Paul F. Taylor @ Bannermans, PBH Free Fringe
A mixed show from Paul F. Taylor, but one with some beautifully odd one-liners and observations
Let your hang-ups and preconceptions fade away as you enter the oddball world of Paul F Taylor. Under his comedic guidance, you will be privy to some of the best and strangest one-liners at the festival in his show Sour Apes. His surreal and warped take on observational comedy is a refreshing antidote to more humdrum acts.
As a performer, Taylor is at a crossroads, stuck between what he considers the two paradigms of comedy – the club comics and established mainstream comics (which he comments on regularly). When our host's jokes hit, they are grin-inducing observational gems. If he wasn’t put into a position where he needed to fill an hour, he would be a delight to see.
However, the show seems a little padded with character-based routines that are hit and miss and occasionally risk self-indulgence. Taylor launches into these routines regardless of the audience's clear disenfranchisement with them, an audacious move to say the least, but his material lands best when he has the audience onside, which unfortunately is too seldom.
Paul F Taylor: Sour Apes, Bannermans, 7-28 Aug (not 13, 20 & 27), 4.15 pm, PBH Free Fringe