Ed Byrne (comedian)

Edward Cathal Byrne (born 16 April 1972) is an Irish actor and comedian. He has presented the British television shows Just for Laughs and Uncut! Best Unseen Ads, has been a guest on numerous television panel games and has appeared on a number of television cooking shows. Byrne was born on 16 April 1972 in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland, to Jill and Eddie Byrne, the third of four children. Deciding to study horticulture at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, he was made entertainments convener at the Students' Union in his second year of study. Byrne also volunteered at the Student Association Welfare Office in his first year. Byrne started a comedy night called The Comedy Cellar in the basement of the 13th Note public house on Glassford Street, Glasgow. On the first night, Byrne appeared on the roster alongside Armando Iannucci's brother David. Over the following few months, acts booked included Ford Kiernan, Phil Kay, Greg Hemphill, Alan Francis and Alan Tyler. After a few months he gave up studying and headed to London. He was later booked to appear at The Comedy Cellar by new convenors Ford Kiernan and J.P. Leach. After building up his act on observational comedy, Byrne was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2006 he toured the UK, recording a DVD in Leeds, entitled Pedantic and Whimsical, which was largely a "greatest hits" set of his material to date. He has also appeared in Father Ted, and performed voice-over work in the Carphone Warehouse adverts. In February 2007 Byrne appeared on a comedians' special edition of Weakest Link. Byrne has performed eight sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and four sell-out UK tours. He has also developed huge success on the international circuit where he has performed to full capacity audiences in Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. He has since garnered a raft of major broadcast credits, including five U.S. appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC).