Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Fin Taylor (Part One)

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

This week Emily and Ray head to Beckenham Place Park for a stroll with comedian and writer Fin Taylor, joined by his ridiculously cute Cavapoo, Winnie.Fin chats to Emily about his journey into comedy, from growing up with teacher parents and attending an all-girls boarding school (with Emma Watson!), to performing his first stand-up gig at just 15. Since then, he’s built a hugely successful career, appearing on shows like Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats and The Last Leg, as well as creating his popular YouTube series Fin vs. The Internet, where he conducts brilliantly awkward interviews with content creators.They also talk about his podcast Fin vs. History with Horatio Gould, and his upcoming live show The Fin Taylor Pre-emptive Comeback Special, which is touring later this year. Tickets are available now at https://www.livenation.co.uk.Follow Emily:Instagram XWalking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whole case of libel just waiting to be discovered behind a paywall. Three pounds stopped you from going to the courts, isn't it? This week on walking the dog, Ray and I headed over to South East London to take a stroll in Beckenham Place Park with comedian Finn Taylor and his ridiculously cute Cavaku Winnie. So I first met Finn in slightly odd circumstances. I was at a wedding a few months ago and I suddenly realised a button had fallen off

my hideously expensive borrowed dress, and everyone's saying, oh no, what a nightmare. Finn, meanwhile, just drops to the floor, crawls Commando style under the tables, and then calmly presents it to me before disappearing into the night like James Bond. So I thought it was only fair I got to thank my wardrobe hero in person. Finn has won huge acclaim for his live comedy, as well as his memorable appearances on shows like Have I Got News for You, eight out of ten cats and the last leg. But he's also gone on to build an enormous following online

with his incredibly popular YouTube series, Finn versus the Internet, where he conducts fabulously awkward interviews with content creators. He also co-hosts the brilliantly funny podcast, Finn versus History, with Horatio Gould, which is aimed at people who like history but don't care what actually happened. I think I found my demographic. Finn's also had a really interesting life and we talked about all of it, from having teacher parents to being the only boy in an all-girls boarding school and doing his first stand-up gig at the age of just 15.

We also chatted about his upcoming tour later this year, the Finn Taylor preemptive comeback special, and this man is genuinely well worth seeing live. So do book your tickets now via livenation.co.uk. Ray and I had the loveliest walk with Finn, Not only is he fabulously entertaining company, he's also got the most adorable dog in the world. I'm sorry, Ray, pretend you didn't hear that.

And by the way, you've definitely still got it. Really hope you enjoy our walk. Here's Finn and Winnie and Ray, Ray. Come on, Ray. Oh, oy. Sorry, Finn. Have you had to rename the show Carrying the dog? Yeah.

That happened a long time ago. Oh, really? He's knocking on now. And whenever I get irritated with him, having to carry him I think that'll be me one day yeah do you know what I mean you haven't got one of those little um you know those prams you see I'm moments away really would you get a pam for Winnie no I'd go old school and I'd just stick some wheels in the back of her yeah well he's generally we went

out for a walk with um Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton the other day yes and I have you got a bag for that name you just dropped You're going to need a bigger bag. Okay, fine. Finn, we're going to need a bigger bag for this walk. Yeah. It's going to be a lot. Right.

But we went out with her and she ended up. I was quite surprised because I was embarrassed at how slow he was. See what I mean? Yeah, yeah. This is why I have to pick him up because he'll do this. Ray, we're with a normal dog now. You can't treat it like you're browsing in Zara. Come here.

Come here. See what I mean? Yeah. That's a very satisfying plot he's got, though. Do you like it? It's like, you know, there was a level of sort of puppet animatronics that you see in the old Star Wars films. Oh yeah? When it's kind of like, it's jerky, but it still sort of looks enough.

It's convincing. That's kind of how he looks. I'm saying my dog is like primitive animatronics. No, he looks like an Ewok, is what I'm saying, from Return the Jedi. Yeah, he really goes well with Star Wars music because there's a sort of quite dignity to him as well. Winnie's doing a poo. God, you know, yeah, I mean, her assholes. Willie is adorable, Finn.

Yeah, she's a good dog. Very tolerant dog as well. And she is, is she some sort of cockapoo type thing? She's a cavapoo. Cabapoo. That's what Frank Skinner has. Oh, is it? Yes, he has a cabapoo called Poppy.

She's doing another poo. That's a wee. Oh, okay. That's a we. And why did you go Kabapoo? We lived in a flat when we got her. Yeah. And my wife had grown up with dogs.

