Self-confessed 'moany bollix' Jason Byrne is making it his New Year's resolution to be less like his da, but the kids are driving him mad. He talks Padraic O'Connor ahead of his gig in Galway tonight Given his childlike exuberance on stage, you would think Jason Byrne would be the first person bounding around in the snow with his sons (aged 3 and 10). But they are driving him mad.

"They're only after coming in from the snow with their mates, they've taken off their sopping wet coats, jeans, socks and they want to go back out again, now," he moans.

Jason's been on holidays since before Christmas. His last show was for the staff at Old Trafford. For a Man Utd fan like Jason, this was a big thing, as Sir Alex Ferguson was supposed to be there, but he didn't show up.

"Something about not being in the humour for it because he didn't have any defenders for Boxing Day!"

Jason's inspired, original brand of high-energy lunacy ensures that there is no other comedian like him. His fast, freewheeling style, fused with an array of offbeat props, makes his act a helter-skelter of a show where the audience are promised the ride of their lives. He has been one of the fastest selling performers at the last 13 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, constantly plays to packed houses throughout Ireland and the UK and has had sell out shows in Melbourne for the past five years.

So is 2010 looking like another busy year?

Yeah, I've just started a run of shows and I'm always writing new material, whether it's for stand-up, TV or radio. I'm heading out to Australia again this year in March, so I'm putting together a new hour-long show for that now.

Will you be in Oz for long? Will your family get over to you at any stage?

I'll be there for six weeks this year. I'd like it if my family could come out, but the youngest fella hates travelling. My other son is ten and he might come out with my wife… two of the weeks I'm there are his Easter holidays. I'd want to be careful though; the last time he came to Australia to see me, he was jetlagged for a week back at school!

It's your first time playing in Roisin Dubh?

Yeah, it is. I've played in different venues before in Galway. But I was down for the Galway Comedy Festival last October and popped in to the Roisin to see Reginald D Hunter. The minute I got in I thought, ‘Aw yeah, I'd love to play here!' So I said to Kevin Healy, ‘You have to let me play here Kev?' to which he gracefully replied, ‘But I'm always asking you to play here!'

So would you prefer more intimate venues like Róisin Dubh to the bigger theatres?

It's not that I prefer smaller venues to larger venues, but you can certainly try out new stuff easier in the intimate venues... it's easier to expand on the crazy ideas.

But I like the bigger venues too. Vicar Street holds 1,200 people but feels very cosy and I just did Live At The Apollo for the BBC before Christmas and played to over 3,500 people… that was amazing! But my best memories of gigs are definitely from smaller venues where everyone's on top of everyone… that helps create the madness!

You're doing a lot of work with the BBC now?

Well I seem to have been taken into the BBC radio family, as they've given me a third series to write this year. It's like a collection of stand-up shows with a different theme each week… food, education. To get a second series from the BBC is mad, to get a third is unheard of! And I'm writing a one-off episode of TV sitcom. If they like that they'll decide if they want to make it into a series. The BBC is a mad place to work; they literally have a floor of writers working there and if you're stuck on something you just pop in and go ‘Help me out here guys!'

Do you enjoy all the TV and radio work as much as the stand-up?

I love radio because of the restrictions – for one thing, you can't curse, tough for me - but you have a lot of time to perfect your show. So it's a major compliment when you get it right. With TV, you're much more open. There's very little pre-production in TV compared to radio.

Any New Year's resolutions?

Just to be more positive. I'm a moany bollix and I'm turning into me Da. So I'm trying to smile more, which can be hard when it's the misery that gives us comedians a lot of our laughs!

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