Steve Byrne

Biography

Born to a Korean mother and an Irish father, Steve Byrne grew up in Pittsburgh. Prior to performing stand-up, Byrne made a living selling knives door to door.

After graduating from Kent State University, Byrne visited his father who was now working in New York. One morning he set out determined to get a job by the end of the day. He fell upon Caroline's, the legendary Manhattan comedy club and got a position as a host. Watching performers at the club night after night brought out an interest in performing stand-up he didn't know he have.

Byrne performed stand-up for the first time on September 30, 1997 at Stand Up NY. Though Byrne was stressed leading up to the event and cried immediately after, the high of making people laugh instantly hooked him.

2006 saw further television exposure for Byrne. His first half hour special "Comedy Central Presents Steve Byrne" premiered. (His special was to be covered by MTV's documentary show "True Life" as part of an episode entitled "I'm Getting My Big Break" but the segment was cut for unknown reasons.) The half hour subsequently performed well in Comedy Central's Stand-Up Showdown web challenges. He also won "Stand Up or Sit Down", a comedy contest put on by myspace and TBS for Vegas's The Comedy Festival

Byrne was part of Vince Vaughn's "Wild West Comedy Show" tour, performing for 2,000 people at a time. Byrne has also provided entertainment for troops oversees as part of the USO, performing with <a href="/comedians/comic/colin-quinn/">Colin Quinn</a> in Iraq and with <a href="/comedians/comic/drew-carey/">Drew Carey</a> in Afghanistan.

In New York, a long standing record for most stand-up performances in one night was held by <a href="/comedians/comic/dave-attell/">Dave Attell</a>, who performed 12 shows. Steve Byrne set out to break the record, chronicling his effort in the self-produced documentary "13 or Bust." He hoped to create a film that, like Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedian", showed what the life of a stand-up comic is like. Byrne attempt brought him to 10 different comedy clubs in a schedule that go from six in the evening to nearly three in the morning. The footage of his sets is intercut with a lunchtime conversation on the art of stand-up between Byrne and his comedian friends <a href="/comedians/comic/bill-burr/">Bill Burr</a>, <a href="/comedians/comic/sarah-colona">Robert Kelly</a> and <a href="/comedians/comic/dov-davidoff">Dov Davidoff</a>.

In 2008, Byrne released his first hour special entitled "Happy Hour." The special premiered on Comedy Central.

After many years on the New York scene, Byrne moved to Los Angeles.