I never had one. And we knew we were going to try and have kids at some point as well. I can't remember why. It's probably a decision my wife was across more than me. But obviously I'm the one that looks after the dog. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, of course. But I think that's a very, that's a very gender split thing, isn't it?

Oh, is that right? Look at Ray, running. That's quite majestic actually. Do you think? Look, Ray, show Finn how you run. Frolicing through the long grass. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's a thing they say is like it's called Mum Bluetooth, where a woman with, a mum will like almost wake up before their kids cry because they're like connected.

connected to the kid and I have a similar thing with the dog which in the night I'll sleep through the kids crying but if the dog winds I'm like up like a flash you're really and why did you go for the name Winnie I can't I can't remember okay maybe it was Mandela I don't know I don't know well that's aged but there you Well Winnie is absolutely beautiful and she's currently forlooking through the grass. Yeah, it's a lovely time of year there are blue bells. Look, she's met her friend. Oh, we're going to see this is one I have to pick up Ray.

Do you see Finn? How old's Ray? He's nine, you see. Okay. He's an old man now, nine and a half. How old's Winnie? Six. Oh, okay.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Come on Raymond! Raymond! Yay! He looks like one of those old-fashioned car washes where he's got the things on the side. Because you can't see his legs, you just see his sort of fur like, who-woo. Oh, this is, he's so happy.

Are you having a nice time? Do you like Finn? What's your first impression of him then? Sorry, are you talking to me? Yes. He seems very cute, majestic. Do you think your kids would like him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He really, he's great with kids.

Why? Why? My son's obsessed with his dogs. of his dogs and like no personal space so it just goes up to dogs just thinking they'll want to cuddle back and he'll like bear hug huge dog I mean it's great it's way better than being like afraid of them yes but there's been a couple of occasions where he chose the wrong dog and you know we're always aware like oh god we don't want like a formative memory where I know but then

it's hard though isn't it because I think you're right in that you do you do You also, you don't want him to be one of those kids who grows up going, ah, at everything. No, no one, none of us want that. No. So, thank you so much for agreeing to come on this podcast. No, it's a pleasure. Well, thanks for coming down all the way here.

We should say we're in southeast London. Yeah. In this Beckenham Palace Park. Beckham Place Park. Beckham Place Park is it called. Yeah. Oh, you see, I'm always trying to regal everything up, calling it Palace. It's Crystal Palace.

Oh, it's Crystal Palace. Beckenham Place Park. And I love it here. So... We're spoiled down here. There's loads of... For London it's very green. I wonder what the history of this place was.

Oh, I can bore you with it. It used to be a golf club until about 30 years ago. Did he? Before that it was a big manor house. It was just privately owned. And then at some point it became what it is now, not that long ago, like maybe 10, 20 years. Because that building looks slightly regency... I'm full of incredibly boring dad facts.

Did you know? You might, you know this is a nappy bag because nappy bags and poo bags are the same, except you can't charge VAT on child products. So you should buy nappy bags rather than dog poo bags. Who am I? Who am I fucking Martin Lewis? Are you money saving X? Yeah, I think I am, yeah. But like Martin Lewis, whenever you do TV broadcasts, do you sit in a room with all your trophies lined up in the background?

Because that's what he does. I don't often do, I don't really do TV much anymore. you don't and we're going to talk about that because I'm fascinated by how you kind of represent well my producer said on the way here saying it's so interesting Finn is probably the most famous comic now

who's not arrived at comedy through I suppose legacy media you know well it's funny because I was on legacy media quite a bit but I was really on it when it turns out the horse had bolted right in that I sort of did I did the rounds in like the couple of years before COVID and I was on it thinking

Well you did have I got news quite controversial I may say. Did it three times I was yeah I was revoked out of that one And that one we should say is when Finn made a comment about Jeremy Corbyn or something? I made a comment about his fans Yes what did you say or do you not want to repeat that? No I can't it was something about how he was holding the labour his fans were holding the Labour Party hostage and it wasn't actually that many

people. and all you have to do is bomb glastonbury and it wouldn't be an issue. So really it's a joke about scale rather than anything. Yeah. It's a maths joke. And then a journalist sort of quote tweet clipped it and said that because I went to private school, I sort of meant it. Right. And then that whole section of the internet, you know, I was the guy for a weekend or whatever.

