#220 - Heard the One About the British Comedian Making Fun of the French? w/Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor is an English comedian. He moved to Paris in 2009 and started doing stand-up comedy in 2013. Taylor is known in France for his TV series on Canal+, What the F*ck France, What's Up France?, and Stereotrip, but he got his onstage debut with his show #Franglais. Host Mohammed Magdi and Paul met in Shanghai in 2017 when Paul toured his show #franglais across Asia. In 2025, Paul is touring the world with his new show, "100% in English." We catch up with Paul ahead of his Hong Kong show, and we chat about going viral in France, his time working at Apple, and his jump from working in the corporate world to a world-touring comedian.

Catch Paul Taylor on tour: https://paultaylorcomedy.com/tickets

Subscribe to Paul Taylor's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/paultaylor

Get tickets for Backstage Comedy shows: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thebackstagehk.com/⁠

Subscribe to our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hohopod⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Paul on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ptcomedy

Follow Mohammed on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/theothermohammed⁠⁠⁠

Follow Vivek on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/funnyvivek

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
So I reiterate here, the bill isdead.
The story of this great city is about the years before this
night. We are free.

(00:22):
You on nice hi everybody it's a new episode of Hong Kong I
haven't started the timer here we go are we on yeah we're yes
okay we'll keep saying that yes we are both well I am starstruck
we have the most famous comedianhas entered this room yeah we're
over here we're sitting with ourwell my buddy Paul Taylor you

(00:45):
guys just met. Yeah, we just met.
And yes, so Vivek, yeah. Co host Paul Taylor Guest.
Hello Vivek, you take over. All right, so basically we have
a guest for the change because we realized that Muhammad story
sucked. Yeah.
And we need a professional to keep this entertaining.
So we decided to go big or go home.
Oh, yeah. We're like, we're not just get
like any comic from the Hong Kong team.
We're not getting any comic fromthe Asian team.
We're getting coming from which scene?

(01:08):
The French one. Weirdly French one.
Yeah, yeah. From same food.
All right, that's where he came from.
All right, so we got we got PaulTaylor over here with us on the
podcast. He came in in the hot summer day
in Hong Kong and I I always appreciate when I hear people
say, oh man, this is this is hot.
And I'm like, you're enjoying this once in your lifetime, man.
No, I this is not enjoying and this is.

(01:29):
I don't know how you deal with it.
Well, you were born here, so. Yeah.
I didn't know there was a betterweather.
I actually I'm, I'm looking at the now and I think this is our
200 whatever 20 episode. I think he might be the whitest
guest we've ever had. I'm wearing a white T-shirt.
I blend into this background perfectly.
I think. Is he the whitest?
Can you think of someone else whiter?

(01:51):
I believe he is in fact the whitest guest we've got in the
fact that you are so white that you're not even from Hong Kong
white, you're not from Asia white.
You're literally. From the white.
I'm from the I'm from the I'm the OG white.
The OG white Yeah from the island that decided to colonize
everyone exactly so. We had a comedian in Shanghai,
Byron Murphy is Irish, OK, And he would go up and say like,
hey, I'm Irish. In case you haven't, you can't

(02:12):
tell by me getting sunburned by.The lights.
Exactly. Right there, Right.
Yeah. See that?
Or getting sunburned by the moonlight.
You're like, yeah. Yeah, typical one.
Something sunburning you? And yeah, yeah, yeah.
Your T-shirt sunburning. You or just being translucent?
Yeah, just glow in the. Yeah, exactly.
You're back after so a quick back story, Paul stand up
comedian based in in Paris and we met in 2017 when you were

(02:38):
doing a an Asia tour. Yep in with a show called
Fongley. Yes.
Explain to the audience why Fongley.
Yeah, so I started doing comedy in 2013 and based in Paris.
I've been there for 16 years. And like in France, the way the
stand up thing, well, or the thestand up sort of scene works is
you you it's very difficult to do like to earn a living by just

(03:01):
doing like 1020 minute gigs. It's better now because there
are more comedy clubs that have opened.
But before you have to like write an hour show and then tour
that show. That's it.
You start from zero to one hour.Well, you can do like 10
minutes, but you're not really getting paid for it.
But then you jump basically fromlike 10:15 minutes to one hour.
Like there's no, there's no in away you can do.
Sometimes you'll do 30 minutes. Like if me and you were like,

(03:23):
great, can we let's work on a show.
Half, half together. Oh yeah, yeah.
But the show has to be an hour itself.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
OK, OK, So I started putting together like this hour show and
I realized that some of them, some of the some of the jokes
would work in English or they would need to be said in
English, some of them in French.And some of them you kind of
needed to understand both languages to understand like the

(03:43):
new ones between them. Yeah, like the play on words or
whatever it was. So when I was putting together
my hour, I was like, well, I I can, I can do an hour if it's
bilingual. I don't have enough to just do
one hour in English or one hour in French.
But you decided against getting someone else to fill the extra
time. You're like, how can I double my
money? You got cutting my cost in half.

(04:05):
I want it to be all about me. Exactly all about me.
Fuck everyone else. And so I had a friend of mine
called Sebastian and he is an American in France and sort of
similar vibe but he had a show fully in French and then a show
fully in English. The show is maybe like 80% the
same. Oh, OK, if he does do that, but.
Yeah. But you guys, yeah, you guys

(04:25):
have that in common because he obviously performs in Cantonese
and 100% and also in English. Yeah, I could do like I've done
my solo show in English and alsosolo in Cantonese.
Right. And what percentage of it is the
same? I find nowadays I've tried to
write all my jokes bilingually so that they can work in the
other language. But I what I found is initially
when I first started, there weremaybe 50% at most could be used

(04:46):
in both languages. Half of it.
So like the same bit. I would write some stuff.
I'm like, yeah, this only flies in Cantonese, for example, like
when I would talk about how I goto a restaurant here and people
would respond to me like, oh, hespeaks Cantonese in Cantonese.
The the joke is of how So the joke is this.
OK, it's in Cantonese, but it translates to English.
So like, I'm sitting over there in a in a typical Chinese
restaurant. I sit down in very common in
Hong Kong because space is precious.

(05:07):
You have to share tables, right?So I have a couple sitting
opposite me and I sit down and Icall the waiter in Canton.
Wait, full game go, yeah, I speak in Cantonese.
And the girlfriend's like, whoa,he speaks Cantonese, right?
And the Barb's like if he speaksit, he understands it.
So that I found a way to translate to English, but
initially I couldn't find the way to say it because like in
Canadies, I said Gothic Tank is like such a straight can speak,
can understand. It's such a direct word.

(05:29):
That's like, I get the joke easywith the English, like if you
can speak it, you can understandit.
You're like, understand? Oh, I see what you did over.
There. You know what's throwing me off,
though, is like, what I'm reallyenjoying, because we only spoke
like for five seconds, is that you've got like, the Hong Kong
accent. Oh, speak English.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't have the Hong Kong
face. I don't I.
Love it. It's it's really.
That makes me so happy because he thinks he doesn't have an
accent. No, I have the Hong Kong taught

(05:51):
English accent. That's why, yeah, exactly.
I've met people from Hong Kong but who are Asian descent
looking right. And I'm like, you sound like,
because I can discern between Hong Kong and Singapore, like,
yeah. I think I was dead, I mean.
The normal English person or anyone you know who hasn't met
anyone from those countries would just be like, oh, it's,
it's. Asian.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So yeah, it's really funny
because it reminds me of a storyof a French friend of mine who

(06:14):
is her parents are Chinese, moved over to France and she was
born in France, grew up in France, speaks French with a
French accent, obviously, but also speaks English with a
French accent. And when she did her, she went
to Manchester in the UK to study.
And she was telling me that the,that the people over there, they
just didn't, they didn't believeher.
They couldn't. Well, they couldn't process the

(06:34):
fact that she was Asian looking.Yeah, but was speaking English
like this. So hello.
How are you? Actually I.
Will tell you about a story about someone you know, Bon, I
mean. Oh, yeah, Bon.
I mean, yeah, yeah, He came to with to do that.
The French shows in Shanghai years ago.
Yeah. And he barely speaks English.
No, actually, it's actually worse, because what I mean is
that is a Vietnamese French comedian.

