Ed Byrne's up for a laughs when he comes to Blackpool Grand Theatre

Viewers may know the witty Irish comedian as a regular on Mock the Week and for appearances on The Graham Norton Show and even Top Gear, where he tackled some of the world's 'most dangerous roads'.

However, stand-up allows him to get into full flow and there is a chance to catch him live at Blackpool Grand Theatre on Friday February 18, starting at 8pm.

It's part of his national tour with the latest show, titled 'If I'm honest'.

With 25 years in professional comedy under his belt, Ed has developed a highly evolved story-telling ability and a silky mastery of his craft.

Yet his self-deprecatory observational humour is often underpinned by a consistently hilarious vitriol and sense of injustice at a world that seems to be spinning ever more rapidly out of control.

The tricky issue of gender politics is just one issue he alights on without fear and he says: "‘I’ll admit that there are things where men get a raw deal.

‘We have higher suicide rates, and we tend not to do well in divorces.

"The problem with men’s rights activists is that it’s not about speaking up for men’s rights, it’s about hating women.

"If you’re a men’s rights activist, you’re not going to care about the fact that there’s an all-female Ghostbusters remake.

"That’s nothing to do with men’s rights or female entitlement. That’s everything to do with being, well, a whiny baby."

Ed's comedy trick is to be able to to provoke without being overly polemical, a balancing act that comes with experience.

He says: "‘I did stuff about Trump and the Pizzagate right wing conspiracy and a couple of the reviewers said, “Oh, I would have liked to have watched a whole show of this”.

"And I think, ‘well you might have, but the average person who comes to see me would not like to see that’.

"I like to make a point or get something off my chest, or perhaps I’m talking about something that’s been on my mind, but the majority of stuff is just to get laughs.

"People who come to see me are not political activists necessarily, they’re regular folk."

Since the pandemic hit and live comedy stalled, Ed has done a few socially-distanced gigs as well as some on Zoom and he cannot wait to get back on the road properly.

It will have been 18 months since he last performed a tour date and he says: “I’ll have to see what still works and what doesn’t. I’ve missed doing stand-up the most

during this lockdown.

"No-one told me ‘you’re not going to be touring for 18 months’ or I would have planned it better!"

For more information about Ed's nationwide tour, visit http://edbyrne.com/To book tickets at Blackpool Grand Theatre visit: https://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/event/ed-byrne-if-im-honest