Comedy
by Simon Taylor
Circus Tent
Friday January 30th
Review by Fiona Hugo

Simon Taylor is a smart man. His humour never skirted the boundaries of crassness and never resorted to rudeness or insults. He was simply, intelligently funny. How refreshing.

As we walked in, we were greeted by an empty stage with a sign instructing us to email any questions to Simon. The show began with the comedian hidden, serenading the audience from backstage, weaving answers to our emailed questions into his song, with an offhanded charm. It was effective, impressive and light humour. There is an intensity about the stand up format: one solitary person on an empty stage, bargaining with the audience over the comedic price of their wit. I enjoyed this introduction; it eased us all into the process. While it lacked relevance, and did not flow well into the rest of his show, it yielded laughs, and with stand up comedy, surely anything goes.

With a very comfortable stage presence, Simon Taylor was candid and engaging. His humour was honest and self reflective, without being self depreciating. He discussed linguistics, travel and romance, all with an endearing and accessible charm. I was particularly impressed with his breakdown of social culture in different countries based upon the number of syllables in which a greeting could be expressed.

It was an impressive, informative and entertaining show. It made me laugh, reflect, and wish this guy was my friend.

Simon Taylor. Funny runs until Tuesday 3rd of February. You can find tickets here