Simon Taylor's 'Human', Plus Interview

Simon Taylor's 'Human', Plus Interview

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Posted 2016-03-29 by Chris Carvillfollow

Fri 25 Mar 2016 - Sun 17 Apr 2016


Before writing this article, I didn't know Simon from a bar of soap. Casting my eyes over the above 'glam shot', my brain flicked through it's rolodex of mental associations. Eventually, spitting out: "I don't know, Chris. Kinda looks like one of them Backstreet Boys. Does that help?" Ugh, for goodness sake, brain! Jeepers creepers! So, yeah…instead of jumping to premature conclusions, I decided to remain open-minded, and allow Simon himself to fill me in.


Upon chatting to Simon, the first thing that struck me was his eloquence. Rather than mundane and predictable, his responses were insightful - far from 90's boygroup-ish. For instance, upon randomly mentioning my reservations about replacing David Letterman with Stephen Colbert, Simon pointed out "It takes a couple of years to settle into that job", then backed this with several indisputable examples. This youngen (I'd previously classified as some prom-king) had changed my mind. With ease.


Upon skimming Simon's profile , I made a further baseless assumption - this time, regarding his career path. That he'd simply exchanged writing for performing, then quickly risen to prominence. Only to be set straight again - "I've always been onstage. Even when I was eighteen I was doing poetry. And then I did improv'. And then I did magic... Started singing as well". Indeed, recently scouted by A List Entertainment (as a comic), they were also surprised by this multi-talented talent.


What also impressed, was Simon's adaptability. For instance, "I learned how to write jokes on Twitter...You'd write a joke, and you knew if it was good cos people would re-tweet it". Only retaining the well-received (reviews on the below website confirming this). His adaptability, also evident via an ability to differentiate. For instance, his observation "Americans are less conservative". However, given their sensitivity to Trump jokes (I'm generalising of course), I'm not sold. Then again, I haven't written for both Jay Leno and Shaun Micallef.


Though a craftsman, a self-described "showman". I'd personally associated 'showman' with some tacky Vegas singer. Perhaps overlooking the more positive (and coincidentally, accurate) association - 'sensitivity' ie. like those TV hosts he aspires to, Simon's switched on to his audience. So as I repeatedly asked about issues he likes to tackle, forced to hammer home - "Again, it's always funny first". That, "if I've got a room of 100 people, I wanna make 100 people laugh".
To listen to our interview .

#interviews
#festivals
#comics
#comedy
#carlton
#march
!date 25/03/2016 -- 17/04/2016
%wnmelbourne
110406 - 2023-06-12 15:02:29

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