(06:56):
Yeah. And he obviously speaks fluid
French also very, very, very quick.
Like, I understand French. Yeah.
I couldn't understand anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But then his English is really bad and he has an Asian face.
Yeah, yeah. So that's even more the bits of
English he knows is really, like, stereotypical, like, yeah,
yeah. Yeah.

(07:16):
In Shanghai and it's like, oh man, yeah, it's not good.
People look at him, man. The French, we took over Vietnam
and we really, really put a number on you.
Man, yeah, between I'm like I'm like full the the most hated
person. I'm like English living in
France, the two countries that have fucked the entire rest.
Of the world? Absolutely, man.
Like actually, I want to go backto for people who don't know

(07:38):
you, like, why do you speak affluent French?
So I studied French like mine. I started laying in French when
I was 5, when I lived in France.When I was a kid in French, my
dad got a job in a bank in Geneva in Switzerland.
So we lived across the border inFrance.
And so for those sort of four years, I was there as like an
International School, so French and English speaking.

(08:02):
But then also because my mom is from Northern Ireland and my dad
is from the north of England andI was in this American
International school, but we were living in a French speaking
country. I had all of these different
accents going around. So are.
You what they call the the thirdculture kid.
Would you identify as one? You didn't fit in the culture
that you were living in, but then you also kind of fit in, as
in you identify with that culture, but you're not from

(08:23):
that culture. Like I live in Hong Kong, I
identify myself as a Hong Konger, but I just am not a Hong
Konger as per SE. Yeah, but you ever not a third
culture kid? Third, culture is like your
parents have to be from 2 separate places and you're born
in 1/3. Place what's that?
My dad was from hell. So you know, I mean,
technically, technically, you know, right over there.
So I believe it's a very. Separate.
Yes, he is. That is the actual Satan, Yeah.

(08:48):
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, maybe.
I don't know. I don't know like.
Where your dad, where is, where is he from?
He said. The north of England, OH.
OK, so no, that makes them the same, like they're English.
Yeah, they're, they're Yeah, Well, yeah.
Yeah, See that's where, that's where the Chinese border helps,
you know, when you're technically from the same kind
of landish, but you can see no now two different places.

(09:08):
Yeah, like Northern English, kind of like we, we don't we
identify with the southern England.
Yeah, exactly. But they're still, but they're
still, they got the same passport.
So exactly. Yeah, my mum, my mum from
Northern Ireland, a completely different, different sort of
thing. But yeah, I it's European anyway
ultimately. Like you're fucking Europeans
are the same. So yeah, OK, you, so you grew up
basically learning English and French.
Yeah. And then I, yeah.

(09:28):
And then I studied it throughoutschool, throughout my university
degrees in French and Spanish. And then I've been there for the
last 15 years as well. Wife's French so everything my
whole life is in French based. And you used to work for Apple.
I did, yeah. I worked for like 10 years for
Apple is. That is that something that
would that it's not a secret, you just posted about it.
Yeah, yeah. This is part of your ACT as.
Well, yeah, sometimes. So yeah, like how did you end up

(09:50):
in Apple? It was like a a part time
student job. So when I was at.
University 10 years. Well, it started as a part time
student job. Like it would be funny if you're
just. A quick You need to take 10
years for again. Yeah.
Learning French. That's how long it takes to
learn a language. It's. 10 years.
And so, yeah, I was, I was at university in London and in
order to like pay for beers and whatever, I started working like

(10:12):
part time at the Apple store, the Big Apple store there in
Regent Street. And then did that for a few
years while I was at university.I did a year abroad while I was
at university. So I had to go to Canada for
eight months because it's a French speaking.
Like I went to the French speaking part of Canada to give.
Me quiet. To keep me quiet.
Called call yes to try and improve my French there and I

(10:32):
was still working at Apple. Then went to Sydney for like 5
months, worked at Apple there, moved back to the UK and then
oh. Yeah, it sold your soul to
Apple, hey. Yeah, basically.
And then then when I finished mydegree in 2009, they announced
that they were opening Apple in France.
So I moved to France. And you were like, it's
inevitable. Yeah, I have to.
Now, yeah, exactly. So I moved to, I moved to Apple

(10:55):
with France and then that was around the time.
Wait wait wait wait. So Apple movies to France?
You didn't move to France and have to work at Apple.
No, I, well, they didn't move methere.
I moved myself there, but I wentthere because.
Of Apple. You were in Sydney working at
Apple. Yeah.
And you found out that France isopening an Apple store.
Yeah. And you requested in the office.
You're like, hey, I just want tosay Cosay.
Shave you Dre an iPhone. See if we play yes.

(11:16):
You play. The MacBook, iTunes.
Yeah, exactly. Lacrosse on lacrosse on CLV play
so well, yeah, I was in Sydney, but I moved back to the UK for
it to finish my last year of my university and it was while I
was in that last year that they announced that they were opening
stores in France so we. Were working at Apple in the UK
when you. Yeah, OK yeah.

(11:37):
So you were still with them? Yeah, yeah, I was still with.
Them this is your full time obviously.
No, this was all still part timebecause I was doing my degree
still, so it was like I was working.
Maybe I don't. Know when we say, when we say
full time pilot, we don't mean like the amount of effort you
put in. We're actually asking like the
job right here. Yeah, it was, it was like part
time. But then, yeah, when I finished
my degree, I was like, cool, I like, I'm enjoying working for
the company. Yeah.

(11:57):
So I'll move to France and and then move into like a full time.
Are you able to say what you were in charge of?
Like what were you doing? Yeah.
So, well, it, it changed. So at the beginning I was just
like a, a, a what they call a specialist, like a, a
salesperson basically in the store.
Yeah, yeah. Then don't they call them a
genius? Or is that?
No, they're the, they're the technical, they're the ones that
fix your stuff. Right.
So the the specialist is more like, hey, like I'm looking, I
don't know which iPhone to buy. Can you help me out?

(12:18):
Yeah, Yeah. So I would help them out for
that. Then I moved into like a
customer service role, which doesn't exist anymore.
Yeah. But it was basically like if you
had a problem, you'd come in andyou'd speak to people in orange
T-shirts, and they were the onesthat sort of said, oh, you need
to speak to this person. It was kind of like a liaison.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like triage in like a hospital. Yeah.
Exactly. So it was that for a bit.
And then when because I'd started gaining experience and

(12:40):
they were opening in new countries, I became like a
trainer. So I would I would then train
the new employees that were joining the company.
Oh. OK.
OK. So, OK, yeah, you got it.
And then I the. Student becomes the master.
Yeah, and then and then I becamethe trainer of the trainers.
Wow. Yeah.
So you're basically 2 steps behind Steve Jobs like you're
that. One, one step we're talking
about, yeah. You're just waiting.

