Our latest comedy in Brussels articles looks at a new show by comedian Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor, born 11 October 1986 in London, is a British/Irish comedian who performs mostly in France. Taylor moved to Paris in 2009 and he began stand-up in 2013. He is known in France for his television series on Canal+, What the Fuck France, What’s Up France? and Stereotrip. He performed his first stand-up show #Franglais from 2016 to 2018 and his second show, So British (ou presque), debuted on 18 October 2019 in Paris.
La Bise (referring to the cheek kisses used as a greeting in France) was uploaded, which was promoting a night of English language humour in Paris, was uploaded on 1 January 2016, and now has more than 3 million views. Filmed in a sequence shot, La Bise mocked this French tradition, and served as a model for Taylor’s show What the Fuck France? episodes.
Thanks to the success of La Bise seen over a million times in a few days on YouTube, Canal+ contacted him the following week, offering him to develop a regular short program, along the same format. What the Fuck France? was then broadcast on Canal+. The three-minute short comedy show debuted in September 2016, and ran for 34 episodes where Taylor humorously dissects the peculiarities of French life, seen through an expat’s eyes. What the Fuck France? was one of the first shows broadcast in English on a French network.
Stand-up shows
Taylor defines himself primarily as a stand-up comedian. After a few attempts in England at amateur stand-up, he made his debut in Paris in 2013. He became successful quite quickly, particularly thanks to his online videos and his projects with Canal+. His first stand-up show, #Franglais, 50% in French, 50% en anglais, was performed in different Parisian theatres such as Le Sentier des Halles, La Nouvelle Eve, and L’Européen, and then on tour in France, Europe and Canada, for almost three years. The entire show was filmed at La Nouvelle Eve in March 2018, and broadcast on Canal+. The final three shows were held at the Casino de Paris in front of 1,400 spectators.
On 18 October 2019 Taylor debuted his second show So British (ou presque) after a break-in period of a few weeks in August 2018 at the Point Virgule. The new show was almost called Rebecoming English, but the title was rejected as the verb to rebecome was a neologism coined by Taylor. On 22 June 2020 he participated in a special show, Retour vers la Culture, organized at L’Européen, to celebrate the end of the Coronavirus lockdown and a return to normality in France. A dozen artists performed that night, such as Bun Hay Mean and Fills Monkey.
In his own words
Je m’appelle Paul Taylor, je suis Anglais et j’habite en FranceJ’ai fait un premier spectacle de stand-up intitulé Franglais which was half in english and half in French
I went pretty well, so I have decided to do another show called So British ou presque. It is the same concept
A show that is in both languages but with brand new jokes and stories that you’ve never seen before.
Si tu te poses la question: “Est ce que je vais comprendre son anglais ?”
J’ai une astuce: si tu as compris cette description, c’est bon !
If your French is good enough to understand this description, you’ll be laughing
See you on stage !
Jeudi 7 octobre 2021 La Madeleine à 20h.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FM6j_CNnxg
www.la-madeleine.be
