Comedy Festival 2012: Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival begins this weekend bringing local and international comic heroes to our stages. Here, Jason Byrne talks about his forthcoming shows.

Your show in 10 words or less:

High energy, improv, heavily written, audience participation, eight, nine, 10.

Will we have heard any of the jokes before?

Only the one about the Irish guy living with a New Zealander in a cage in the mountains with a duck with a limp.

So, why should we go to your show instead of saving our money for Flight of the Conchords in July?

Because when you buy tickets for my show, you get a free Flight of the Conchords ticket.

What is your pre-show ritual?

To lick the sweat off my tour manager's back. He has magical powers, or at least that's what he tells me.

Is dying on stage a rite of passage for a comedian or something to be avoided at all costs?

Death can never be avoided no matter what passage you take, rite or wring.

Are members of the audience fair game? Or should they be treated with respect at all times?

I'm used to gigging in Tibet, so I normally have holy monks at my gig and I'm used to treating them with respect - so yes, an audience, as long as it's holy monks, must be treated with respect at all times.

If you were a superhero who would you be?

Red Bastard fly guy.

For those of you who don't have a musical aspect to your show ... how do you compete with all those clever dicks offering the double whammy of musical comedy?

I play men's testicles with special sticks as a finale.

Who will you be heading along to see during the festival?

Um, I don't know who's in the festival.

From: Ireland
In: People's Puppeteer
When and where: Rangatira at Q Theatre, 9pm, May 1-5

-TImeOut