Paul Taylor's newest episode of “What the Fuck France”, a mini series shown on French TV channel Canal Plus, tackles his clear dislike of sitting on a French café terrace.
“It's like drinking in hell,” Taylor says.
He lists three main points as to why he can't stand life on terrace (or in his own words “three reasons why it's shit”), including the inattentive waiters, the lack of space, and the clouds of cigarette smoke.
“Before (smoking got banned inside), you could sit outside to get some fresh air, now you have to go back inside,” he says.
“F**king nice one, France,” he says in one of many expletive filled outbursts that appear to have been injected for a French audience who are perhaps not so sensitive to a repeated use of the f-word, but which may put off some Anglo viewers.
He takes regular aim at what he calls the “dickhead” waiters, the risks of getting beer spilled on you, the challenges of eating food with no elbow room, the chances of being defecated on by a bird and pickpockets. Most of which we can probably relate to.
See the full clip below (but be warned for explicit language throughout).
But hold on, surely life on les terraces can't be all that bad? In fact it's one of the major draws of French cities isn't it?
OK they can be overcrowded and diners are packed together like Antarctic penguins trying to survive winter and there's the smoke-filled “indoor terraces”, which should be torn down.
But despite these few drawbacks, we'd argue that sitting on a terrace is one of the best ways to spend €10 in Paris.
It's (probably) the best people-watching in the world, the waiters (never actually met a real d**khead one yet) will never rush you to leave, and it feels like you're living the Parisian life as it would have been decades ago.
Yes, it might be a pricey affair if you choose the wrong part of town, but remember that you're paying for the experience as well as the pint.
And have you seen the inside of some of these bars? Best stay outside.
Nevertheless the video appears to have struck a chord with French viewers, over 90,000 of whom have watched the clip on You Tube.
'I love this kind of video. It makes laugh. It's good to take a step back,” said one French fan.
Although another viewer was not so happy abut the French bashing tone.
“French bashing, again… Someone who is really interested about Paris knows exactly where to go. If you stay in tourists areas, don't be surprised! It's easy to criticize and what you are doing is absolutely not original. Stop with this campaign of misinformation. French bashing, STOP! Thank you.”
Paul Taylor's new show, What the Fuck France, is on Canal+ on Saturdays at 12.20pm. His first episode tackled dubbing in France.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
Member comments