★★★★
In 2011, Ellie Taylor took part in a show on ITV called Show Me The Funny, essentially The X Factor for comedy, and narrowly missed out on a place in the final.
But that didn't matter because Ellie has been keeping busy ever since. She presented Snog Marry Avoid, she was a team captain on Fake Reaction and in 2014 made her Edinburgh Fringe debut with Elliementary.
Fast forward two years and Ellie Taylor is back performing at the Fringe in a room which literally had cardboard hanging from the ceiling, an air conditioning unit which every now and then made a cameo as a NutriBullet, and someone next door burning a cow! All things Ellie herself pointed out.
She starts off her set by explaining the spelling of the title of her show. She knows how to spell "Infidelity" but as her name is Ellie, she's changed it to "InfidELLIEty" - get it? Good. Now let's move on...
Something's changed since Ellie last visited the Fringe. In the last twelve months she got married, to an immigrant, but now she's worried about staying unfaithful, spotting hot guys everywhere!
She admits to us that she's only ever slept with six, or six and half (she's not sure it... went in) and hasn't been able to have her "slaggy period". There was a genuine moment of fear amongst the audience as they thought that Ellie was going to go around the room and ask them how many sexual partners they've had! She didn't.
Rather than a series of one-liners, Ellie's set is well constructed and coherent. She isn't afraid to openly discuss her sex life, she's very honest about her sexual desires and at one point describes a very graphic smear test routine. If you don't know what's involved in one before you go and see her, you certainly will afterwards.
Speaking about her sexual desire, Ellie discusses the strange feeling that comes over her when she spots hot men with their sleeves rolled up. All she wants to do is go up to them and lick their forearm... which is when she went into the audience and did just that. She doesn't get the same feeling from men with short-sleeve shirts, FYI.
Ellie also runs marathons for charity (a point she's very embarrassed about and hardly mentions), although this has led to a minjury. Yes, an injury in her minge.
Even before appearing on ITV's Show Me The Funny, Ellie wasn't performing stand-up for very long and it's hard to understand why. She's a real natural up on stage and has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. Ellie is a very charismatic performer with material which is smart and honest.
I have to say, considering that this was only her second Fringe show, I was really impressed. If she's this good now, I'm excited to see what she'll be like in five years time.
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