Yeah. How did that feel being the guy for the weekend? Well, it wasn't pleasant, but it does stop and it is also incredibly contained. And that you leave the house thinking that everyone has seen it and everyone thinks the same and everyone wants to punch you. But in reality, no one has. And then, yeah, I got asked back on the show. And I think the journalist in question died. Can I say that?

I mean, I'm so, maybe she, maybe, I think she died anyway. I'm related. Oh, look. Look at Winnie, Finn. Yeah. Winnie is just rolling. Winnie! Hey!

Come on. That would be fox poo. Yeah, come on. She was rolling around on her back in utter ecstasy. That sight makes me so happy. Yeah, it is good. That's my antidepressant. I don't take antidepressants, but if I...

So does Ray not do that? Do you never have to shower Ray? It's not that kind of party. Look at him. Yeah. Do you know what he does? Yeah, it's very cute. He does look like a sort of puddle.

with a face. Yes. Do you know, I don't find that as offensive as I feared. No, look, look where he does that. That's very funny. Well, you know, do you know about these? You're a history buff, so you'll know. But, so he's a Shih Tzu. Chinese dog, I was going to say. Yes. So imperial palace dogs. So he was for the emperors in China. That's why they were bred to be palace companion dogs. Yeah. Which is why they're, they've got an odd dignity to them. Very regal, yeah. Very regal, quite entitled, but very mannered. But also sort of, you know, indicative of like a fallen world. You know, there's a kind of a sad, a sort of sadness.

So post-sacking of the summer palace. It's a bit colonel in faulty towers. Yeah. He represents a world that died many years ago. You're absolutely right. There's a melancholy about him. Ray, it's, the world has moved on. Yeah.

It's not Marquess of Queensbury rules anymore. There's a sort of stoicism to him, though. He's got tiny legs. Well, you know, he does go... Can you see, why does he do that, Finn? He just sits down. Yeah, it's very funny. It does look like he's been dropped from a height.

Come on. So... Oh, you're Phil, Winnie. Look at the state of you. Have you done that? Where have you been? Winnie. Have she done that?

Oh, Christ. She looks like she's got boots on. He's dipped in chocolate now. That's my favourite thing is when pale-coloured dogs dip their feet in mouth. And they look like they bought kinky boots on. So I want to go back to the Finn origin story. Because it's a really interesting origin story, I think.

Because you were originally, is it right? It was actually Glasgow you grew up in first. Yeah, until I was about seven. And your mum's Scottish? And your mum's Scottish. Yeah. And they're both teachers, my parents. Do you know I love the child of a teacher?

Yeah. And they both taught at schools that I went to. So I think my sort of, yeah, precociousness and impishness has derived from the fact that I was never really, like, properly told off, or there was always the sort of unimpeachability about my school days. Because you had this sort of protective ring around. Yeah, I lived in the first school. My man had a boarding house, so we lived in a girls' boarding house.

So with the other teachers have thought, I'll go easy on in. Yeah, in fact, at secondary school, one of them said quite early on, like, oh, you're Mr. Taylor-son, the one we can't tell off and that's still still in my head so what does that do to you when you hear that when you're a child I mean I mean I refer you to my YouTube page it makes you it's a guy who's never been punched in the face isn't it it's a guy who just sort of monstrous yeah yeah exactly but you know I suppose if if teachers are your first encounter with authority yeah and that's kind of a sham I don't know well what I would suggest what that teaches you is that boundaries are there to be pushed. Yes, yes.

It's almost like you've got you've grown up believing that and incorporated into your act. Yeah, monetised it. And then it's really chickens are coming home to Roos with my children who just don't listen to anything we say. Really? My wife keeps saying, well, this is your fault. Are you gentle parents because I know that's very fashionable now? Oh God, no, no, no. Good. I don't like gentle parenting. No, we, yeah, it's all right. You know those people who sit there going darling we don't hit people please don't well I can't bear that oh no we're shouting at them old school right up to the point of hitting them kind of stuff you know I think when people I'm just gonna let that sit there no you don't

hit them you sort of go all the way up to hitting them and then you know you can't yeah you're angry yeah visibly angry well it's interesting because I kind of think you make a choice don't you where you think I'm either going to give you, say, 12 to 13 years of the most blissful, stress-free life imaginable, or I'm going to allow you to have a nice life. And if I want to do the second one, maybe you won't enjoy these 10 years as much. I don't even think it's about that. I think it's a gentle parenting is a performance, isn't it?

