Continuing our Ones to Watch series highlighting the hit acts of the Edinburgh Fringe, Pauline Stobbs reviews comedic duo Taylor and Bird’s ‘Blind Date Ruined My Life’.
Taylor and Bird have got guts. Forgetting the slow and steady path to comedy, these two have fast tracked straight to the fringe festival with their first show Blind Date Ruined my Life. “What?” I hear you cry. “How could a classic ITV show have any damaging consequences to anyone ever?”
It’s a rather complicated path charting how a brief stint on the ITV dating show left Nick Taylor’s personal life in tatters and ultimately lead to the current economic crisis. By the end you’re wholeheartedly convinced that every plunge into the downward spiral of Nick Taylor’s life post 1991 has come from a few, brief moments onscreen and a weekend away with a telly-picked stranger. Perhaps Cilla was behind it all along.
The laughs are steady in Taylor and Bird’s debut. There’s some good character work from Phil Bird and Nick Taylor has ladles of boyish charm as his pseudo-self. Even more fun is the retro trip back to the heyday of Blind Date – when lime jumpsuits were in, curtains were an acceptable haircut and Turkey was rife with Hepatitis.
A must see for lovers of schadenfreude and anyone curious of the personal and global consequences of an appearance on ‘Take Me Out’.
_____________________________________________________
Blind Date Ruined My Life is being performed from 6th-26th August at Sweet Grassmarket.
Pauline Stobbs, writer, comedienne and PR whiz, is an Annexe regular with a keen nose for comedy.
annexemagazine 
I have to say that this show is possibly one of the most unfunny things I have ever sat through in my 28 years on this earth, and an hour I’ll never get back! Not to mention the £7.50 entrance fee! That was a joke, oh my actual days, if I could recommend you do one thing this fringe its avoid this like the plauge good comedy loving people!
Wow that’s rough… don’t you think this guy has had enough bad reviews in his life ie. from a certain mustard dress clad lady?
We enjoyed the show and thought it was a great story. Not bad for a ginger.
Maybe your next show could continue the story where you talk about how you then moved to comedy where you got a review stating “an hour I’ll never get back”.
A great idea Eleisha! We’ll call it, Blind Date Ruined My Life Ruined My Life. We’re glad you enjoyed the show.