Any person who has crossed my path lately has definitely had me shout in their face about how much I love the MICF. If they’re rookie enough to ask what I’ve seen, I’ve then ranted on about the wonderful Simon Taylor for as long as humanly possible (that was an unintended pun but I’m not even sorry).
Simon Taylor is probably my top unexpected pick of the MICF thus far. Guided by my happening upon this YouTube video a few months ago, I was pretty excited to see him in person and prepare for more linguistic Australiana observations – and I wasn’t disappointed.
I’m gullible as hell when it comes to magic, although I was equally as impressed by the fact Simon can actually shuffle cards really really well, and pull audience members cards out of orifices in his body. You’ll have to watch the show to find out which one. If that doesn’t sell it to you, Human is actually a pretty darn interesting exploration of masculinity and identity, although you’ll be laughing too hard for the deep stuff to hit you at first. There’s the contrast of his inner north hipster self and his ideal self– a typical testosterone filled male capable of changing tyres without Google, drink beer without gagging, and know more dance moves than the 80’s classics.
Simon’s humour is quick and light and personal – his Italian background and perfection of a stereotypical accent has saved him many dollars from dodgy mechanics in his time, and he’s great at having the audience laugh with instead of at.
Language is really his running theme though, whether it be the power of a good inflection, the difference in speech between city and country folk, the beauty of tall gruff men named Bruce who will change your tyres, or multilingual overly critical fictional French babes.
I’m gonna lay it out now – Human is my pick of the season. I didn’t expect to love it so much, but Simon Taylor is the star of the festival in my eyes.
-Jasmin Ashton
Jasmin Ashton is a PR whiz and freelance writer/designer from Melbourne who has a lot of feelings about pretty much everything. Find her at @Jasmanna.
‘Human’ runs from 24 March to 17 April at Trades Hall – The Meeting Room.
Check out our guide to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for more great shows.
