ED Byrne has decided people annoy him. The comic, a familiar face to audiences of TV show Mock The Week, and self-proclaimed "grumpy old git", recently turned 40 and has decided that nearing middle age is the time for a spring clean.
So with a cry of "I am in my 40s, hear me roar" he is embarking on a new tour focussing on all the things which get his goat, and the people he just does not have time for.
"It's like a spring-clean of my life," he says. "I've come up with reasons why you can't be my friend. There are seven billion people on the planet and I only have the time to be friends with 10 of them and so I have to choose carefully."
How does he choose?
"It's the little things that annoy me," Ed explains.
"People who don't indicate on roundabouts, people who uses the phrase, 'touched a nerve there', or 'I'm just making conversation'."
In his new show, Roaring Forties, the Irishman turns his trademark mix of one-liners on subjects ranging from fatherhood and friendships to vasectomies and driving awareness courses .
"It's about getting older," he says. About being at an age where you're not really that old but no one thinks you're trendy anymore."
All this is not to say the father-of-two has lost his smile; in the flesh he is smart, funny and planning a big party for himself when the tour hits Glasgow, the city where he began his stand-up career 20 years ago.
Since that first show he has conquered both comedy and the small screen with two previous smash-hit tours – Crowd Pleaser and Different Class – under his belt along with appearances on both Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You.
He is also a sucker for a quiz, having appeared on Celebrity Family Fortunes, where his family won the jackpot, Celebrity Mastermind and competing on Celebrity Pointless.
So how has almost two decades in showbusiness changed him as a performer?
"One thing that has changed is that I now don't pretend to think something for the sake of a joke," he reflects.
"I mean there's always comic exaggeration and embroidering a story to make it funnier, but it's more true to my life now.
"I used to say I hated kids, for example, and it wasn't true – I've always loved kids and wanted to have them, but that wouldn't have fitted with the style of comic I was earlier in my career.
"I think being truthful makes it more chancy, but if I take an opinion and try to find a way to make it funny – even if people don't agree with me – I think it pays off because audiences know what's authentic."
Being the married father of two young sons, with his publicist wife, Claire, has given him lots of new things to talk about on stage, but does the family ever object to appearing in his materiel?
Ed says: "It's something that most comics experience.
"People know what you do for a living and then they complain when you mention them in the act, and I've certainly had at least one girlfriend in the past who objected.
"But my wife and my family are really funny and Claire understands what goes with the job.
"Actually she comes off very well and people say our relationship – very sparky, very joshing – comes across.
"I can't think of a time when she's said 'you can't use this', but if she did, I'd not use it."
On top of stand-up, Ed has a few acting ideas bubbling away, including a couple of plans for a sitcom, but for now he is roaring into his 40s still loving the job he has done for 20 years… complaining about what annoys him.
Veronica Lee and Chris Madden
