Since Mock the Week was (rather brutally) axed last November, it feels like many of the show’s staple guests have disappeared into the nether – at least, until the Edinburgh Fringe comes around.
Ed Byrne is one such comic, but what he has to offer is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen at the Fringe before.
That’s because his one-hour stand-up show Tragedy Plus Time is, quite literally, as Byrne puts it himself, “about the worst thing that’s ever happened” to him. Not in a funny, self-deprecating way, but in a manner that is genuinely reflective and – surprisingly, for a comedy show – deeply emotional.
Tragedy Plus Time explores the death of Byrne’s brother, the bond they shared and how that bond thrived through comedy, with the Edinburgh Fringe being a central element to the story.
It also raises questions about the pandemic, lockdowns, and the figures who stood in power and watched over so many unnecessary deaths – Byrne illustrates this perfectly by comparing the treatment his brother received under the NHS pre-pandemic and during.
The show ultimately asks: How are we supposed to deal with grief? While it might seem strange to process grief by writing a lengthy stand-up routine about what is arguably the darkest moment in your life, that’s precisely Byrne’s point.
Because, really, there is no single way to deal with grief.
As Byrne was getting into the swing of things, I felt he was diving between jokes without really settling, doing the typical comic cliché: Let me tell you about something that definitely (didn’t) happen to me today.
Yet as the show progressed, I understood exactly why Byrne was doing this; humour often serves as a coping mechanism for grief, and Byrne was simply demonstrating this.
Byrne was exceptionally engaged with the audience, who genuinely hung onto his every word – particularly towards the end of the show, where he talks about reconnecting with family.
There were moments where it felt Byrne was affected by the story he was telling; it was like he was processing it in real-time while the audience was listening.
To turn something so awful such as the death of a loved one into a story that is, at its heart, a celebration of the relationship you shared with someone is truly a gift.
And to do it so eloquently but also to make it so funny? I could never have imagined I would be laughing at jokes about someone’s dead brother, but it almost felt healing.
The only drawback came towards the end of the show. The whole hour was spent building up to this idea of ‘the worst joke’ Byrne has ever told an audience, and when the joke landed, it didn’t feel as funny as I thought it might be.
Instead, I found that Byrne’s use of multimedia – particularly sharing messages exchanged with his brother, although the YouTube death notice also deserves a shout-out – was the funniest and most enlightening insight into their bond.
I could not recommend this show enough. I left the theatre reflecting on relationships in my own life and thinking how wonderful it is for humans to connect with each other in the way they do.
Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time runs August 8-13, 15-27 at 21:30 at Assembly Rooms – Music Hall.
Image by Roslyn Gaunt, provided to The Student as press material.