Do you think so? It's the people around them. Yeah. It's not, I'm sure it's different in the house. Yes. It's so people think, God, there's. So patient and kind. Do you think that's what it is, maybe?

Right, I'm going to get rid of this coffee. It's cramping my style. So, in Glasgow originally, with mum and dad, both teachers. Yes. And did you have siblings? I've got younger sister, yeah. And were you close to her? Yeah, I mean, she's sort of three and a half years younger.

Yeah. So we were pretty close, and then there was a point where we were just always at a different. stage like I was at I'd moved schools and then just as she got to that school I left for uni and then just as she started uni I graduated so but she does really close now and we're very we got for credit look very close again the last five years that's nice so yeah it's really nice and I'm imagining the two parents who were teachers and they sound not dissimilar to my parents actually who were I always described my I always described my childhood as

sort of a bit bohemian and artsy. So lots of books. You know, lots of ideas being discussed. No real separation between children and adult conversation. How would you describe yours? I don't know. I mean, there weren't like beads hanging where a door should be. No, we didn't have that either.

My parents haven't been to India. Yeah. But dad's a drama teacher and was in a band basically before I was born called Harvey and the Wallbangers. That, you know, he lived off him for 10 years and he had Radio 2 series and he'd sell out big rooms at the Edinburgh Festival and stuff. But there was like seven or eight of them and they couldn't really turn it into proper living when kids started coming along. Oh yeah. So then he became a teacher. I like the sound of your dad.

Yeah, he's great. And he, you know, he... So he would always go to the Edinburgh Festival, like, with a troop of school kids. So we'd always go up with him because my mum's from Edinburgh. So basically, like, every summer we'd go to the Edinburgh Festival. God, so you were going as kids? Yeah, yeah. So you're getting kind of exposed to all that at a young age, which is interesting.

That was so sweet. We just took a picture of Ray and Winnie in it and Finn said, well done, Wayne. That tells me a lot about your bond with her. Yeah. It was just so I caught you on a word there and I really like you to say, well done, hold on. Well, done.

Well, yeah, she doesn't really sit for photos. She did really well. So go on. So that means that sense of, I suppose, performance. Performance felt accessible to. to you in the way that it wouldn't do to a lot of people maybe. And also my, you know, on my mum's side, they found like Edwardian ancestors of mine who had sort of musical acts that would tour the empire.

Really? You know, and there's this guy, there's a Scottish sword dancer, I've forgotten his name. And we've got like his theatre programme from Cape Town in 1900 or something. So yeah, and also my great aunt, my mum's aunt was on the Blackpool variety circuit with Morkman Wise. Wow. And then became one of Granada's, I think maybe their first female producer. So it is sort of like, it's in the bones on both sides, really. So it was always very obvious that I would, you know, I was a show off kid and then I'd always, to me, it was the only thing I'd ever, like, wanted to do.

really that's interesting thing because in my case my mom was an actor my dad worked for the BBC he made documentaries and was an arts kind of presenter and in my case I felt pressured because of that like I felt like it was embarrassing to say I wanted to perform right because all my parents friends were actors and awful so there was a part terrible do you know what I mean yeah there was a part of me feeling how embarrassing if I say I want to do I was more scared by the idea that it wouldn't work and I'd have to become a teacher and that was my destiny I was terrified of that which I now my body of work is such that there's nowhere could be let anywhere near a school so I think I've even if it goes tits up

I'll do something else but how nice that you had I suppose that liberation from judgment about it and oh yeah there's never been any and your parents there wasn't that sense of the sort of Monty Python parents and get a proper job you know no they were you're going to go to university because I always I sort of wanted to do stand-up even when I was at school. You wanted to be a stand-up from an incredibly young age didn't you? Yeah, I watched um, I watched Ross Noble online with the Apollo and I must have been 13 maybe, maybe younger, I don't know. Really? 14 and I was like that, that was kind of a switch and then um dad started taking, we went to see

Ross Noble in the Oxford News Theatre and then sort of did a Moran live and then he took me to an open mic night and then this is in a kind of context of me doing debating at school and i was just trying to make that as funny as possible and and we should say when we talk about school because your parents were teachers you ended up at this incredibly it is a very posh school isn't it it's called abingdon yeah i'd heard of it's 800 years old isn't i yeah and david mitchell is he an old boy yeah but as soon as you say abingdon it sort of lands you know you're like oh one of those it's like ample fourth or one of those yeah i would i would um i think the first girl i went to the dragon i think is sort of deserving yeah it's deserving of all that that's where my mum taught that's where i

lived is that daniel recliff went there no emma watson did there was a photo of me and emma watson which we've just found horatio my co-host found uh somehow and in one episode of the podcast that hasn't been released yet he surprises me with it and it is i'm so fat and sad in the background lit, shining, and it's a real distillation of our two careers. But yeah, she was in my class, she was in the same year as me. So I was there when she got the Harry Potter gig. What did it feel? Was there a real sense of...

