It was only a couple of minutes after “Jason Byrne”:comic hit the stage of the Lower Town Hall that he began berating an Irish Tourist for not realising that it was Easter Sunday. The audience was howling with laughter at this unfortunate gentleman’s foolish admission, egged on by Jason’s playful jibing. This was Mr Byrne’s modus operandi, pounce upon a punter’s error and wail with over the top theatrics at their stupidity. I’ve heard it said that this is probably what people come to his shows for, laughing at others misfortune. They know not to sit near the front for it is better to be tormentor rather than tormented.
A case in point was Jason’s audience participation game ‘That’s not a roo’ in which two punters, in this case it was two teenage boys, play a version of snap using large photographs which may or may not show a kangaroo. This segment went on for far too long, with the majority of the playing time consumed by Jason chastising the boys for not following his vague rules. Another was his dodgy levitation trick where an audience member failed to correctly manipulate the props, leading to Jason constantly blaming the gent for ruining the obviously fraudulent trick. A large portion of Jason’s show comprised of this comedy of embarrassment and the audience ate it up.
When Jason wasn’t hassling people, he relayed some amusing stories to us, mainly about his life as a husband and father. These tales were told with enthusiasm and warmth but he could help slipping in a bit of cheeky innuendo. With the two boys in the front row, Jason seemed to be genuinely embarrassed whenever these slightly smutty comments emanated from his mouth. Perhaps being a father has softened him?
Jason Byrne is an expert at being quick on his feet when interacting with the audience. A lot of genuinely funny moments came from this improvisation but the biggest responses came from his vocal outrage at punters. He has tapped a vein of a primal form of aversion therapy and it is attracting many ravenous voyeurs.
Jason Byrne is performing Tues to Sun until April 29. Refer to the “Comedy Festival Website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/295/ for booking details.