Steve Byrne (born July 21, 1974) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He is best known from his multiple stand up comedy hour specials; creating, writing, and starring in '' Sullivan & Son''; and as the writer/director of the feature film '' The Opening Act''.

Early life and education

Byrne was born in Freehold, New Jersey. Byrne grew up in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania, and went to Hampton High School. He graduated from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County, Ohio, Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 United States ...

. His mother is Korean and his father is of Irish descent. Byrne has a younger brother, William.

Career

Byrne was exposed to stand up comedy while working at the comedy club Caroline's in New York City. The first time he got on stage was at Stand Up New York on September 30, 1997. In 2003, Byrne filmed the documentary film ''13 or Bust'', where he did 13 shows in one night at every comedy club in Manhattan, breaking the record for most sets in one night by a comedian. His ''

Comedy Central Presents ''Comedy Central Presents'' is an American stand-up comedy television series created for Comedy Central. It is the network's main half-hour program which highlights either one or a series of stand-up comedians each episode. In 2011, the series ...

'' Half Hour Special premiered in 2006 and was voted the seventeenth-most-popular ''

'' by fans as part of the Standup Showdown on comedycentral.com. That same year, he did a show for Comedy Central and the troops at Ft. Irwin in 2006. Byrne has participated in USO tours of Afghanistan in June 2008, Japan and Guam in July 2009 and Afghanistan again in 2010. He has had small parts in several films: '' The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard'', starring

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series '' Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the Britis ...

and produced by

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

; '' Four Christmases'', starring

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for starring as a leading man in numerous comedy films during the late 1990s and 2000s. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award ...

and

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; and '' Couples Retreat'', starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. Byrne had a one-hour special on Comedy Central in 2008 titled ''Steve Byrne's Happy Hour''. In 2010, he had another one-hour special on Comedy Central titled ''The Byrne Identity''. He filmed his third hour special Feb. 8th in New York City in 2014, called ''

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

'', for

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. In early 2011, he toured on The Comedy Road Show with Vince Vaughn and

Kevin James Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), known professionally as Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. He began his career by performing stand-up comedy at clubs on Long Island in the 1980s. He rose to prominence for his portrayal ...

to promote the film ''

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''. In the summer of 2011, he toured on The New Majority Tour with

Lisa Lampanelli Lisa Lampanelli (born Lisa Marie Lampugnale; July 19, 1961) is an American former stand-up comedian, actress, and insult comic. Early life and journalism career Lampanelli was born in Trumbull, Connecticut, to a middle-class family. Three of h ...

Gabriel Iglesias Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… I'm Fluffy'', and ''Ho ...

and

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born 29 September 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' Forbes Celebrity 100, list o ...

. Byrne wrote and created with Rob Long the comedy '' Sullivan & Son'' on TBS that premiered in the summer of 2012. A second season that aired in summer of 2013. The show had an average of 2.4 million viewers per episode and was brought back for a third season with 13 episodes slated for summer of 2014. Byrne toured with the other comedians and co-stars of the show Owen Benjamin, Ahmed Ahmed and Roy Wood Jr. in support of ''Sullivan & Son'' in 2015. He moved to California in 2016 to move closer to his family. In October 2017, Byrne was the supporting act for The Tenderloins in their "Impractical Jokers: Where's Larry? Tour". Byrne spent the early part of 2018 directing a documentary about Las Vegas headliner, magician and comedian

The Amazing Johnathan John Edward Szeles (September 9, 1958 – February 22, 2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American comedian and Magician (illusion), magician. His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specifi ...

, entitled ''Always Amazin. The documentary won best documentary film at the Sydney Lift Off Festival, Special Mention at Los Angeles Lift Off Festival, and was screened at Hollywood Now Festival, All Things Comedy Festival and Vancouver Just for Laughs Film Festival. ''Always Amazing'' was released in 2019 for free on YouTube. From 2017–2018, Byrne wrote a script while on the road about his early years in stand up comedy, which eventually became '' The Opening Act''. Byrne also directed the film, which was released October 16, 2020. Byrne has had several television appearances. He was featured on the NBC series ''

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'' and a featured comedian on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'' appearing ten times. He has made appearances on ''

Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...

'', '' Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn'', ''

@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') is an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...

'', The History Channel's "History of the Joke," Mad TV's 300th episode and Super Bowl promos on CBS with

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and again with Bill Cowher. His stand-up has been featured on '' The Late Late Show'', ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with '' ...

'',

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's '' ComicView'', ABC's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' as well as

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's '' Premium Blend''. He has appeared on the Showtime comedy series ''Live Nude Comedy'' and shot a pilot for the G4 Network based on a Japanese Game Show called ''Drunken Businessman''. He also was the winner of the

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Standup Or Sitdown competition on TBS. Byrne has been a featured comic in The Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Las Vegas the TBS Very Funny Festivals in Chicago and Toronto and The CanWest Comedy Fest in Vancouver. He has been part of several national comedy tours including The Jameson Comedy Tour, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Tour, and The Camel Cigarettes Sin City Tour, and his own national

tour. He has opened for musical acts

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

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on her Charmbracelet Tour,

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Puddle of Mudd Puddle of Mudd is an American post-grunge band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992. The band has sold over seven million albums. Their major-label debut, '' Come Clean'' (2001), spawned the single " Blurry", which peaked at number 5 on the ...

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, Rev. Horton Heat, and

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

. Byrne has toured with The Kims of Comedy with

Bobby Lee Robert Young Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. Lee co-hosts the podcasts Bad Friends (podcast), ''Bad Friends'' with Andrew Santino and ''TigerBelly'' with Khalyla Kuhn. From 2001 to 2009, ...

of Mad TV and

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

of NBC's ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'' and ''

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''.

Personal life

Byrne is married and has two children. In 2020 Byrne and his family moved from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

References

External links

* *

at

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Steve Byrne
at

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Pittsburgh PG articleSteve Byrne funny podcast interview
on The Gentlemen's Club with Caleb Bacon
Levity Entertainment GroupSteve Byrne interview with SanDiego.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Steve 1974 births 21st-century American comedians American stand-up comedians Living people American people of Irish descent American male actors of Korean descent Comedians from Pittsburgh Male actors from Pittsburgh Kent State University alumni Comedians from Monmouth County, New Jersey Male actors from New Jersey People from Freehold Township, New Jersey American male comedians Actors from Monmouth County, New Jersey