Review by Steve Bennett

Fin Taylor is not an edifying example of humanity. Judging from the content of his debut hour, he’s a feckless wastrel who staggers unthinkingly between drunkenness, porn and hangovers, failing to muster any interest in getting out of bed, let alone such ‘demanding’ interests such as reading or politics.

‘You won’t be on my side,’ he warns the audience before revealing how he suddenly ended a relationship for a reason that will certainly not seem good enough. He wants to live by his instincts rather than over-thinking things, but his gut pretty much always tells him not to bother… At 24, he seems to have given up on everything.

He frequently describes his admitted failings with a nicely quirky turn of phrase, perfectly and amusingly summing up the appeal of a lazy life with flashes of comic writing that suggests his apathy mightn’t quite be as intense as he makes out. His delivery suits the material, too, with a bored, hangdog attitude – but also a fine sense of languid timing and underplayed emphasis that gets the best out of his punchlines.

While he wrings good comedy out of his possibly bleak detachment, the bored persona is hard to emphasise with over an extended period. Taylor’s lack of energy in performance, and lack of enthusiasm for life in general, eventually becomes wearing, especially in a late-night slot. The show then becomes more of a trudge in the second half, when the rewarding, well-honed club material has run dry.

We are left with a rather too specific routine on the charms of Philippa Forrester on Robot Wars that will resonate with the narrowest of demographics; a rather too graphic description of a man he saw with joggers’ nipple (an unpleasant image without the payoff to justify it); and rather too grim material about his isolation. There are some good lines in this, but noticeably fewer than before.

He concludes with the downbeat realisation that as his friends start to settle down or follow their passions, he’s been left behind, sleepwalking unenthusiastically through life; neither celebrating his detachment nor being too put out by it. Lack of passion is a hard thing to sell, and even after the try-out 40-minute show at last year's Fringe, Taylor’s not yet figured out how to so it consistently.

Review date: 2 Aug 2014
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron)