Ed Byrne: How a rude barman made me famous in New Zealand

Comic was threatened with a lawsuit for talking about him

comedy Ed Byrne has credited his success in New Zealand to a surly barman who threatened to sue the comic for calling him rude on stage.

The comic made the headlines there in the mid-1990s over the incident, which he says made him famous.

Speaking to Toby Tarrant on Radio x this morning, he said: ‘The first time I went out there, I got in trouble in a bar.

‘I was in a bar called the East Side Bar, and the barman was just the rudest barman I have ever come across in my life. And I told him so, basically, and was thrown out. One of the things he said to me was, "You’re in the wrong country."

‘I mentioned it on stage the following night, it turns out that this guy was just known as a really rude guy. So I started slagging him off on stage; he threatened to sue. And bearing in mind New Zealand is a place where so little happens that they invented bungee jumping – it made the news!

‘So it sold the tour out! And then I went back year on year. So yeah, that was my first time there. I don’t know, controversy just sold tickets, so I’ve been going back ever since.’

Byrne agreed the barman did him a favour, adding: ‘Nobody remembers that now in New Zealand. But people go, "That Irish comic strangely does well here, doesn’t he? I can’t remember what first brought him to our attention."’

Tarrant is sitting in for Chris Moyles on the Radio X breakfast show, which airs weekdays from 6:30am to 10am and on Global Player.

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Published: 11 Jul 2024