IRISH comedian Ed Byrne's new show, Outside, Looking In, is the most confessional of his 20-year career of observational humour.

“I didn't make a conscious effort to write a more personal show, but that was what was coming out when I started writing it,” says Byrne, who plays the Grand Opera House in York on January 24 at 8pm.

"People come to see me for a laugh and I would like to think they go away thinking the show is quite heartwarming. A lot of comics may talk about the same stuff, but what makes it mine is that what I'm saying is what I genuinely think on this subject, and I try to make it as funny as I can. I think we all mine our lives to some degree or other.”

The Mock The Week regular will show a picture of one of his two sons as the finale to a bittersweet story about buying new shoes. "I'm aware that they haven't given me permission to talk about them and that there will come a point when I can't,” he says.

“I talk about them in pretty abstract terms, because what I'm discussing is the act of parenting, and you can't talk about that without mentioning your own children. And there isn't anything in this show that would make them say at a later date, 'I don't like this'.”

Byrne also will ponder feminism, sparked by his recollection of his early days in comedy and his discomfort over some of his more laddish material back then. “My comedy reflected my life at that time – single and enjoying myself – and most of it was fairly harmless; 'the difference between men and women' kind of thing. But some of the stuff about an ex-girlfriend I can see was a bit angry and I wouldn't do it now,” says the 43-year-old Dubliner.

He is now more aware of how men and women interact in the modern world and is sometimes surprised by the difference in his reactions to matters as a man in his forties by comparison with his twentysomething days. “I started watching Californication [the US dark comedy starring David Duchovny as a sex addict] but I found it insulting because I'm expected to empathise with him. His character behaves so unconscionably that I couldn't watch the second series," says Byrne.

"I don't how much of that is simply getting older, or that times have changed, or mixing with a broader group of people. Interestingly I find Twitter can expand your horizons; I've started following all sorts of people on it and it's good to get a different take on things.”

Ed Byrne's Outside, Looking In tour visits Grand Opera House, York, on January 24; Harrogate Royal Hall, March 23; Scarborough Spa Theatre, April 24. Box office: York, 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 821888 or scarboroughspa.co.uk