(13:02):
For him to go, yeah, he was. Making the products you were
like this is how you use the product.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you thought about it, but
let me tell you how it. Actually works.
Yeah, actually my first time over here, it wasn't to Hong
Kong, but it was to Shanghai. It was to train a bunch of
people who were opening. I can't remember the name of the
Apple Store in Shanghai now. It was one of the Apple Stores
in Shanghai. Yeah, So you.
Oh yeah. Wow.
So, OK, so when you say training, would it be like the

(13:23):
technical stuff, as in like here's a mango?
But I know you won't read it, solet me reread the manual to you.
And it was more, no, it was moretraining them about the culture
of the company and also like howto be like the kind of
customers. Like how?
Because The thing is like we would hire people that they
didn't necessarily know the technical stuff, but because
they were just nice humans. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(13:45):
Because the technical stuff you can learn, but you can't really
learn how to be a personal a nice person, you know what I
mean? So we would then we would then.
So they would go through a bunchof different trainings.
So if you're a technician like agenius, you would go through
like the global orientation orientation, which was like a
two week thing so that you got everything.
And then like the technicians will go out and do their special
training, the managers will go out and do their special

(14:05):
training. And so I would, I would like do
the initial, I'd be in charge oflike the initial two week
training that would be in like in a hotel, yeah.
Let's let's try not to get sued by Apple, but I'm going to try
to ask. Yeah, go on if we.
When do they tell you that the that the old version slowed down
on purpose and then you have to buy like when do they tell you
to tell the customers? Well, you think they What does

(14:27):
it say? Why does my battery keep dying
exactly 6 months? Well, I I was gone by that
stage. But.
You as insiders know that, know that they are designed to.
I'm just going full conspiracy. Yeah, they're designed to.
No, no. No, we like there's nothing like
like honestly, like the the thing it was because the

(14:47):
question I would usually get is like, when do they when do you
find out a new product is comingout?
Yeah, it's like we find out whenwe watch Tim Cook or Steve Jobs
on stage doing the thing in the world.
They're not telling any. There's like a group of like 50
people that know so like. Like when you see like everybody
bringing in their iPhone becauseit has a problem suddenly after
the last update. No, I mean, because that's also,

(15:08):
it's like, I feel like since social media has taken off,
yeah, like that's become a thing, Yeah.
When in reality it's like it's like 10% of cases, do you know
what I mean? Or it's 10% of people that are
using it in. It's usually the fact they're
using it wrong. But they did like with the with
the with the, I can't remember which software update it was.
It was like the the reason it itit would slow down or whatever

(15:28):
was to protect the battery because the the newer operators.
Are still paying you, Paul? No, but it's it's actually what
it is like it's just do you knowwhat I mean?
Like it's like the thing of likethere is no conspiracy.
It's just it that's just what ended up happening.
Like they should have told, theyshould have told people before
been like if you if you want to update to this new software,
yeah, it's gonna it's your battery's gonna to drain quicker
because. He he aware of.

(15:50):
Yeah, so, so because you could, because then when it when it
kind of came out, I think they gave people the choice to like,
do you want to keep the speed and the battery and the battery
life is going to drain quicker or do you prefer the battery?
I can't remember. It was like optimized whatever
the setting was. But they wouldn't.
Like on the on the setting on the update like settings.
Actually, it was. It's not anymore.

(16:11):
Like, I don't think it's a problem anymore, yeah.
Also, I love this like 3 like wehave like one of the biggest
touring stand ups in Europe and we're talking about Apple for.
15 minutes. Exactly right.
That's all. That's what we're all about.
Well, you discuss jokes, not really whether or not an.
Apple update is worth. Doing or not so.
When when did the stand up come into the equation?

(16:33):
You're working for Apple. How old are you at the time?
Like when you're training the training.
The training at that age, so I worked from Apple from 20 to
like 29. So this would have been around
years. Yeah, fuck.
So I would have been about, I think I was like 2324 when I got
the training job. OK, OK.
And it would end up When did that?

(16:53):
That happened. Well, the original original of
it happened in my last year of university when because I've
been thinking like I I think something drew me to being in
the middle of a crowd. OK.
From when I was a kid, because Iremember when I was 12, I used
to watch wrestling. At the time it was WWF.

(17:13):
At the time it was WWF. Yeah, we are probably all.
We watch exactly our generation.WWF.
Fuck the animals and the pandas.It was WWF.
Yeah. What?
Not World Wildlife Fund. Yeah, it was the World Worldwide
Wrestling Federation. Wrestling Federation.
Yeah, exactly. All right, brother.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Rock wasn't doing movies.
He was. He was doing a People's Elbow.

(17:34):
Yeah, it was. Hulk Hogan.
Yeah, Every fucking match. So I loved like I loved
wrestling and for some, like I remember the when the school
sort of courtyard that we had where you would walk into the
locker rooms to put your bag before we into class.
Yeah, it was like it was called the quad.
So it was like this area where there was like 2, like at the
end of it there was the locker rooms, but then there was 2 like

(17:56):
grass sections with a path that went through the middle.
And I remember when I would walkthrough that, I had this like
image of my mind of like perfect.
I was walking to the ring basically.
Track like audio track in the background.
Yeah, and just, and like all theaudience going crazy.
So I was like 12 so. So I don't know why I wanted to
do that at the time, but that was like something there.
So then in my last Fast forward like 10 years to when I'm at

(18:19):
university, 21 and I start watching, it was the time when
the BBC, they'd opened up a thing called iPlayer, which is
where you could watch back all the stuff, yeah, all the
episodes of stuff online. And so I started watching ATV
show called Live at the Apollo which.
Oh yeah, comedians. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I started watching that and Iwas like, oh, this, I was

(18:40):
watching like DVDs of comedians having recorded at like the O2
Arena, which is, you know, 15,000 people.
And the thing came back. I don't know, they're like the
visceral thing of like, I was like, oh, this is cool.
So anyway, there was a comedy night at the university, at the
pub that was at the university and there was like 3 comedians
and the two of them were shit, Yeah.
And the last one was okay, but Iwas like that's weird.

(19:01):
They're the two first ones. They getting paid to do this and
it's not funny what I now realize as a comedian, it's like
they just we weren't the right audience, right, right.
But they. Were actually good like in
hindsight. I think so.
I think they were doing clubs because they got onto that gig
because they were in the circuitand doing well.
But that night it was just shit.And and so I was like, well, how
like how complicated can it be? Just pull the mic.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

(19:22):
So then, you know, I type into Google like how do you become a
stand up comedian? Did you actually?
Yeah, so funny. And so it was like you the, the,
the, the, the, this is when I was in London.
So it's like the the the. I'm shocked I've lost.
Apple will let you use Google search.
The what's it called the the no,the hold on the the the not the
journey. The le bacur in French.

(19:43):
Oh yeah, like. The this, the the course,
whatever the way. The way to become a stand up was
like open mic. So I went, so I went to go see
some open mic nights as an audience member with some of my
friends and they, they were all horrific.
You know, it was the most awkward cringe.
Like you're like, oh God, what? When can we leave?
And then on one comedy night, open mic night, one guy pulled

(20:03):
out. He was too nervous however, so
he and so my best friend was like, mate, go and ask the MC if
you can do 5 minutes. I'm like, no, I don't, I'm not.
So he went and asked, yeah, and he got me to do 5 minutes
because I've been thinking aboutwhat I would talk about so.
Your buddy knew that you had like your Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they say it was like the
group of like four of us, You know, they knew that it was kind

(20:24):
of my, my, my, like I wanted to.Do it and you were.
Preparing it and that's why we were going to open mic night and
so he was like fuck it, get up. So I did 5 minutes.
It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad.
Sure. But it it got me the bug.
Well, it got me the bug of like,I think I can do better.
Sure. So then I signed up for a
couple. I think I maybe did 10 open mic
nights in London. This is in 2009 before I moved

(20:46):
to Paris. Then I moved to Paris with
Apple. Work takes over.
I get promoted a couple of timesin in like the first year and I
don't do stand up for like 3 years.
So my official start is like 2013, OK, even though I had like
those 10 open mics four years previous.
But so 2013 is when I start. I emailed my friend Sebastian
now because he was the only person doing English comedy

(21:08):
similar to you guys in Shanghai when I came over the first time.
And I was like, hey, like I'd love to do 5 minutes.
Like, this is me back being likeI've performed at the Comedy
Store in London, you know, Will.Be I will give you the honor of
having me. Yeah, exactly.
Like I've done all these gigs inLondon in the Comedy Store was
like the Gong Show or whatever, but I performed at the Comedy
Store in London. So he's like, yeah, you come and

(21:29):
do 5 minutes. So the 6th of January was the
was the on 2013 was my first 5 minutes.
Yeah, in Paris and then I did some English stuff and then.
What? What kind of show was that?
Was it a big show? Small show.
No, it's like club show, maybe like 50 people.
Yeah, it was like a club show where there was a few of us on
the. That makes sense.
Showcase. Yeah, yeah.

