Edward Cathal Byrne[1] (born April 1972) is an Irish actor and comedian. He has presented the British television shows Just for Laughs and Uncut! Best Unseen Ads, has been a guest on numerous television panel games and has appeared on a number of television cooking shows.
Early life
Byrne was born in April 1972 in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in nearby Swords.[2] His father was a sheet-metal worker who became a supervisor, and his mother was a radiographer and lectured in radiography.[3]
Career
Stand-up comedy
Deciding to study horticulture at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, he was made entertainments convener at the Students' Union in his second year of study. Byrne also volunteered at the Student Association Welfare Office in his first year. Byrne started a comedy night called The Comedy Cellar in the basement of the 13th Note public house on Glassford Street, Glasgow. On the first night, Byrne appeared on the roster alongside Armando Iannucci's brother David. Over the following few months, acts booked included Ford Kiernan, Phil Kay, Greg Hemphill, Alan Francis and Alan Tyler. After a few months he gave up studying and headed to London. He was later booked to appear at The Comedy Cellar by new convenors Ford Kiernan and J.P. Leach.[4]
In 2006 he toured the UK, recording a DVD in Leeds entitled Pedantic and Whimsical, which was largely a "greatest hits" set of his material to date. He has also appeared in Father Ted and performed voice-over work in the Carphone Warehouse adverts. In February 2007 Byrne appeared on a comedians' special edition of Weakest Link. Byrne has performed eight sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and four sell-out UK tours. He has performed in Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.[5]
He has since garnered a raft of major broadcast credits, including five U.S. appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC). In July 2007, Byrne made his début at the Newbury Comedy Festival, having participated in the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny shortly before. He recorded a live DVD Different Class at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, on 23 March 2009, which was released on 23 November of that year.
On 15 September 2010, Byrne, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.[6]
Byrne frequently appeared on BBC stand-up comedy programme Mock the Week as the most frequent guest panellist, having appeared on 73 episodes during the show's run.
Byrne featured in a series of comedy shorts on the MSN Video Channel[9] in which he discusses some of his pet hates, including occasional smokers and his girlfriend's snoring. Byrne appeared in the second part of the BBC2 programme Three Men Go to Scotland on 30 December 2010 whilst hitching a ride to reach the Cuillin mountains on Skye for his Munro bagging attempt – climbing every mountain in Scotland over 3,000 feet (910 m).[10] On 31 March 2012, Byrne appeared on All Star Family Fortunes.
In January and February 2021 he was a contestant on BBC's Celebrity Best Home Cook.[16][17] Describing his signature dish, smokedpork ribs, Byrne said, "I cover them in a dry rub that I've been perfecting by trial and error for years, then shove them in a barrel smoker for about 10 hours, spraying them with apple juice and cider to keep them moist."[18] Byrne was described as "a reasonably strong participant" and was named as one of the judges' favourites in episode two.[19] He was eliminated, along with Karim Zeroual, in episode five, on 8 February.[20][21]
Byrne played the title character in the 2000 ITV adaptation of the pantomime Aladdin and had a small part in the 2000 comedy film Rat. In 2001 Byrne was the main character in an RTÉ-produced sitcom entitled The Cassidys. It was cancelled after one series.
In 2005 he starred in the film, Zemanovaload [cs]. The film is about John Davies (played by Byrne) who suffers from multiple obsessive compulsive disorders. When his current model girlfriend leaves him, he decides to replace her with the most attractive woman on the planet, Czech model Veronika Zemanová [fr]. The film follows his attempts to curb his old obsessions to meet his latest obsession – Veronika.
Byrne played the part of Luke Dyson in a comedy film set in London called Are You Ready For Love for which he won an Angel award at the Monaco Film Festival as best supporting actor.[22]
Byrne plays the part of Irish radio presenter Dylan Dale in the British feature film version of Tony Hawks' book Round Ireland with a Fridge which was released in September 2010 and on DVD on 8 November 2010.
In 2010, Byrne played Rob in the BBC television pilot Reunited.
Writing
Since 2011, Byrne has written a column for the hillwalking magazine TGO in which he tries a different outdoor activity each month in the company of an expert. He also had a column in the Metro newspaper until January 2012.[23]
Personal life
Byrne married theatre publicist Claire Walker in 2008. The couple live in Essex and have two sons.[24] Fellow comic Dara Ó Briain was best man at his wedding, returning the favour after Byrne was previously Ó Briain's best man in 2006.[25]
On 12 February 2022, Byrne announced via his Twitter account that his younger brother Paul had died aged 44 years old. He had also worked in comedy, as a writer, producer and director, developing work with Andrew Maxwell, Roisin Conaty, Glenn Wool, Sarah Keyworth and Sindhu Vee amongst others.[26][27]
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