Ed Byrne - Different Class

This evening doesn’t conform to a typical preview performance. While other comics face audiences of empty seats and stony journalists this weekend, Byrne holds a full-capacity Assembly Hall in the palm of his hand. The applause accompanying his entrance is thunderous, and the comic himself is never anything less than totally at ease.

Bemoaning the box-office failures and arbitrary promotional deadlines of this year’s Fringe thus far, Ed Byrne opens by explaining that the show isn’t really about class. While Byrne’s genial self-examination of his social roots does provide a useful narrative around which to base his material, the real subject of tonight’s performance is his passage into middle age. His confused encounters with old and young, and the recent wedding to his oft-featured girlfriend, form the backbone of a set which the be-suited Byrne rattles off with fluency and confidence.

Byrne's material is safer than that delivered in his previous Fringe outings – no mention of "fanny batter" here. No doubt this is a sign of a comic with his eye firmly on enhancing his already wide appeal. His cheery self-deprecation, incredulous delivery and easy rapport with the audience bring more than a few to their feet on his exit, as the set climaxes with a classic gag about his (almost) botched proposal. Byrne’s youthful demeanour belies an enormous experience in performing stand-up; performances of this caliber should further consolidate his household celebrity.