(21:49):
And then, you know, on one of the nights there was a French
comedian doing it in English whowas like, oh, I run this other
night. Yeah, down come and come and do
it in French if you want to do it.
So then I started doing it in French and it kind of ballooned
from there, basically. Yeah, yeah.
It's one of those things that you did that you can't connect
with this person that just beganthe whole.
Journey, Yeah, as as it always does.
Like that's how you know, that you, you kind of like the comedy

(22:10):
thing is a very yeah. Relationship based, of course,
like, oh, you're on my night. Well, why don't you come on my
night? Yeah, you know, and then on my
night, you meet somebody else who runs the other show across
town and they're like, oh, why don't you come over for that?
And then, yeah, that, you know, at some point you meet somebody
who's like, oh, can you open forme at this big venue?
And you're like, oh fuck, I get to do 300.
Now wow 300. People, I remember the first
time I was actually opening for Bun.
I mean, this. Oh, funny.
Yeah. So he, he, he.

(22:31):
So he introduced me on a show. One of the funniest jokes,
obviously, is we're doing it in French.
And he's like, you're right. The next comedian comes from a
country where it rains so much. When you look at your app and it
tells you the temperature, it's not the temperature of the air.
It's the temperature of the water that's falling from the
skies all the way from England. He's giving up from Paul Taylor.
Nice. So I did, I did my my set and he

(22:53):
was like, cool, do you want to open for me?
And he was at the time doing a show at a 300 seater place
called the Apollo in Paris. So that was like my first sort
of big. 10 years ago. No, this was more.
This would have been in 2014. So like, yeah, like 11 years
ago. And yeah, it was.
It was amazing to do like a showin such a big venue.
And then, yeah. And then just you build

(23:14):
relationships, you keep going and then it's like, alright,
cool, I have to build an one hour show, let me try and figure
out this bilingual thing. So I did the show in both
languages where most of the people said it's not a good idea
because French people don't speak English enough.
So. And you're cutting your audience
in half. Yeah, I was like, yes, but maybe
it's unique enough. Yeah, people will come.
And thankfully at the same time as I launched like my one hour

(23:37):
show, I also had a video that went viral on.
That was gonna be my next point on YouTube.
So yeah, you have the that canalplease video is the lobbies.
Right. Yeah, so the the before Canal
Plus the Canal Plus is like the HBO of France, right, But before
them. So I did this was before
obviously Instagram Reels and TikTok.
It was we were all watching videos, you know, horizontally.

(23:59):
Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And so I had made with a friend
of mine. It was part of like what part of
my thing that I did on stage. I was talking about how the
French say hello and goodbye, where they kiss on the cheek.
And as an English person, it's very awkward because I didn't
know how many kisses you're supposed to give.
You know which side of the face you start on, because depending
on the north or the South, it's all kind of very weird.

(24:21):
Wait, so you you had that like you had AI?
Imagine it's a sketch group of sources.
It's called French fries. Well, no, So no, that was just,
that was my like closing bit on stage was like how the French
say hello and goodbye. It was like this whole thing.
And I saw, I saw you do it in Shanghai, and I was explaining
it to somebody the other day. It was so funny because it's so
drawn out. Yeah, it's so long.
So like you're kissing and like everybody in the front.

(24:42):
Yeah, I'd be like, if this is a house in France, I would go down
to the audience, be like 1 Mar Bonjour, one Mar Bonjour and one
Mar. I'm like, oh, but then if you go
to the fridge and get a drink, you then have to cheers everyone
individually Cheers. Something, something.
And then if it's someone's birthday, you're like, and then
if you have to leave the house, then you're like, all right,
bye. It was just like it was.
So I do like that to the front row.

(25:04):
So anyway, my friend who runs a thing called French fried, it
was like the Kung Fu comedy club, but right, the Paris
English speaking night. He was like, can we make a video
of that? Not of that specifically, but we
it'll be cool to make a video toget more audience into the room.
So I was like, and this is before people were.
Filming. Oh, so just filming your set
online? Not to do?
Get no, this is before anyone was filming any sets online.

(25:25):
Oh yeah, right before any beforeany of the people that you know
who. You see they clicked.
No one did that. You.
Didn't know about subtitles and everything like just.
Whatever. No.
And And no one, you know, you couldn't afford to bring in a
camera that cost, you know, no one was doing it.
I feel like I'm in a dinosaur saying this, but this is like 10
years ago. Yeah, just 10 years ago.
Exactly. And so now obviously if I was to
do it again, I'd film it on stage.
But we were like, and I'm a hugefan of films and I'm a huge fan

(25:49):
of like 1 take. Shots.
So I was like, I've got an idea because it's I'm talking about
French House party. Like why don't we film that
whole bit? Like I'm doing it as if I'm
talking to the camera stand up wise.
But let's film it in one take. So we did it.
We walked through a bar and I was explaining a thing and
there's a table there where I would go.
I'd do the exact same thing as Idid in my in.
My show the front row. Yeah, but it was filmed in like

(26:11):
a one take thing. Whatever and it blew up.
It got like 1,000,000 views in aweek. 1,000,000 views on YouTube
at the. Time that was crazy yeah we see
million views isn't. Actually million views now I
think. Is yeah, you better tick tock,
but this? Is like you're going viral
moment. This is you becoming.
Famous moment, yeah, Correct. Yeah.
In France, Yeah, exactly. Well, even like it made it,
because what happened was six weeks before that the terrorist

(26:32):
attacks happened in Paris, wherethey went in and shot a bunch of
people at the theatre. The Abdul thing.
No, that was the, this is the Bataclan one where they, like,
they tried to blow up the standard of hearts.
They it was horrific. So France was like in a really
down mood. And then six weeks later, this
video comes out where I'm makingfun of the French.
Yeah. Yeah.
And like, it got onto BBC News. It got onto like CNBC, like this
English person making fun of theFrench.

(26:52):
Wow. Yeah.
So it kind of popped. And then that's when the French
TV company got involved and like, can you, do you have any
more of these videos? Yeah.
Yeah. I'm like, no, but oh, I can
like, let's take it yeah. And so that turned into a series
called what the fuck, France, which was basically the same
concept of me talking to camera being like, hey, this is one.
This is something I don't understand about France.

(27:14):
Here's the three reasons why. And so we but.
You're also doing it in French and English.
It was mostly in English but French subtitles.
But if I was speaking to a French person in the video, I
was speaking to them in French, which is really.
Cool, because that means that you can appeal to the French.
Exactly. That's amazing.
And then you So from there you now have your own TV show pretty
much even if. It's like a sketch show.
Yeah. It's like a yeah.

