I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

Behan’s line turns a grave subject—being condemned to death—into a piece of mordant comedy by repeating “in my absence.” The joke exposes the absurdity of bureaucratic or political authority that claims the power to judge and punish without even confronting the person involved. By answering that they can “shoot me in my absence,” he flips the logic back on the accusers, implying that a sentence delivered without presence is as unreal and performative as an execution carried out without a body. The remark also fits Behan’s public persona: defiant, anti-authoritarian, and using wit to puncture solemn institutions.