Stand-up comedian veteran Steve Byrne (writer/director of The Opening Act, Sullivan & Son, multiple hour specials) comes to you each week from Nashville’s historic Zanies Comedy Club with a rotating panel of stand-up comedians and entertainers as they watch stand-up comedy clips together, rate them and crown a winner. The clips spur on a vast array of conversations but most importantly, lots of laughs. Tune in each week to see who will join Steve and who will win Comedy Pinata!
In this week’s episode, Hot Tub Time Machine star Craig Robinson sits down with Steve and discusses stand-up comedy from himself along with Steve Harvey, Dusty Slay, and Bernie Mac.
Steve Byrne: Steve Byrne has risen through the ranks of the comedy world to become one of the industry’s most innovative and sought-after performers. He has evolved throughout the years into an extremely versatile entertainer that delivers on a day-to-day basis. Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, Steve Byrne was born to a Korean mother and an Irish father. His unique background gave him the base comedic material for his first television show, Sullivan & Son, which aired for 3 seasons on TBS. Byrne just released his first documentary film he directed “Always Amazing” about comedian/magician The Amazing Johnathan on the Bill Burr’s All Things Comedy channel on Youtube. In 2020, he will release a feature film he wrote and directed “The Opening Act” about his early years in stand up. As with “Sullivan & Son”, it’s being produced by Vince Vaughn. Steve released his fourth hour stand up special entitled “Tell the Damn Joke” in early 2017. He previously released his third comedy special, Champion, on Netflix in May 2014. His popular podcast, The Gentlemen’s Dojo, premiered in late Aug. 2015 on All Things Comedy and was a passion project for Steve along with his co-host, Gary Cannon. A true international comedian, Byrne has performed to sold-out crowds around the world. He has been a featured comic at the Just for Laughs Festival (in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago), HBO’s US Comedy Arts Festival in Las Vegas 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, The Kims of Comedy, The Camel Cigarettes Sin City Tour, and his own national Myspace Comedy tour. Byrne even had the honor of opening for popular musical acts such as Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Modest Mouse, Puddle of Mudd, Spoon, Rev. Horton Heat and many more. As a big supporter of the US troops, Steve also headlined several USO tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan and Guam. Byrne has appeared in the hit comedies The Dilemma, Couples Retreat, Four Christmases and The Goods: The Don Ready Story. His 2006 documentary, 13 or Bust (available on youtube), chronicles the attempt to perform 13 comedy shows in Manhattan in one night. He’s currently preparing his fifth hour special for 2020. Steve now calls Los Angeles home, woking his nights off the road at iconic Hollywood clubs, The Comedy Store and The Improv. Byrne’s lack of ego and outstanding work ethic has helped him become one of today’s most respected comedians.
Craig Robinson: Craig Robinson is an African-American actor, singer, musician and comedian who is known for portraying Darryl Philbin from The Office, LeVar Brown from The Cleveland Show, Doug Judy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Cookie from Shrek Forever After, himself from This Is The End, and Nick Webber-Agnew from Hot Tub Time Machine. He also worked in several films that starred Seth Rogen including Sausage Party and Pineapple Express. From 2020 to 2021, Robinson hosted the reality dancing show The Masked Dancer. He also has appeared in commercials for Pizza Hut, Dietz & Watson, Walmart, Dodge Motors, and Gain detergent. Since 2022, Robinson stars and executive produces the Peacock series Killing It.
