Fin Taylor – When Harassy Met Sally

Fin Taylor knows that there is a part of his show for everyone… to be offended by; this is why he has a stool on stage, to try and take some of the edge off his admittedly bombastic and obscene material by physically lowering his own stature. What he doesn’t say, however, is that every bit of it is important, and that this fairhanded measure of prickled sensibilities is intrinsic to the show. It’s all about nuance.

In the wake of #MeToo, Brexit, angry TERFs, and nurture vs nature arguments regarding the difference between the genders, these heavy topics are shaken up like the toys under an insatiably curious toddler’s Christmas tree.

Taylor knows he’s on dangerous ground, and refuses to be ‘woke’ about it all, actively sending up the hyperbole of the tuned-in left, asking questions and drawing his own conclusions about the changing landscape of relationships, respect, consent, and perspective. He’s not here to condemn or excuse, but to skilfully draw examples from his own life, the wider news and common ground to prompt his audience to question topics that are so divisive they rarely stand to be examined. Even more, to do this while maintaining – for the most part – a steady rapid pace of laughter from the majority of his audience at any one time.

Sometimes the punches don’t land quite as the could, sometimes the conclusions are just that bit too radical or conservative, but to be honest his answers aren’t the most important part of this work: his questions are. And his nifty skill of giving the impression of hitting you over the head with a joke about rimming whilst at the same time delivering a metaphor for political nuance is impressive.

Taylor’s delivery is full-on, but it takes that kind of a massive hammer to shake loose ingrained opinions. And it is only with sniper accuracy that it has any effect at all. And for the most part, that is exactly what Taylor has.

Komedia, 22 January 2019

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