Get set for a full-on, gasping-for-oxygen hilarious evening this Friday, as one of the biggest Irish comedians takes centrestage in Bengaluru for the first time. The biggest selling act in the history of the Edinburgh Festival, Jason Bryne will be performing two shows at the MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield. He has appeared on countless television shows and has had a successful radio career and speaks of nothing out of the ordinary, but his strength of character and delivery creates a fantastic hour of comedy. Here’s some straight talk with the man himself.
His fans confess that watching him live is like witnessing lightening in a bottle. Brit comedy is known to have a certain sense of sarcasm and wry humour. So what’s Jason’s style, we ask and he states, “I think my brain is wired differently. When I go onstage I’m not sure what I’m going to do and when I come off I don’t know how I did it. Bengaluru audience can look forward to having the best fun they’ve ever had and afterwards not being able to explain it to their friends.”
So what prep work goes behind the scenes before the shows, we ask and Jason reveals, “My tour manager and I recreate the penalty shootout between Ireland and Romania in the 1990 World cup 2nd Round. He plays the Romanian goalkeeper and I play Ireland goalscorer David O’Leary. It relaxes me.”
Recalling one of his most memorable performances, the outright king of live comedy quips, “I once did a gig in front of Prince Charles in my underwear. It was the Royal Variety performance when I came on stage on a wrecking ball like Miley Cyrus. Camilla loved it, but then she is married to Charles so it wouldn’t take much to be the highlight of her day.”
Of his AGP World tour, Jason who loves to interact with the audience during his shows and talk of revisiting his comedy roots where he manages to find ducks, false chins, portable igloos, bewildered owls, dolphins and more states, “It’s my first time doing stand-up in India. I did tour India when I was in the Beatles. My partner Ashvin Gidwani is managing my brand in India and I’m very excited about performing in Bengaluru. I first tried comedy over 20 years ago. I took it up professionally because nobody would believe my lies about being in The Beatles. There was the time on a TV set I sat around for 10 hours completely bored to do one shot that took two minutes. Or the time I sat around on a film set for 12 hours completely bored before someone said ‘Oh we’ve lost the light, you’ll have to come back tomorrow’. Ah the Craic! My friends and family expect me to be a moany old man because I think I’ve earned that right.”
