Danni Taylor and Nat Britten, two funny young women, have joined forces to make the dual stand-up show Grabbing Life by the Little Moustache. Taylor and Britten start and end the night sharing the stage, but the bulk of the show is given over to individual comedy sets dealing with the life wobbles so common to 20-somethings.

Little Moustache has definite appeal to those just out of uni or experiencing their “quarter life crisis.”  The appeal is limited, however, by a rather rough, unfinished quality to the show’s overall structure.

Danni Taylor is the first to do her set.  There are a few first night nerves and wobbles early on, but Taylor has a tremendous ability to stay with the audience, and in the end she produces a funny, well-structured stand-up routine. An early quip at her own expense (“right then, back to the stage”) puts her at ease and the audience squarely on her side. 

Taylor’s material is pretty tame – a passing mention of a naughty-pupil fantasy is the most risque thing in her set – but there’s some meat in here, too, especially when she talks about her generation’s perceived immaturity.  Her jealousy of those peers who seem to have it all together and her response to her mother’s claim that “at her age, she had a baby and a mortgage” are both funny and familiar.

Nat Britten, on the other hand, experiments more with her time on stage, with mixed results.  Her comedy includes sight gags, confessional comedy, and cringe-worthy un-PC commentary. 

While she’s able to say some pretty hilarious stuff with a straight face, when Britten talks about bi-curiosity, she seems uncomfortable with the topic.  Less willing to be the butt of her own jokes here, she loses momentum and the audience’s attention wanders. Britten’s self-commentary as the laughter starts to fade out is excessive, and it seems less like a self-deprecating way to move on and more like a desperate cry for the audience to like her again.

Britten gets a late boost from a change of focus and a clever sight-gag, though on opening night the timing was thrown off by a slight props mishap. Although Britten deserves credit for taking risks with her show, including what feels like quite a bit of new material, overall her set feels unpolished and a little confusing.

The theme of the night, we are told many times, is “immaturity,” and Grabbing Life by the Little Moustache is strongest when it sticks close to that theme.  Both Taylor and Britten have a tendency to over-analyse how they’re doing in the moment, and it is this reminder that seems to get things moving. 

When in their stride, both Taylor and Britten are very funny, though I can’t help but think that they could use more preparation before the first-night audience came in.  Still, if you like good comedy and don’t mind if it’s a little rough around the edges, Grabbing life by the Little Moustache is a good choice to laugh for an hour.  

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