Review: Jason Byrne, Southport Comedy Festival 2023
I’m writing this a day after watching Jason Byrne perform at Southport Comedy Festival and I’m still recovering from so much laughing.
He’s known as ‘The King of Southport Comedy Festival’ for very good reason.
This is one show that needs no promotion. Such is the quality of his act, and the devotion he has built up among his fans, Jason never needs to do any interviews ahead of the event, it’s not something that needs promoting through social media.
I was speaking with friends last week who said they had booked tickets for his show back in February when tickets were first announced, because they knew his show would sell out fast.
Jason Byrne is a real one-off as a stand-up comedian. A real-life whirlwind of hilarious gags, funny stories and priceless interactions with the crowd.
You’ve got to be brave to be a heckler at one of his gigs!
Despite being a huge fan of stand up comedy, and a huge fan of Southport Comedy Festival, I’ve bizarrely never seen Jason Byrne perform live until now – what was I thinking?
My wife and I came to enjoy the show and as we sat waiting for it to start, we wondered – does he have a support act? Does he have a compere such as Brendan Riley to get the crowd going?
The answer to both was a resounding no – he bounced onto stage like Tigger and had everyone in hysterics from minute one.
He didn’t need a support act or a host because his support act is the audience!
The best from Southport was ‘What do you do for a job?’ – ‘My job is looking for water’…
It was the gift that kept giving.
We also had the lad from Maghull; the 16-year-old out with his Mum and Dad; the Irish rugby fan and hotelier; the heckler who kept shouting ‘no!’; all became stars of his live sitcom in a quite brilliant way.
It’s the only comedy gig where you need to wear a seatbelt.
Jason Byrne brought his show The Ironic Bionic Man to Southport Comedy Festival.
It got its name because he was ‘born with a cock eye (then straightened), his lung collapsed (it was blown back up and sealed with metal pins), appendix removed, cartilage replaced in his knee from a poo-on-the-loo accident, arm dislocated by a wave, heart now functioning on six stents’.
The only pain in the room was from people laughing.
Some comedy acts you see run from scripts which are crafted, honed with practise and precision.
This show contains some favourite (true) stories – the one about the explosion in the Guinness factory was amazing.
But Jason’s improvisation skills and his interactions with the audience, such as his on-the-spot imaginary conversations between the new Irish hotelier and his Scouse hotel staff, were simply genius.
An extraordinary comedian at his very best.
- Southport Comedy Festival in association with Halliwell Jones BMW takes place from 29th September to 15th October 2023 under canvas at Victoria Park in Southport. Book tickets at: the Southport Comedy Festival website
Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Do you need advertising, PR or media support? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrownn@gmail.com
