Paul Taylor
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2021–2022
1:09:56 · 2.8M views · Mar 15, 2020
Paul Taylor's first stand-up special, recorded in Paris in 2018, in which a British comedian living in France riffs on French culture, language and bureaucracy. It is the full 70-minute show.
Recommended as hilarious for anyone familiar with both French and British or American culture, and relevant to expats.
3 comments from Hacker News
It's not founded on skin color you're right, but you're wrong about heritage. Obviously Not All French People Are Like That (I should hope so, as a French person myself). But the ones concerned will be MUCH pickier about people's grammar, spelling and pronunciation if they perceive them as not French. But yes, elitism is also present: If you're perceived as French and your french is bad, you will also be treated poorly. But it's a different kind of "poorly". In fact, Paul Taylor talks about that in his stand up "Franglais" (I HIGHLY recommend a watch, it's hilarious especially if you're familiar with both French and British/American culture, and it's available for free on Youtube: this video )
This is exactly the joke Paul Taylor (British living in France) tells in his standup show [1], which is super funny. I went to watch him live, what a great standup show. [1] this video
How come nobody mentions France in the comments? :) I am French but have been working 12 years for a very large US company , spent a lot of time in the US, go friends there - an witnessed/helped several Americans moving to France. Salary and healthcare were already covered. The fact that over a 3 days drive across Europe you visit 4 or 5 countries with vastly different cultures is a big plus. And by vastly I mean really vastly. We've been in constant wars for 2000+ years and this created a very nice and specific melting pot + cultural differences. School will be very different. In France you will have a more formalized way of education (which is not a good thing), but also a very liberal one. Children will be drinking tap water starting at kindergarten and and stay like this their whole life. They won't (usually) go to school on Wednesday. The office will be less politically correct. You will have people discussing politics and religion - though this became less outspoken the last 10 years or so. You will have good baguettes and average bread - but still eons better than the average US bread. Bureaucracy is mcu better than the stereotype. But not good either. You have to learn the power of the "pffff" sound you make with your eyebrows up - which means "I understand that this is the rule, but you know, I have to do/get/send that and it is a huge problem if I don't". Many foreigners foolishly assume that a "no" means "this is not possible". See this video for the more scientific a