Comedian Ellie Taylor is set to embark on a 20-date UK tour My Guy this autumn following her appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this month.

Here Ellie tells Marion McMullen how her new show reveals the funny side of social pressures to have a baby.

You are taking your new comedy show This Guy on tour hot off the heels of an Edinburgh run this month. What can audiences expect?

This is my third solo show. I've always done stand-up about my life and what's going on with me and what I think about it. I tried, this time, to do something a bit different at first, but I had no sense of ownership of it and I wanted it to feel more relevant to me. The main subject of the new show is whether I should have a kid – bearing in mind I have the maternal instinct of a pitta bread.

How did your Non-Motherhood Challenge turn you into an internet sensation?

It went viral! It's really funny what captures the public imagination. I put up photos on Facebook of me asleep with a bottle of wine as an alternative to something called the 'motherhood challenge' pictures I’d seen of darling children.

I didn’'t think anything about it and I was in the house and the numbers kept going up and up and my husband would come in every now and again and check how it was going. Then a Brazilian film crew wanted to interview me. People started responding and some of the comments were really horrid and insulting, but really funny at the same time. I thought if people are going to be idiots, at least make a joke out of it.

How does your husband feel about the personal subjects that come up in your shows?

(Laughs) He's great about it. I try and do everything from my point of view. You have to be respectful of the other person because they are not up there on stage to give their side of everything.

It's funny though because he gets annoyed about the silly things. In my last show, Infidelliety, I was talking about wishing I'd slept with more people before I was married and he was fine, but miniscule things, like if I said he liked tea, he'd go on and on about 'You said I liked tea and I don't'. I have to just say 'It's not something to get hung up about'.

You've done a lot of TV from hosting BBC show Snog Marry Avoid to The Mash Report now on BBC Two. Are you comfortable in front of a camera?

I've been really lucky with the chances that I have been given. When I did my first show I was offered things that were fun but I felt I didn't have enough experience for. It took a few years to catch up. Now I think 'you have the experience, you can do this'. I feel I have earned my stripes and know what I'm doing. I'm now running up to the door saying 'Hello, is anyone there?' rather than being pushed through the door to do things.

Ellie Taylor talks to Marion McMullen how her new show reveals the funny side of social pressures to have a baby

You've also done Let's Sing And Dance For Comic Relief?

The was a crazy gig – not only dancing, but singing as well ... and being a magician's assistant. I had to appear from a box, but magic assistants are little like 5ft 4ins tall. I'm 5ft 11ins, a gallomping Hagrid and they had to make the magic box bigger to fit me inside it. It was terrifying but I really enjoyed it and it was for a good cause.

Your describe yourself as comedian, actor and Steve Tyler lookalike. What was the comedy turning point for you?

It’s funny how life can work out. I worked in corporate events. I was 25 in a great job working with great people, but it was not what I wanted to do.

Then I went with a friend of mine, who I knew from university, to see her do stand-up and she made it seem so accessible and I thought 'I could do that'. I carried on doing my day job and thought it would just be a hobby and I could do it on the side, but I ended up giving up my job and handing in my notice when a TV job came along called Show Me The Funny. I had never been paid for doing comedy at that point, but I had to be available for filming so I had to quit my day job.

My family and my boyfriend, who is now my husband, were very supportive and said 'go for it' and my partner paid the rent for a while.

How did the new stand-up show come about?

At the beginning of the year in January I decided to do another tour. I wasn't really sure about it and then I was 'Oh, let’s go and just do it'. I usually write a show over a year and have a bit more time to do it.

It's been lots of crazy but you've got to challenge yourself and do things that make you scared. I've been doing my normal prep to get the show in shape. It's been a work in progress. It changes a bit every show I do. I'm always tweaking it. I think by the end of the tour it will be five to 10 per cent different than it is now.

What was it like the first time you performed at Edinburgh?

I shared a bill with someone else the first time so I did not have all the responsibility. I think it gets a little bit better every time as I become a better writer and a better performer.

Do you enjoy touring?

I love the whole aspect of it. It means that people have bought a ticket specially to see me. It's not a normal mixed bill comedy gig with people just turning up. Of course, some people might be dragged along to my show, but a lot are happy and eager to see it.

What’s next on the cards?

I'm doing topical show The Mash Report with Nish Kumar on BBC Two and appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It's a busy time ahead, but I've already booked a holiday. It’s going to be sunshine and hammocks and sangria. I can sit there and read a book and do old lady things.

For more information about My Guy tour go to ellietaylorcomedy.com for more details and venues.

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