I think I auditioned to be Dudley or something, the fat one. Who was the fat, who's the horrible... Is he Dudley? Dudley, Dudley, yeah, I auditioned to be him when they were doing auditions around the... I mean, it's sort of an odd thing, isn't it? Because I'm sort of pleased for you didn't get that. Same. Just because I don't know what that would do to you long term.

No, no. But yes, I was going to say, I think the dragon is more deserving of maybe of that reputation. Well, it's sort of seen as a kind of... It's an eaten feeder school, right? I was just going to say. Whereas Abingdon, actually, I think, and my dad was a big part of this, is a really, they really focus on things that aren't academia. And certainly that was my dad's main thing was making sure that kids whose parents were paying

a lot felt as free as I did to want to go into the arts if they wanted to. Well I think that's good though isn't it. So he's kind of started this whole like sort of network of people who went to the school but are still trying to make it in the arts that they can all help each other. You know proper I suppose proper nepotism stuff if you want to look at it that way. Right. Or you can see it's like inside the tent trying to make it better but. But it's interesting. I'm very interested in people who end up in these places, these kind of elite establishment because I'm one of them I suppose and who don't necessarily

well I didn't come from that world and I went to there's a school called Channing in North London which is the girls equivalent of Highgate boys do you know so they're very again high Oxford and Cambridge into you know that sort of thing there was a bunch of North London schools like UCS South Hampstead Highgate Channing and so I went to that school but my parents were slightly chaotic and show business It was just that they were very, you need to get an education. So I always call people like us. I call us the Nick Carraways.

Because you have that sense of going into those worlds, like he goes into Great Gatsby's world. He sort of enjoys it and he's accepted in that world, but he's not quite one of them. No, I mean, I, like, friends of mine at school would always live in these insane houses. Yeah, I have. I mean my sister and I got into these schools for free because that was the thing in the

when we went to school teachers kids gone in for free so at some point the kind of penny dropped and I was like oh right I'm the poorest of my social circle so what did that do to you well my parents are actually always quite good at sort of tell it reminding us that this wasn't real life which way Finn this way this way and it meant that when I went to uni I was like well not that I would have been able to afford anything else but I was quite glad to choose the cheapest self-catered halls and I was like I want to meet people that aren't from an institution and I think all my sort of best friends now I've met a uni

really I sort of don't really keep in touch with anyone from school but interestingly you never felt less than or other because you were surrounded by people with more money I well I don't know if it it was the money thing or the fact certainly in the first school I lived in the girls boarding house and I was fat there was other stuff going on I don't know if it was the money thing but there were certainly moments and also I mean it's not like it was all doom and gloom in the summer and in the holidays we'd had free run of the the school's facilities so we'd like play tennis and go swimming in their massive pool and stuff and what was it right living in the girls boarding house I bet that must

I mean that must have been great wasn't it well well I was between the ages of eight and 13 and they I think they they my parents left when they saw puberty coming like the Hulk and we're like we've got to get this rutting stag out of this chicken coop before he decimates it I think I were gonna need a bigger boat but yeah oh poor Finn well I don't I mean I mean no No, I do feel a bit of a thing. I feel a bit only because I was thinking, yeah, that's great. But you know, that's great.

But also, I don't, you know, as a parent now, my daughter's just started school. And the whole problem of the holidays and work is rearing its head in a way that my parents never had to think about. Because they were off with the holidays. So, and also we've got to go to these schools for free. And also in the first one, my parents lived, free for five years just how they take money to buy the house they're in now so it's like it all makes sense and I wouldn't have that in other way but I do I do think that I was in a I was I suppose I was an outsider at quite a formative

age so it can't it can't have not affected my sort of outlook I guess I'm glad we've established you're an outsider because obviously we need to do that if you're a comedian very early doors yes No neurodivergence pending. So. But there's got to be some damage. So I just need to work out a little bit of damage. I do hope you understand.

