Interview: Dylan Moran, comedian

THE last time Dylan Moran appeared at the Playhouse – with a sellout show in 2009 – our reviewer was gushing in his praise for the affable Irishman in the next again day’s Evening News.

“A show featuring more comic gems in one performance than most comedians on the Fringe will produce in their entire run,” read the review. “Rarely have the rafters of the Playhouse shook so dangerously to the sound of 
laughter.”

It’s been a while, but the tousle-headed comic is back at the Greenside Place venue next Thursday – and he can’t wait.

Moran, who has lived in Edinburgh for more than a decade now, didn’t play his adopted city on his last tour, and that made him all the more determined to squeeze in a couple of dates this year.

“That’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this show,” says the 40-year-old, who first came to public attention after winning TV’s So You Think You’re Funny, before going on to take comedy’s then premier prize, the Perrier Award.

“It was by accident more than anything else. I was going to play here, and then I didn’t. But hey, I’m doing it now!”

The comedian, who is best known for his role in the sitcom Black Books, and for his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run, brings hit show Yeah Yeah to the Capital.

After its sellout tour, Yeah Yeah went on to spawn a bestselling DVD – and it turns out that could come in very handy.

Laughing, he explains, “I don’t remember all of the show – just bits of it. Guess I’m going to have to watch it again to find out what it is I’m supposed to be talking about.

“It’s not all going to be 
relevant now anyway – unless the London Riots happen again.

“There’s a lot of new material in there too that I’ve never performed before.”

So what’s it about?

“It’s about everything, really.” says Moran. “It’s about what happens in the world but also all the important stuff that happens across your kitchen table.

“I suppose it’s about the same things I always talk about,” he adds. “The big things like family, death, love, sex. Shopping. The kind of things we all go through every day.”

Asked what he’d like the audience to come away from his show feeling and he pauses a moment, before saying, “I just want people to have a good time and laugh a lot.

“You can’t guarantee that for every person in the building – but that’s what I’m aiming for.

“Sometimes you have a great evening but you can’t remember specifically why.”

Now one of the biggest names in comedy, Moran is well used to going out on long tours. And all that mileage, he admits, can take its toll.

“It can be tricky when you’re 50 gigs into a tour – because you do start feeling it,” he says.

“There’s a lot of flying and criss-crossing the country, going back and forth to places you’ve already been to.”

So there’s a bit of wear and tear involved – but he just tries to keep himself occupied when he’s out on the road.

“You write and read and draw,” he says.

“I also go to galleries wherever I am... not even fussy, I’ll just go to whatever they’ve got.”

• Dylan Moran, The Playhouse, Greenside Place, Aug 23, 8pm, £24, 0131-226 0000.

• Going to see Dylan Moran? Tweet a review to @edinburghpaper using the hash tag #EENreview