(27:35):
So I did that for like a year and a half, all the while I'm
doing my shows at the weekend. Yeah.
So it was it it just a coincidental timing of it both
like it wasn't enough manufactured like, oh, now, now
you would manufacture. Yeah.
Now the. Strategy is like we put a video
up now, so that's the viral. You put the clips online and
then you do your show and then, you know, everyone's kind of

(27:56):
doing that because that's, you know, accidentally.
That's what I found and it and it and it worked really well.
So yeah, that that year was pretty crazy.
And that was the year that I came over here in 2017.
Yeah. So you're now like, what level
are you at in terms of like drawinside France, like when you're
touring? Well, so the interesting thing,

(28:18):
and it's like kind of my dilemmain life right now is like, it
feels like it feels like I was riding away for a bit and it
feels like the waves disappearedand it feels like no one gives a
shit. Yeah, right.
Yeah. I'm selling more and more
tickets and bigger and bigger rooms, you know, like in, as I
said earlier on, like I finishedmy last show at the arena in

(28:40):
Paris, which is like 5000 people.
And then when? I go was that like easy to sell?
It wasn't easy, but it it, it wasn't like sold out in 2
minutes or anything, but it was.But it was like it felt like,
you know how it is like sometimes when you really push,
push, push this one, it felt like a like like you were happy
with how how you got to the sellout.

(29:01):
Yeah, for sure. And then like around the country
the usually the I mean like 1000or 2000 theatres.
So the numbers say that like the, you know, more and more
people are coming to the shows, but the, the overall feeling,
because I'm, because I'm not doing the TV stuff anymore and
because it's like that, I, I feel like in France anyway, I
don't know how it works sort of over here.

(29:22):
It feels like someone pops. Yeah.
And they're like the hot shit for like a year and then
somebody else pops and then somebody else pops and you're
just trying. They've forgotten you.
Yeah, exactly. Like the, I guess the general
media or the general industry are like, Oh yeah, that was a
thing. But then.
But then somehow through online community, like you're still
bringing more, more and more people.
Like the show that I'm doing here has more people than the

(29:44):
previous time I came. And the same with the Australia
tour that I just finished. There were more people coming to
all of those shows. But yeah, it's I'm not in the
what's it called the zeitgeist, the.
Yeah, it's not like, yeah, the hot star that everybody tells
comedy. Let's get this guy.
Yeah, exactly. And then I feel like, yeah, I
feel like people pop, people pop, people pop, and then you
pop and then you just maintain like the goal.

(30:06):
Is to. Maintain whatever you've got.
You know, like, that's the hardest part, right?
Yeah. To maintain it, yeah.
Yeah, well, I mean a couple of things here. 1 is that I was
watching re watching Jim Jeffries special recently,
alcohol cost and he talked abouthow he's like depressed or
whatever, but he talked about how the concept of dreams he
goes like I have made it furtherthan at any point that someone

(30:27):
from my looks or intellect should go.
And his punchline is like, you know what I'm going to do
tonight? Cry myself to sleep.
And he talks about like his journeys like, oh, when I
started I was like, oh, I deserve this.
No, I deserve this. Now I'm not on TV and I'm
fucking depressed and I'm going to kill myself.
And it's kind of like similar, not necessarily obviously same
extreme, but like it's like a, isn't it like a symptom of like

(30:49):
someone getting bigger in the industry?
Probably, I think so. You know the thing that they.
Like we're never happy with where we.
Are and the question I get like a lot is like, oh, you know
what's next? I'm like, yeah, there is no this
is next. Like this is like, yeah, if I
get to do the in theory, like inwhat I should be doing, what I
should be saying is like I'm doing this tour, this is
amazing. Yeah.
The next is keep to be able to keep doing this.

(31:09):
Yeah. But you're always there's always
somebody who's further. Yeah, whatever that means higher
up. Whatever that means.
Am I gonna go for the Yeah, yeah.
You know, so you're like, so I think that's but what you're
saying is right is like, you know, that my initial dream or
my initial thing was like, can Iearn money doing stand up, you
know, in Paris? Yeah, in front of 50 people.
Yeah, but then that happened andthen so I'm just making up new
shit. But that's, but that's what

(31:30):
everything, man. I'm like, for example, if you
look back at 10 years ago, as you said, 50 people would have
blown your mind already, Like they came to watch me.
What? Right now 30 people were like,
that should be day one sales minimum.
Yeah, Right. And then at the same time, the
audience themselves look at you like, is that the goal you're
aiming for? That's way too low for you?
But no, but that was pretty goodalready.
Like no, but you shouldn't be that.
Like I shouldn't. OK, well, cuz from an audience

(31:51):
perspective, like everyone in the entertainment industry, it's
like if you're not famous, like the first person, people not in
the industry will be like, oh, are you like well known?
Yeah, I'm like, what does that even mean though?
Yeah. I don't.
Know, I mean, if, if 1500 peopleare coming to my show, I guess
that means well known. But you, you're not going to see
a newspaper article about me. Yeah.
I mean, back in the day you would.
But now it's just like I'm, you know, we're having lunch because

(32:12):
this is the other thing is like,OK, you go, all right, well,
what's the next step? Bigger theatres, What's the next
step? TV show?
What's the next step? I'm in a film, whatever.
But then I'm very conscious of the fact that if I get you know,
if if you see like a Ricky Gervais, for example, you go,
cool. But if, if I become that we
couldn't have had lunch today ina place that we had lunch.
Yeah. You just can't do that anymore.
Get mopped and then yeah, yeah, it's just.

(32:34):
Like we couldn't even do this because the manager, yeah.
We made you like hey. Why are you doing it for free
you dumbass? Yeah, or like the manager and is
talking then to the agent who's talking to the thing.
And then like, even though we know each other exactly, then
it's like, oh, you know, you know, because someone's taking
over my social media so you can't get in touch with me
anymore because there's my fucking community manager's like
who's Muhammad guy? Yeah.
Do you know what I mean? Like, it's.
It would be yeah, yeah. I lose control and I don't want

(32:57):
that either. Do you know I?
Don't want that. Exactly.
I mean, I put it. Yeah, you don't want to like
your friends. Like, wait.
Like you might have not even known that I'm here until like,
I reached out. Exactly forgot that, which is
fine but like we didn't even communicate as you said because
you're like like and you would have missed out on catching up
with an old friend. Or whatever exactly.
Because of all these players Exactly.
I was watching the Avicii documentary on Netflix.

(33:19):
I don't know. If you watched it, is that more?
Is that recent? It's very recent, like last
year. Or earlier because it was a
documentary. I feel like 10 years just after
he died, it was a thing that came out this.
Is a new one and it's honestly, it's celebrating his life more
and it's a lot of recordings that he has done with his own
voice. But one of the things, pretty
much the biggest thing that stood out for me was basically
what we're saying, He said he thought he made it once he start

(33:42):
stopped worrying about how much the cap is to the next gig.
Yeah, yeah. And he said right after that
moment, it was all the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which is, I mean, crazy, but that's the thing with everyone,
like even Bill Gates said what? The burger tastes the same, you
know? And then after a while you're
like, this is the same burger, dude.
Yeah, I could have $1,000,000 inmy bank account.
Still the same damn burger. And I agree with you on that
because like, that's the problemof someone that's in it versus

(34:04):
people around. Like, why wouldn't you want to
do this? Big theaters?
I'm like, yeah, that'll be awesome.
But there's a price to pay, which is if I'm doing those
theaters, I have to be at the level of that.
And then I've got people mobbingme.
For example, like let's say Kevin Hart, he he's huge, right?
He can sell out easily like that.
However, he also, like you said,can't just, you know, walk down
the street, but like, all right,you know, I'm just going to go
walk like, no, no, no, they're they're taking photos of you.
What's he wearing? What's he doing?

(34:25):
And then at the same time you make a tweet, you get in trouble
immediately because the world's watching you and every word
matters where it's like, let's say if you said something, the
chances of them getting offendedso much that you're on the news
is not as high as no. One cares because the news are
going to be like this half famous comedian.
Trying to hard. Country on the other side of the
world has said something that noone gives a shit like it's and
and that's it's kind of, it's kind of a sweet spot to be in.

