COMEDIAN Ed Byrne became a father in December, a life-changing experience for any man.

So how does it feel to be a dad?

“Well, I have a lot more sympathy for air hostesses,” he replies. “They obviously know what happens if they don’t wake passengers up in the night to give them a drink and some food.”

You can probably expect a few more child gags for his latest tour Crowd Pleaser, which starts next month and runs for a staggering 60 dates all over the country, until the end of May. It will be at Ipswich Regent, St Helen’s Lane, Ipswich, on March 3 at 7.30pm.

Ed says: “I already have some stuff about my wife being pregnant and in my last show there was the getting married material, but you do think quite carefully about how you are going to tackle such topics and yet still say something new.”

That’s never been a problem for Ed.

Born in Dublin, from an early age Ed was interested in comedy.

He says: “I always quite fancied the idea of getting people laughing, but it wasn’t in that cliche way of trying to avoid the bullies. In actual fact, I think it attracted them, especially when you’re 13 and doing Monty Python – it doesn’t always come across well.”

After crossing the Irish Sea, Ed initially made his home in London, but now lives on the Essex/Hertfordshire border.

He has gradually built up a reputation as one of the most successful stand-ups working in the UK today.

Last weekend, Ed took part in the BBC’s Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, where his Billy Elliot-inspired, I Like To Boogie, lost out to Katie Price and Westcliff comedian Russell Kane.

Ed told us before the programme went out: “They suggested a couple of things and in the end there was a choice of three, all of which were OK.

“With most of them, there is always an element of silliness, but I’m fortunate my child is too young to be embarrassed by it just yet.”

His many TV appearances over the past couple of years have included hosting BBC 1’s Live At the Apollo and being a regular panellist on BBC 2’s Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You.

Good friends with fellow Irish comic Dara O’Briain, last year he got invited to take part in the hugely-popular Three Men in a Boat series, which stars Dara, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones.

The recording revealed one of Ed’s passions, Munro Bagging, the popular practice among hillwalkers to climb every mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000ft.

Ed says: “Dara has been a good friend for many years. It’s funny when we’re together and one of us gets recognised. They’ll look at us and go ‘hey it’s you’ and then notice the other one and it’s like their brain just can’t comprehend there’s the two of us just hanging out.

“I really enjoyed taking part in Three Men in a Boat. It’s all rather bizarre, because once it came out about the Munro Bagging, I started getting asked to do all kinds of interviews with these hiking magazines.

“That’s great, because I can just say to the wife, ‘oh I’ve got to do this publicity thing’ and then head off to the Lakes for a couple of days.”

Tickets for Crowd Pleaser are £22.50, call 01473 433100 or visit www. ipswich regent.com