Ellie Taylor (I)

The Ellie Taylor three minute interview

Ellie Taylor brings her Edinburgh Festival debut show to the Fringe, all about looking at love, life, Matalanand other such hard-hitting issues, like Russian foreign policy. Martin Walker talks to Ellie via email.

The original, full-length comedy marathon at the Edinburgh festival fringe lasted eight hours, so this 60-minute version is very much a boiled-down affair. Introduced by Chris Ramsey and Jameela Jamil, we're promised the highlights from the 40-plus comedians who took part performing stand-up and sketches. There's an array of talent to choose from, including Adam Riches, Ellie Taylor and Celia Pacquola, plus a couple of old timers - Jimmy Cricket and Phil Kay - as well as newer blood, such as Adam Hess, winner of the 2011 Chortle Student Comedy award.

Ellie Taylor: talks presenting 'Snog, Marry, Avoid?'

Hurrah! Snog Marry Avoid? is back on Monday 14th May at 10.30pm and awesomely enough for yours truly, they've let me present it!

Ellie Taylor to host new series of 'Snog Marry Avoid?'

Show Me The Funny comedian Ellie Taylor is gearing up to give OTT contestants a dressing down on make-under show Snog Marry Avoid?

Interview with Ellie Taylor

What if you were plucked from your 9-to-5 job to become a full-time comedian...whilst a TV crew filmed you? Spoonfed chats to Show Me the Funny's Ellie Taylor on the perks and pitfalls of reality TV comedy.

Ellie Taylor tips Pat Monahan to win tonight's final

Eliminated Show Me The Funny comic Ellie Taylor has tipped Patrick Monahan to win tonight's live final.

Ellie Taylor & Stuart Goldsmith leave Show Me The Funny

Ellie Taylor and Stuart Goldsmith became the latest comedians to be voted off Show Me The Funny last night (22.08.11), narrowly missing out on a place in the live final of the show to Dan Mitchell, Patrick Monahan and Tiffany Stevenson.

The link between The Apprentice and Show Me the Funny was suddenly obvious. First, we have a competition for entrepreneurs who can't... entrepren. Then, on Show Me the Funny, we were introduced to a succession of comedian-contestants who weren't funny.

This "Show/Funny" thing, an attempt to find Britain's best new stand-up in six weeks, was a bizarrely cack-handed production, which didn't let us see any of the contestants be funny or even perform. During all their on-stage performances, someone called ]Jason Manford was being filmed in the wings, trying to be funny about the people out there failing to be funny, but who we couldn't see failing to be funny, which would have been more fun. Finally, funnily, we got one brief clip of a Spanish/Welsh chap managing to alienate a roomful of drunk Liverpudlian women. Ignacio Lopez got it wrong. He strode, swayed, rubbed his crotch, told them he was half-Welsh, half-Spanish, all sexy. "Some of you might recognise me as the barman you slept with two years ago in Magaluf! If you don't have my number, ask the lady on your left!" This was an audience which would have potentially weed itself at mention of the word "sausage", as ever-punchable guest judge Jimmy Tarbuck knows. Yet Liverpool is still strong on nuance, gentility and intent, and Liverpool hasn't been as quiet since the day after it was bombed. I'm surprised Lopez left alive. There were no contenders with wit other than the brave and lucky Ellie Taylor, who is also a former model. For some, life works.

With round one coming from Liverpool, it was only fitting that the empty chair be filled by Scouse royalty Jimmy Tarbuck.

Death by silence is a fate every stand-up must endure alone. And yet, paradoxically, the discomfort is shared by the audience, creating mutual embarrassment on a vast scale that makes for both an appalling spectacle and great TV.

Which leaves Show Me The Funny having its comedy cake and eating it. If a turn is funny - all well and good. If not - even better. My main complaint with the format is that they don't show us the funny soon enough.

It was a good 20 minutes before any of the comics took to the stage, having previously been sent onto the streets of Liverpool to meet the locals, collect material and perform designated pointless tasks. All of which was pure, unadulterated padding.

Come showtime, however, and the programme found its cold, clammy, nerve-wracked feet. The audience comprised 300 women who, we were led to believe, were capable of unspoken atrocities if offended. In truth, they emanated pure goodwill, which the first two acts did everything in their power to test attempting cod scouse accents.

However, third on the bill, Ellie Taylor, established an immediate rapport with her sisters out front and worked the room with a confidence that belied her novice status. Stuart Goldsmith's professionalism also set him apart and earned the praise of Tarby, no less. The rest were hard to judge, with most of their routines ending up on the cutting room floor. All except poor Ignacio Lopez, hung out to dry as an example of how not to do it.

Ignacio promised character comedy, but inexplicably dropped the character two sentences into his set without putting anything in its place. He was ignominiously booted out despite delivering by far the best opening line of the night: "Hello, I am Ignacio. Some of you may remember me as the barman you slept with in Magaluf two years ago".