Jason Byrne – The People’s Puppeteer

I first saw Jason Byrne in Edinburgh on Pappy’s panel show earlier this year. He proved a fantastically witty improviser, “Your mammy is broken” being a phrase now oft repeated in my house (I’m the Mammy). I had high expectations. It’s called the People’s Puppeteer because he plays with the audience much like a compere, juggling responses into echoes and callbacks with hilarious results. The first half was best, as Brighton created a chaos which Byrne barely controlled. A man called Jonathan almost stole the show. Some bits missed – playing with a sleeping wife is a touchy subject, even with big fake hands – but Byrne convulsed all with filthy jokes at the end and the people left laughing with strings happily pulled.

Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, 13 October 2012

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