It’s a bitterly cold Wednesday night down on Cardiff Bay, I’m in town to catch up with a one of my best pals and we are in desperate need of entertaining. The fluffy snow has been replaced with sleety rain and we are drying off and ploughing through pre-show drinks in the deserted bar next door. It is then that it hits me… “Some poor clown has got to make us laugh tonight!” It definitely qualifies as a tough gig, but luckily for us, that clown is Fin Taylor.

This is my first trip to The Glee in Cardiff, as you walk in through the entrance you get serious student building vibes… but with a sterile cleanliness that no student could ever achieve. Heading upstairs the comedy venue stylings become far more familiar. The space is bright and VERY red (well it is Wales), the friendly staff hand us a seating plan, hilariously explaining that it doesn’t actually include our seats because they forgot to add the row, we find them without issue, order drinks and settle in.

Fin Taylor has been a successful clown for well over a decade but it was a 2022 appearance on Good Morning Football, where he beautifully trolled the NFL that confirmed we really had to see this man live. As clowns go, this one is more of a tightrope walker (last circus reference, I promise) as he expertly dances on that line between funny and offensive. Yes it’s controversial, but yes it’s also great comedy.

Our clown for the evening takes to the stage in the most casual manner I can ever remember seeing, it really is like he just started randomly chatting to us at a bus stop. It’s a wet Wednesday crowd and I’m not sure they quite know what to make of this approach as the laughter is sparse but steady. Fin continues to quite intentionally split the room, letting everyone know just what kind of a show this is going to be. He then hit’s his stride, comes in with a few absolute killer lines which get the whole crowd involved and we are set for a cracking evening of comedy.

This is observational comedy from a wonderfully dark perspective. Covering topics like mental health, new parenting and even racism in this style is always a risk but if you can twist hilarious and non-racist jokes out of a truly horrific starter line like “To those people who say that they don’t have a racist bone in their body, I say, you just haven’t met the right race yet” then you have a gift.

The best way that I can describe Fin Taylor’s act would be that of a middle class Sadowitz or a non-dead-pan Stewart Lee. Neither of these comparisons are meant in any way other than that of a compliment but it does tell you that this clown has a certain type of audience. And luckily for us, he found them on a cold night in Cardiff.

Clown Stars: * * * *

@The Glee, Cardiff