(34:47):
You know, it's because, because I see obviously my wife who
works with me as well, But then she, you know, she's already,
you know, she already feels awkward when we both go out of
the house together and we go to like to the, to the supermarket,
whatever, because she's like, ifsomebody spots you, like, I
don't want people to think, Oh, Paul Taylor's with this fat,
ugly bitch, you know, because she thinks bad of herself like
that. I'm like, no one's thinking
that, don't worry about it. But so it's already affected

(35:07):
her. And then, like my daughter who's
at school, like, I don't want itto have, you know, she's already
gonna get made fun of in France because she's half English.
First of all, it's like, oh, yeah, you're English, blah,
blah, blah, France, England, whatever.
But then also, it's like, oh, your dad's not funny.
So I don't want her, you know, it's just like this.
Weird. So you're conscious of all of
this as well as you are like thinking of your career, Like
would you, would you not take anopportunity, like a big

(35:30):
opportunity? Easy for us to say assume here
all hypothetical, but would you actually like, let's say you're
yeah, offered a movie that wouldput you on a like, you know, a
household name in France. Would you be conscious of all of
this when you are making this decision?
Probably not. Yeah, that's the thing.
Like The thing is, is like as much as I'm like, yeah, I don't
want that life. Like if it comes, like I feel

(35:50):
like if it if it happened, no one's knocking on my door right
now, but if they were and then you just go fuck it.
You like you only live once. Like what do you know what I
mean? Like.
You always wonder, like, what if, you know, if I did, you
never know and your whole life, right?
Yeah. I think that's again one of
those things that you have to think, OK, I believe I read a
book somewhere where this guy that used to be on The Beatles

(36:11):
peed or something, right. He was on the in The Beatles.
You got kicked. That original drummer?
Yeah. Yeah, the original Drum.
Yeah, right. And his whole story is that he
got depressed and unhappy and Ohyeah, it's the subtle I'm not
giving a fuck that book. Yeah.
So basically talks about him andhe kicked out and initially was
really upset, but eventually he actually, I know that all the
problems that The Beatles had, he's like, you know what, I'm
glad I'm not in that man. I actually enjoy my family and
I'm. Very happy there, you know, and.

(36:33):
I think that's one of those things where honestly it's,
it's, I find the more I do, the more you're like, yeah, you know
what? It's at both ends.
When you work with, let's say rich families, rich people,
they've got their own problems because like now everywhere they
go, they have to make sure they're wearing Gucci's and
stuff. And here I just put on the
whatever I want to wear. Exactly.
And I think that's the issue is that.
But I agree with you on it. Like, but you're kind of like,
but what if I never do it? I'll always wonder what it's

(36:53):
like. Yeah.
You know, So it's that leap of faith, the same with the comedy,
man. Like, if you didn't take that
open mic spot, you could have been very different.
Yeah. You know, and I think as, as
comedians ourselves, a lot of our job requires us to take
those leaps of faith. Even with the joke, we're like,
well, I'm just gonna say it and see what happens.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Send our nature to like, be
like, yeah, if it comes, I'm gonna give it a shot.
Yeah, well, and that's the thing.
Like, you know, we, I've always,we've always joked to my wife,

(37:15):
you know, we're like, Oh yeah, we'd love, we loved a house in
Corsica, which is like an islandoff the fronts where she spent
her all her summers as a kid because her, yeah, grandfather
was Corsican. But you know, it's like, it's
one of those things where like the place costs like 3 million
or whatever. She's like, she's like, oh, all
you need to do is like a film, you know, if you do a film and
you're like a, a main character in a film, whatever, then, oh,
we could do it. I'm like, yeah, yeah.

(37:35):
But, you know, but then we we half joke about it, like I've
been in a couple of films in France, but they're like, you
know, stupid small roles or whatever.
But yeah, it's a really fascinating dilemma.
But it's it's so interesting also, like before a listener or
someone watching this or listening to this, looking at
your life from the outside, LikeI actually just pulled up your

(37:57):
post that you posted a few days ago.
About 10 years ago, you quit your dream job from Apple to
become a comedian, and you are now selling out shows in
Australia, New Zealand. In 2015, you would have never
thought you would be performing to thousands of people outside
the world. And this is 3 days ago.
Yeah. And cut to you now going like, I
don't know, man, you know what Imean?

(38:17):
Like because I'm watching this like reading this would be like,
this is amazing. You guys like.
Like. The most successful and then you
know, like, I don't know. Well, yeah, well, yeah, that, I
mean that's always like the the customer facing stuff, yes.
And like, what's going on internally because people, I
mean, most people don't give a shit like, yeah, you know, like
what's going on behind the scenes.

(38:39):
And so, yeah, like some of the stuff is interesting.
The behind the scenes we are, you know, I'm not obviously no
one has, you know, the the perfect day.
But yeah. And that's like when I was in,
in finishing off the Australian tour and even coming here now,
I'm just like, like trying to remember that as much as I hate
like some of the background shitthat goes on that like drives me
crazy that ultimately I'm very lucky to be able to be in this

(39:02):
apartment right now in the middle of Hong Kong on a Tuesday
afternoon before I do a show this evening.
Like I'm getting paid to do this, like to be here.
So like well. You're not going to pay to do
this one, but you. Know am I not?
Yeah, yeah. Oh, you told me.
What now you're finding out? That's why you paid for lunch.
OK, now I get it. Yes.

(39:23):
So yeah. Like, it's, you know, it's I'm
in a very privileged position aswell.
But then you just have the demons in your head going, well,
could it be better? Am I doing the right thing?
That's what I was. Asking you because like you
because you're in a bigger like,I guess like whatever, that a
few steps ahead of me. I'll speak for myself.
Don't you think it's just like asymptom of the industry anyway,

(39:45):
because it seems I'm thinking exactly the same looking at you.
I'm like, I wish I could be and you're like, I'm like look at
you and you're like, well, I canbe.
I wish I could you. Know.
I'm sure even Ricky Gervais has the same thoughts about like.
Where, Where the fuck would he go?
I want to be in Hong Kong. What the hell, man?
He's. Thinking like oh shit, I wish I
can just have lunch and yeah, yeah.
Well, there you go. So I think so I think, well,

(40:06):
maybe that's it. Maybe that's you.
You aim, you aim, you aim. You get bigger and bigger or
whatever. Yeah, whatever that whatever
getting bigger means. Do you know what I mean?
Like in theory, it's just like what the, you know, if you're
well known, whatever that means,Yeah.
And then when you're at that stage, you go fuck, I really
wish I could. Just have lunch with.
My friend at the place that we used to like 15 years ago, but
I'm gonna get mobbed if I do that so.
So you have to have the kind of money where you could book up

(40:27):
the whole place. Well, I just listened to a
podcast with Ed Sheeran who had to build.
Well, he had to, he chose to build in his back garden in
England like a pub, like a proper, like really 60 seat a
pub because he was saying that like, you know, for a while when
I would come back to this littletown where he grew up, he'd go

(40:47):
out with his friends at the local pub, But then, you know,
the, the media got a hold of it.And so he would get mobbed and
his friends were like, dude, allI want is to have a beer with
you. Like, I don't want to, I don't
want to be here like when peopleare taking photos, like.
And so he built a pub in his back garden to invite like his
friends and close family and whatever.
So they could still have the thing but not have the paparazzi
or people like how can I take a Yeah, so but I think that's, you

(41:11):
know, he's touring the world doing the stadium show.
That's crazy. He he's not like he's he is just
show. I don't even know what they what
I I can't even imagine. Well I can imagine because I
like I've watched the Pink documentary where she was
travelling with her kids. Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, like, they finish
the show and then they go back to the hotel and she's looking