Yeah, of course. It's the trauma industrial complex, isn't it? And also the thing is, what I like is comedians that go, yeah. The female part. I don't know. Everything's great. I've never had any, or always the most screwed up people. Yeah, of course.

Yeah, no. I have a theory that the more, the worse you are as a person on stage, the happy you are off it and vice versa. I never trust the nice ones on stage. Why are you pretending to be nice? Why is that the thing you work on? And then they're always fucking awful to runners and the people around them. That's just my opinion.

It's backed up by names that I won't say. But yeah, yeah, you're nodding. For the recording, she's nodding silently. I think that's very true. Because, and it's probably true not just of comics, but talent in general. because I think also you get someone like, let's say Hugh Grant, who's famously seen as grumpy and impossible and vile,

I like him because I think he's authentic. And I think what people are reacting to is when he's on the red carpet and he's asked about his fucking clothes. And he says, what on earth are you asking me that? I'm just wearing a black suit. I don't care. I'm tailors. I don't know.

And I think, but that feels like honesty in a very insincere environment. And then he gets called, he's impossible, he's difficult, he's cantankerous, he's a monster. And I think, no, it's just maybe truthful. No, I'm talking about people who are pricks in any environment, except when they're on stage when they're really, really like, nancy, nicy. Yeah, have you, I mean, we won't ask you to name names, obviously, but I have a guest to invite onto this one of Congress. But have you personally come across that way? Yeah, have you? Yeah.

And it's not in a way that's affected me. something I've noticed that the people and it also it's a very it's confirmation bias isn't it I think I'm a good person off stage and I've and I've worked out a way to say awful outrageous things on stage so it tracks for my sense of myself yeah but I just I'm always suspicious of why you like why are you working on being cutesy and whimsical and nice you know what I mean well I do think if you operate from the premise that comedy is truth right then maybe what you're reacting to is that it's dishonest yes the acting itself is dishonest because the comedian's job is to tell you sometimes unpalatable

proves? Well, yeah, it's to be funny, firstly. Well, it's to be funny, but sometimes also, the comedian says the thing that everyone else in the room is thinking and not saying. Yes. And so when someone's being almost sickeningly nice, that doesn't feel honest? No. No, I think you're probably right. I can't wait for this podcast to end and you can tell me exactly who you mean and I'll tell you who I mean. Okay, great. So if it all matches up. Great. Well, put it behind. When you experienced me, I don't have much of an editing process with my own stuff. Well, you know what? It's a whole case of libel just waiting to be discovered behind the paywall.

Three pounds stops you from going to the courts, isn't it? So I want to get on back to your sort of comedy career and how that started to develop because you were really young Finn when you did your first gig, weren't you? Were you 15 or something? Yeah, 15. Did your dad take you? My dad took me to an open night night because I was. because I think I wouldn't leave him alone about it.

And then he was like, well, if you actually want to do this, this is what it looks like at an entry level. And it's just a procession of absolute fruit cakes getting on stage in an abandoned cellar, and it's awful. And then I snuck away from my summer job. And I just went to Soho on the train from Oxford, and I did a gig when I was 15, and it was awful. Were you bad?

Well, yeah, I mean, I was 15. Of course it was bad. But then when I started uni, I did maybe a couple of months into my first year. I met a guy called Mark Olver who... I know him. Yeah, I mean, he was he? No, he wasn't at Piersville. No, but he did, used to be the warm-up on...

Yes, and everything. He still does the warm for everything. So Mark Olver, I met him at Bristol, and he used to live in a house with Russell and... Russell Howard and John Richardson and John Robbins. It's kind of Bristol Beatles of the stand-up scene. And he basically... Who's the Ringo? That's quite politically difficult for me to say.

But they, although as the Beatles of age, you realise Lennon was the cunt. Can you know, can we drop sea bombs? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm a Macca guy all the way to the end. Well, do you know what I realised? Do you know what I realised watching Get Back?

Yes, I'm old. Yeah, still on get back. I realised, oh, this is a bit like when everyone would slag off Gary Barlow and say, oh, he's so boring, he can't do the dance. And he thought, no, he's the engine. There is no take that without Gary Barlow. He's the one saying, come on. And Paul McCartney reminded me.

