Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne is in his Melbourne hotel room watching TV. "I'm sittin' in me room here watching Dr Phil, which I dispise," he groans. "The thing is, I couldn't switch it off because there's an episode about this stunt couple. They set their family on fire and ran around in circles in their garden, like, their kids and everything, just to get a fuckin' reality TV show!"

He professes to loving TV, but has little to say about our free-to-air selection. "The television I've been watchin' here in the hotel is shit. It's like sittin' in the 70s again, waitin' for something to come on," he says in his rapid-fire Irish accent.

Be assured that it's not all sloth during his downtime. In fact, he recently bought a bike while in the country as part of a new self-imposed fitness regime. "I've used that twice in, well, two weeks. It's always the same," he laughs, "I say I'm gonna go away to Australia and get really fit, and then you know...but my show is really physical anyway so I'm fuckin' exhausted from doing my show."

Byrne is now officially the most successful act in the history of the legendary Edinburgh Fringe Festival, having consistently sold more tickets than anyone ever, a fact that amazes him. "It's pretty cool," he says. "There's award ceremonies, and you get a trophy and you get a cheque when you win something. Well, for me selling out [Edinburgh] last year, the promoter bought me a pint." He breaks down in laughter. "I was going, ‘where's me trophy?'"

His shows are hectic, mad, improvised affairs, which often leave audiences wondering whether he prepares anything at all. "It's 80 percent material, 20 percent improv, at the highest," he says, adding that he revels in the improvised parts. "It excites me because I find I can get quite bored quite easy on stage. It keeps me on my toes and it definitely makes the show a whole lot funnier. I think with the nature of my comedy, and with the way it goes so fast on stage, I think people think im fuckin' mad."

It's only the second time he's played Sydney, and it's his first Sydney Comedy Festival. "Weird shit just follows me all the time, I guess that's why I do stand-up. Last year I went to Sydney, I thought I was doing a comedy festival, and I arrived at the Sydney Opera House, and I said ‘oh brilliant, so where are the rest of the guys, where's the festival?', and they told me and I was like, ‘What?' It was just me and Rich Hall for ten days. Nobody knew we were there, nobody."

This time round there should be more interest. He is keen to put on some good Sydney shows, the last of the tour, before flying home to be with his family. "I'm really looking forward to it," he says. "I'll be in great form. I can't wait, it's gonna be great." Alex Hargraves