(41:31):
after the kids. She's mum again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. As soon as the show's finished.
It's bizarre. It's yeah, it's it's bizarre,
but it's, it just, it's really normal.
It's like, you know, when I, I mean, I've been away from home
for like 2 1/2 weeks. So I get home on Saturday and
Sunday's Mother's Day in France.So on the Saturday, it's just
Dad now. Yeah.
So on Saturday, jet lag, I have to figure out how to get my wife
out of the house because I've bought her some presents from

(41:51):
here. Like a card that I'm gonna have
to get my daughter to make the card to be like, right, draw the
card for mummy. It's Mother's Day, blah, blah,
blah. We've also got, like, a, a
friend's, what you call it, birthday.
Like one of my daughter's friend's birthdays on the
Sunday. Yeah.
It's just like, it's an intense weekend.
Just like, all right, I'm back to being dad.
Yeah, I'm back to to, to, to, to, to.
The duty. But I think that's also like,

(42:12):
because I don't know who who said it, like something like
comedian or whatever. You were also talking about like
how, oh, it was Jim Gaffigan because he has five kids.
Yeah. And he talked in many interviews
about how much his kids think his kids think he's lame, which
is really, Yeah, every very grounding.
And to them, he's just like, this older guy or whatever he

(42:32):
makes, like, whatever jokes. Yeah.
And it's actually cool looking at you as like, a young dad or
looking at him talking about it.It's like, it's a really, like,
it counters or like, if it gets in your head a little bit and
you go back and your daughter's like, well, you got to sit on
the floor and draw with me now. Yeah.
Yeah. Exactly.
Hey, but this like paparazzi? Yeah.
Yeah, Yeah. Well, and yeah, that's exactly
that's like, I feel like it's more of a more of a thing that

(42:55):
we need as comedians as well is to is to still live life.
And yeah, because that's what wetalk about right Where?
And the thing in France, what's kind of weird is like the famous
comedians over there, they're like proper stars and they
behave like stars as well. They dress too nice to be on
stage. You know they I.
Don't. I can't relate.
To they're getting their like, they're getting their like
Mercedes vans to pick them up with their fucking, you know,

(43:16):
like with a bodyguard. Yeah, it feels like they're a
movie star and they'll cause a lot of them do movies as well.
But you're just like, dude, likewhat are you?
Like how, how do you relate to the person who's from the random
town in France and, and, and make fun of yourself when you're
dressed like that? Yeah, you'll be too good for.
Them. Yeah, exactly.
So it's funny you mentioned Jim Gaffigan because yeah, like,
it's it like he even like Louis CK 'cause he had two daughters,

(43:41):
you know? And it was like, yeah, at some
point it's like it's real life, 'cause you still have to go to
school, yes, and drop your kids off and you still have to
interact with the teachers or the other parents.
You still have to go to like thethe end of year dance the thing.
Yeah. And then so you're interacting
with other parents and it's awkward.
You know, it's just like, yeah, you, you have to you, you.
Yeah, exactly. And that.

(44:02):
And I think that also I I understand if you're a musician
or if you're an actor like you, you, you don't want to do that,
nor do you need to like because no one knows who you are.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, because no one knows who
you deeply. But as comedians, we share our
lives. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so if we're talking about, oh, the other day I was, you
know, doing this and that and the other if your other day
doing this, that and the other is.
Cool, yeah. It yes, school, it's relatable,

(44:24):
but if it's like I was at this award ceremony blah blah, blah,
it's like all right, all right, mate, calm it down.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Yeah, you kind of lose that, Yeah.
As you said, you can't relate tothat because the person buying
the ticket is like an average person, right?
So if you lose that touch of howcan I relate to the audience,
then it's kind of over. And we know a lot of examples of
that, like, you know, famous comedians who now talk about

(44:46):
stuff that, like, you as a regular viewer, you're like,
what the fuck is he on about? Yeah.
Like he's like, are you talking about like rich people problem
famous? People problems like it's not.
It's not relatable anymore. And that's not how you started.
When you look at Seinfeld, as much as I like him back then
30-40 years ago, and it's like, have you ever noticed this and
that? And in his last couple of
specials, it did feel a little out of touch.
It did feel like he's talking about you've seen whatever the

(45:10):
homeless people or whatever. He's doing for you, yeah.
Yeah, and you feel like, OK, you're not.
You're not living the same thing.
So we are living anymore. Yeah.
But you mentioned Ed Sheeran earlier.
I might have mentioned this on the podcast before.
I have a buddy back in Shanghai.Ed Sheeran came a few years ago
to play the Mercedes-Benz Arena,the biggest arena in pretty much
all of China. And my buddy Chris, who actually

(45:31):
does stand up as well, he went to school with with Ed Sheeran.
No way. Pretty well.
No way. Yeah, but Chris is also kind of
like, he is very like, I would say airhead.
He's just like not interested ina lot like as he lives in a very
small bubble and he knows Ed Sheeran very well and he doesn't
know how big his career is at all, really, right?
Because to him it's just Ed, theguy who is like now does music.

(45:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For.
Chris Ed just does music right. It's good though, to have those
people around you like Ed level to be like, yeah, my closest
friends are the ones that made me, you know, the like the that
I was at university with this, like they're still my best
friends when I go back to the UKand we like, we barely talk
about what I do. Like we just, we shoot the shit
as if we're just, you know, as if nothing sort of changed
because because we still can, like we can still go to the and

(46:15):
we can still do that kind of stuff.
And hopefully that will never change.
Sharon got in touch with Chris when he came to Shanghai, right?
And Chris having no fucking ideahow big he is, he goes, hey,
man, I'm doing a gig. And he goes, like, is it in the
pub? Like, do you want me to bring my
friends? Like, you want me to, like,
spread the word around? And just like, I'll be fine.
And he goes, OK, should I buy a ticket to support you?
He's like, I'll put you in the guest list.

(46:37):
And. He said it's a Mercedes-Benz
arena, but Mercedes-Benz actually has smaller venues, OK?
And Chris went fully convinced it is one of those, like you
say, Mercy is Benz Coco, you notgrow up in London.
Yeah, outside of London, He say grew up in London.
Yeah. So he was like, it's Mercy Benz.
It's probably one of the shitty bars outside.
Right? Goes there.
Realized he had sold out the arena.
Yeah. And he still had no idea.

(46:59):
He's a friend that's. Crazy.
He also asked him if he wants a couch to sleep on.
Amazing. But then, yeah, just like, to
him, it's just his friend. Yeah, he's just like, oh, Edison
Tower. Like yeah, yeah, yeah, it's.
Super cool. Man, well, I mean, I put it this
way. The one last thing I shared with
you, I remember that idea. You said you need $3,000,000
together. What's the place in Cocoa, Cuso.
Whatever. Corsica.

(47:20):
Corsica, yeah, that's. What it's attitude?
Yeah. All right, so here's the idea.
Yeah. OK, so you need $3,000,000, but
you don't want the fame that comes with it.
Yeah. My recommendation is this.
You have a lot of inside information for Apple that you
worked over there. Yes, that's the thing I don't
but. You write a show with a lot of

(47:41):
those sprinkled into it. Yeah, have only one short clip
that you put online, Apple like thread and apple be like, oh, by
the way, I'm going to do this tour.
We're in books and all these places now.
And they pay me off. Yeah, exactly.
Yes. And NDA, no one ever needs to
know about this to take that video off.
Now you have the $1,000,000, you're famous.
Nobody knows that you're famous.And then you got the money.

(48:01):
You're in. You're doing that.
Your wife's happy. You're walking in the
supermarket. They're like, aren't you the guy
that does the bit about the kissing on the face?
You're like, yes, you don't knowabout the alphabet.
It's a win win thing. You still do in shows for let's
say 5000 maximum of 50 people. You continue that life.