I thought, oh, he's the accountant here. He's making this happen kind of thing. I don't think Barlow is an accountant famously. No, I think that's true. But I think Barlow did keep everyone. on track and I think you need someone like that in every band I think you're right Paul McCartney came out and he's a guy McCartney's a guy and also I think wings stands up not to be want to be full partridge but I do think it stands up I love

wings and I also it wasn't wings but there was a period when my parents got very into Paul McCartney's first solo album in the farm which wasn't wings yeah him and his wife yeah Linda was involved yeah Anyway, I could talk about that. And where you compare that to when that YouTube clip of Yoko and John Lennon playing with Chuck Berry, have you seen that? And Yoko's just screaming and you see Chuck Berry's eyes. Yeah, anyway. Anyway, so you.

Anyway, Mark Olver essentially took me under his wing as he did with many comics that started in the South West. And we should say who Mark Oliver is if people don't know. He's a comedian and warm up man. anyone in Bristol who goes to stand up will know. He runs gigs and I think he used to be a careers advisor before he did comedy so I think he sort of melded the two and became this sort of mentor for a lot of us. I don't know why, but maybe I've got this wrong.

I remember doing a friend of mine was on deal or no deal. Yeah, yeah. And I remember it was very sweet of him. He'd agreed to go on it basically to write, my sister died and he was like, let's raise some money for her charity. and I went he said you come on it was a box opener and we did it in Bristol and I think Mark Oliver might have been the warm up so he got me doing warm up when I'd gone full time and had no money he was like come and do the warm up when I can't and it paid well terrible

gig though awful is it not very your comedy thing no no it's making old lady smile when you're doing that today and I thank you for your service what I do what did you so what sort of jokes would you do did they not like you Well, there wasn't jokes. It wasn't, you weren't there to make them laugh. You were there to sort of... Gee them up. Be part of the theology of the show.

You know, this show where it is fate. It is written. You know, Noel Ebens is writing shit on his hand believing it's going to come true. You know, all that stuff. Cosmic ordering. You wear that? Oh, I'm aware of it.

I know everything. I know about the orbs? Do you know about the orbs? No, I'm not... Oh, I've gone deep. The orbs appear sometimes. I'm not. white woman I'm not into the whole crystal nonsense no I'm not into it oh sorry the

orbs are not completely into any of this I'm saying Noel Edmonds says that orbs have appeared on his shoulders and things oh really I don't even know what they are no I'm not into crystals sorry apologies this is there's they're Deregora I'm Gen X sorry we don't do crystals and spirituality you crystal meth at Gen X well exactly we're a little different as you know um So I can't imagine you being a warm-up at all. No, and I did pointless after that for years. I did pointless.

So what do you say we come in and you come in? Do you get introduced by the assistant floor manager or something? Yeah, you get introduced by the floor manager. And then the thing is, is there at this time. So Finn Taylor. So this is between the years of 2012 and 2016. Where I didn't, I was still 22 at this time. And you graduated from Bristol.

Yeah, I was doing stand-up, but I didn't have an act or a voice because I was 22, right? I was too young to sort of know who I was. But I had stagecraft and I had, I could improvise. I wasn't scared of a bit of, I did a lot of emceeing, which is where you host the night and you chat to crowd work and stuff. So I just kind of, it paid basically paid the bills while I then went out in the evening and tried to work out my act, as it were. and then as soon as that started to become apparent after I had some good Edinburgh's then I quite sort of quickly knocked the warm up on the head. It feels to me though like I can see why you did that route because that was sort of the only

available route really to come back then because you know you couldn't just say oh well I'm doing something a bit different but there was no we had to pay the bills as well there was no online in that sense, you know, where you could be a content creator and say, but I'm afraid you're going to have to accept it. I get emails calling me a creator all the time. Do you hate it? Yeah, in the bin straight away, immediate archive. Should we call you influencer? You'd like that? Yeah. What do you like then? The world's first ironic Holocaust denier influencer. That's what you should put in the description. So if we don't like content created, do you just say comedian? This is good to know when I introduce you afterwards. Yeah, that's how I'd, comedian and writer is what I'd say.

That's what I'd say. The internet's a tool, right? Yes. But I would say, I wouldn't get hung up on the content creator thing because I think that is a transitional phrase. I think it will soon be eliminated completely because everything will be online. All content will be online. So it's only because some people are still clinging on by their fingernails to legacy media that we need to distinguish it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I guess we're still viewing the world through an old prism. Yeah, so we're saying, well, he's a content creator or an online comedian, as opposed to just saying he's a comedian. But, you know, Shakespeare is a content creator.

Right. Because there's Shakespeare on the internet. Yeah. So the problem of the internet is that it flattens everything. Yeah. So. Well, it sounds like an apology, doesn't it a bit? It sounds a bit like saying, very big online, but actually, as we know, big online means...

