IT ONCE IN THE 47 YEARS I'VE KNOWN HIM.
If you still havenβt registered to vote Iβm not sure a word from a mid level 40something comedian is the push you need, but here it is anyway.
@vfyf2019
PS Iβm in the passenger seat. Iβm not filming and driving.
I just called myself a moron and then apologised to myself when I realised I hadnβt made the mistake I thought I had made.
Apologised to myself.
Literally said, βSorry. I shouldnβt have called you a moronβ to myself.
The worst thing is it actually made me feel better.
The planner on our kitchen wall makes me feel like Iβm being taunted from another dimension by a happier version of myself. Heβs full of tales of skiing holidays, drinks with friends and lucrative stand-up gigs. I hate the smug prick.
HMRC, sensing I needed a laugh, have just sent me a tax bill from an alternate universe where my earnings for this year were the same as they were last year. Ha ha ha ha ha!
Iβve just spent 4 days hiking around the Scottish Highlands surrounded by incredible scenery. Summitted 8 munros, walked about 50 miles and climbed almost the equivalent of Everest.
I shouldnβt be this happy about the two lousy badges this has earned me on Garmin Connect.
Slinking around the kitchen in my pants singing, βI am a man in his pantsβ to the tune of Barbara Streisandβs βWoman in Loveβ, just in case you wanted to know exactly how lucky my wife is.
Itβs come to my attention that a lot of the tickets for my tour say that latecomers wonβt be admitted. This is absolute nonsense. If you are late, donβt worry. You can still come in.
I might take the piss, though.
I am currently in a cab on my way home from recording an episode of Mock The Week and I genuinely donβt know if one of the jokes I made was met with silence because
A) The audience didnβt know what the IMF had said
B) The audience didnβt know who EMF are
C) The joke was shit
More fallout from Apple's decision to stop selling its products in Russia
"Here's our response to American sanctions! We don't fear you! We'll live without your nice 'pretty' things!"
Why are you sad, Daddy?
Well son, you hear this woman on the radio singing about how she used to be young? Well, when Daddy was young, that womanβs Daddy was on the radio. So now Daddy feels very old indeed.
In other news. This is my first day of taking medication for ADHD. I scored 33 and 30 on
#popmaster
and got the 3 in 10. Hardly a scientific study, but this bodes well.
Just had to change the password on my Disney+ account. Thing is, I never would have known Iβd been hacked if the guy hadnβt changed the language settings and set up a profile for his kid, Mathias. That was a bonehead move on his part.
My 8YO gave me a card with a No.1 Father of the Year rosette on it. I was standing next to my father-in-law at the time and couldnβt resist waving it in his face and saying, βThereβs always next yearβ
Itβs my birthday on Friday. Iβm not going to say how old I am, but Iβm thinking of treating myself to a mitre saw so that should give you a rough idea.
Really sorry for those close to Ken Dodd for their tragic loss.
Really happy for Ken Dodd, who got to live to be 90 and was still doing the job he loved right til the end.
In case you havenβt heard, that new film βStan and Ollieβ, really is very good indeed. Although, it might make you cry a tiny bit.
Not that it made me cry.
Iβm just saying it might make YOU cry.
It didnβt make me cry at all.
*sniff*
Me: Check it out. According to my garmin watch my fitness age is 20. Maybe I should give Leonardo DiCaprio a call.
My wife: Go for it. Ask him if he knows anyone who can fix your broken garmin watch.
Hi everyone, Iβm afraid I bear some sad news. Most of you will know Dave has been fighting cancer for the past couple of years. Last night, on 28th February 2024, with Lili, Daveβs wife, his family, close friend DavidΒ and myself by his side, he passed away peacefully at home. All
Edinburgh! Itβs been a blast. Easily the most emotional Fringe Festival Iβve experienced, but those emotions have been largely positive. Good luck to those crazy fools doing a show tonight.
When I was a very new comic (barely making a living) I was rendered suddenly and temporarily homeless (bad break up). Stewart Lee, a man I had only met a handful of times, let me crash in his spare room for two weeks.
In your particular field, who really helped you out when you were starting out? Like took you under their wind or did you a massive favour or was dead nice when you were unsure about yourself?
Just before the final joke of tonightβs show Iβm distracted by a weird noise that could be a siren, could be a phone ringing. Turns out itβs a woman in the audience who has an alarm that reminds her to take her tablets.
Funniest moment of the show!
Always odd when you post something benign/banal about going for a jaunt up a mountain, then have wee scroll and realise how out of place that tweet is going to look amid the political commentary about the latest constitutional crisis.
For the past few days Iβve been doing some DIY/building projects around my home and the glacial speed with which I am progressing has really hammered home to me just how hopelessly unemployable I would be if it werenβt for comedy.