(48:23):
Your daughter thinks you're still lame.
Life is good. And you go back home and I'm
like, hey, how's the couscous? They live in couscous.
Couscous over here. Yeah, right over there, man.
That sounds like a good plan. I.
Want to ask you the most like probably like annoying and
frustrating question to end with.
What's next for you, Paul? The show tonight is next, okay.

(48:46):
Yeah, by the time this comes out, this is like 2 weeks.
Yeah. So we have killed it.
You've got multiple standing. Ovations amazing.
You did a crowd surf thing Which.
Is crowd surf. Yeah.
Had some hookers backstage. Champagne was flowing it.
Was it was not alcoholic for both of us, Yeah.
Yes. Well, yeah, this tour like goes
until like the end of next year or not the end of next year,

(49:08):
sorry, the middle of next year. So like in.
OK. So we're recording in May.
So you're on the road basically?Yeah, kind of like I've, I'm,
I'm once I'm finished this, I'm back home for three weeks.
And then it's the US and Canada for like 5 weeks.
I come back from that for like the month of August.
And then September is like all of Europe, not France.
And then January, February, March is the like France.

(49:32):
The French like and this is all.It's all 100% in English.
Still 100% in English and I don't know.
I'll either I, I don't know. It's either I carry on or I do
like a second tour with the sameshow, maybe potentially, or if
they're like, oh, it's probably better if you have a new show,
then maybe I'll start doing a French show.
I don't know. The the the the next, the
immediate next is stage like this is it's what I do and it's

(49:55):
it's I enjoy. Stand up like yeah, yeah, it's
right. Shows to work.
Yeah. And then if something comes of
that, you know, like ATV project, there's The thing is
like what? Also what's next is really
difficult to establish. Like a couple of months ago I
got involved. I was in an episode of Top Gear,
but the French Top Gear. Oh, fine.
So that was cool. Like, I know, you know, I
couldn't, I could have never planned for that.

(50:15):
Yes, yes. Do you know what I mean?
So then that. What did you do on top like?
I was I was like so the French they they've just hired 3 new
presenters. It's kind of like what the UK
went through where the pre presenters there was a bit of
controversy. Yes, they hired 3 new guys and
one of the episodes is basicallythe UK like the the King Charles

(50:36):
has like sent over a person to quality control these three to
make sure that they're So I put them through a bunch of
challenges to make sure they're apartment to host.
The the, the French, the. French Top Gear.
Oh, that's cool. Obviously you're in such a
unique position as an English guy, like living in French
speaking and and being an entertainer.

(50:56):
That's super cool. So and that's kind of the thing
where, you know, like 6 months ago you could have never, no one
could. I could have never gone.
Oh my next thing I want to do a Top Gear.
It's like somebody called me, you know, a contact from a
contact. He was like, we're filming Top
Gear next week and we really want you to be in this episode
'cause we got an English now. I'm like, are you kidding me?
Like it's the show that I grew up with.
Absolutely. So it's, I think like to answer

(51:18):
the question, like the what's next is whatever happens.
Yes, yes, you know, like I'll, I'll keep doing my thing, which
is stand up and doing the onlinestuff and whatever comes that
comes that if, if I, if I'm doing this in 20 years, like
ultimately I'm happy. And then if other stuff comes of
it, whether it's film, TV, hosting, whatever it is like

(51:40):
it's just added bonus basically.Amazing.
Thank you so much for doing. This thank you guys for having
me this is amazing. A couple of things, 1 is how do
people find you online? And two, we're about to record
the Patreon, but we'll do that. How do people find you online?
First online, you have to type in Paul Taylor and then comedy
because there's so many Paul Taylors that there's like a jazz
musician. There's a dance company called

(52:01):
Paul Taylor. So it's Paul Taylor comedy.
Are you the most famous one I. Think it depends on the region,
like if you type in Paul Taylor in in Europe, yeah, I think I'm
probably the first one that comes up right over here.
It's probably the dance company because I think I.
Just like Sir Paul Paul Taylor. Google, but because he's Paul
Taylor, you might have already Googled.
Me. Oh yeah.
True, yeah. Yeah, yes, in history.

(52:21):
Yes. Wait, can you do?
Can you do? Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, OK, let's do it.
OK, you can tell people that. So where else?
All of the social media stuff, TikTok, Instagram comedy, Paul
Taylor comedy, Paul Taylor comedy on all of the things.
OK, so we're Googling Paul Taylor on and you are in Chinese
as well. Vivek, can you read?

(52:43):
This bolo Thai ha. You are that.
What is it? Bolo Thai.
Oh, Bolo Thai Khan, I think. Yeah, Bolo Thai Khan.
That's amazing. Oh wow, there.
You go. I like this Paul Taylor Italia.
That's the clothing brand. Taylor OK, so yeah.
I'm still #1 that's good, OK. Good, nice, sorry, not bad.
That's amazing, yeah. OK, so on the Patreon, did I

(53:05):
tell you do Patreon? It's like 15 minutes.
Great, I love it. I'm on Patreon as well.
Oh, you can find me on Patreon. Oh, there you go.
What is What do you do on Patreon?
Well, so I was I used to do likea live every Monday, so I'd sit
in front of I. Would have a beer, I remember.
That yes, yes. And then I would do like an
extra hour for the Patreon crew.Now I've stopped doing the live
stuff. I do just like a little
exclusive behind seen videos where I'm like, hey, I'm like

(53:27):
I'm on tour, whatever, like and and I chat to them.
And how do people find We'll putall of this in the show at.
Patreon.com/paultaylor. Great.
OK, so on the Patreon I want to like pick on something that we
talked about over lunch. The Dave Chappelle thing made me
crack up. So, so you have had you have had
to open for him a few times in Paris and you.

(53:47):
Can't sounds like I was forced like you've had you've had to
open for it, I guess to say, I mean if you.
So Chappelle would like you to open a map, Yeah.
No. Not Tuesday.
No, there's a club with 50 people that.
Need Mercedes-Benz are reading my ass.

(54:08):
But they're funny. They like when you're telling me
over lunch a few times you try to do this thing when you, like,
want to hang out with him. And somehow every time it just
went wrong. Yeah, and it was.
But there's also some information that we should
probably not do it anyway. So I think it's safer on the
Patreon. Yes, that's what I'm.
Are we, is that, Oh, we, so we're, we're, is that, is that,
is that how you're promoting a picture?

(54:29):
Here's my Dave Chappelle story. Yes, yes, exactly.
You guys know what's up man? I like it of.
Course, so we're gonna, yeah, we're gonna go on the Patreon
for your Dave Chappelle story, which is very, very
entertaining. So join us on the
patreonpatreon.com/opod Paul, thank you so much for joining.
I. Appreciate it.
Would love to have you here. Next time, because my friend
yesterday told me, there's two ways in Cantonese to say thank

(54:50):
you. One is it being given to you.
One is like. Yeah, I'm goy and daughter.
What's the What's the first one?I'm goy, I'm going is.
That good? Is that what I would say now to
say thank you? No, if you were speaking, you
wouldn't say thank you at all. Oh.
Fuck you. Yeah, exactly.
There you go, it's. Much better, yeah.
They did nothing for you that you have to thank them man.
Okay, all right, well, you did. You invited me onto the podcast.

(55:10):
No, you could tell me. You wouldn't tell the camera
then. Oh, them because them.
OK. Yeah.
You see like. The.
Transaction I'm going. Yeah, you can see that.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
But then again, with the with the poor action, I don't feel, I
don't feel the sincerity over there.
Thank. You for watching?
That's all good. I think you would go in like
torte, as in like, you know. Thank you so much.
Like, I didn't, I didn't really owe you anything.
I didn't give you something where I shouldn't have Accent.

(55:30):
Yeah, whatever. OK, so look at your your middle
camera here and go. Yeah, what am I saying?
Torte. Torte all.
Right. Music.