If you go this way, you've been to the... a secret second part of the park do you know this there's a whole new part of the park two roads diverge in a wood yeah and i'm following fin because you know what the path less travelled look at that and he's got he's got a history degree not on english degree and he's still got that i wouldn't be able to answer history questions like that you're good love that you've got that right um so you started you talked about Edinburgh going to Edinburgh and there were a couple of shows you did which is when you first came sort of on my radar because I was having to schlep up there every single year to do the radio show we were doing

absolutely yeah so I got a real sense of who was the kind of the person with the buzz and I can always remember there was a kind of spate of shows you did um was it whitey yeah whiteface was the first one yeah and there were three you did in a row which I had stupid titles yeah I feel they got Did you see those then? I think I saw Whitey McWhiteface. Yeah. I just remember the buzz. I remember, you know when you go to those bars and everyone's saying, oh, Finn Taylor, Finn Taylor,

like your name kept coming up all the time. And were you aware of that? Yes, yeah. Those shows were you talked about a lot. Definitely. I mean, I've been up a lot since I started stand up and not had any of that buzz and heard the buzz about other people. Yeah.

And it felt like, it felt like going to Edinburgh, The only point was to get buzz and so if you didn't get buzz, it was almost a failed mission. But yeah, I had these three shows. It's funny now, looking back because those were the exact same three years that Richard Gadd got buzz for his shows. Very different shows. Lady Rainier. Very different shows. Was that when he was?

Yeah, yeah. We used to do this show called The Bear Pit Podcast, Podcast, which was me, Richard Gad, John Kearns, Lolly Adaphopie. John Cairns, the King. Lolli Adaphopi, Matt winning, Matt Ewens. I don't know if you know Matt Ewens. I do know Matt Ewens. Did he used to address as Henry VIII or something? He did for one year, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was amazing. So we used to do the kind of late night show at Edinburgh. It did it about four or five years. And so yeah, I, Gad was part of that just as his whole live thing was kicking off. Were you always seen as a sort of, because you know when the Guardian and things would write about you, and they did, you would always be called. provocateur. Yes, that's the exact word they would use. How do you feel about that provocateur?

I don't, I mean, it's the guardians, it's guardian speak, isn't it? I sort of don't, I don't put too much. You're not literate in it. No, I am literate and I just don't think it's a proper language. You know, you see, you see, you see the guardian critic giving Jack Whitehall two stars and you're like, why are you going? Why are you going if you know what you're going to give it before you go to the show? Well, I also think, yeah, it's interesting as you get older, isn't it, that I think, not that you're old, you're in your prime, but I certainly feel it's that ability, one of the great superpowers that comes with getting older is being able to say, oh, this isn't for me, I'm feeling no anger. I do feel lucky I've always had that. Yes, well, that's interesting. Why do you think that is? Well, mate, I don't know. I mean, I don't, I don't know. I know that's not helpful for the trauma industrial complex, but I do feel with it.

If you could, please. Sorry. To make my point, I do feel we live in an over-therapized age where everyone has a pressure to explain why they're doing something. And you can't just do it because you feel you should. Yeah. Have you watched the Blair documentary on Channel 4? Is that recent?

Yeah, yeah. No, I haven't. Is it why? At the end, he basically is like, you know, Iraq, I just, I thought, I thought, I've what was writing to do is I did it. I'm not going to sit here whining about it and you think fair play you know. Well it's interesting that kind of bulletproof. What is really, I remember something someone once said to me, you know those things that people say and they kind of blow your mind, the truth of it. Yeah. Yeah. It was an ex. You know that thing when you're constantly saying,

but what are they feeling? What are they thinking? And it was someone who said to me, it was really mind blowing to consider this for the first time. They said they don't know what they're thinking. And once you understand that, it's so liberating that it's not like, if I can just work out what they're thinking and what they're motivated by. Look, you've seen all this, you've seen this stuff, they've just, they've recently paved it over. What's this? This is the whole, they've got a BMX track, which is a bit wobbly ground. I mean, you're not selling it to me through that. No, there's a big playground, but also there's a river down there and it's a very nice open space. Isn't this pretty world?

This has recently been done up. Look at this, Ray. South London's got so much to offer us. I really hope you love part one of this week's Walking the Dog. If you want to hear the second part of our chat, it'll be out on Thursday, so whatever you do, don't miss it. And remember to subscribe so you can join us on our walks every week.