City taxi driver dons comedy nose and gets out puppets to entertain (and sometimes scare) passengers

HE’S the driving force behind an unusual brand of cab-aret.

An Edinburgh taxi driver has turned YouTube sensation after his in-cab comedy routine clocked up thousands of views online.

Kenny “The Shuffler” Taylor has been dubbed Edinburgh’s funniest cabbie after a two-minute video clip – that sees him handle puppets, don a false nose and do comedy voices – went viral.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The footage sees the stand-up cabbie playing imaginary drums and dancing to Queen’s You’re My Best Friend while driving down Princes Street. He then surprises his backseat audience by popping on a novelty flashing nose before entertaining passers-by at traffic lights on Lothian Road with two colourful hand-puppets.

He tells his passengers: “I’m known as the Shuffler. Mental, mental, chicken oriental. Psycho, psycho chicken in the micro...”

Sean Horsburgh, one of those in the cab who uploaded the clip to the web, posted the caption: “So jumped in this cab yesterday hungover... And this is what happened hahah best taxi ride ever!”

The clip, uploaded last month, has been viewed more than 5,600 times.

Comments posted beneath the video ranged from “Crazy dude but funny as” to “I actually ended up in his cab last night – I was really scared”.

In another online clip, Mr Taylor is seen blasting out a tune on the harmonica while driving along Bruntsfield Road.

One admiring former passenger told how the comic cabbie’s high jinks had made his night.

Thomas Figg, 29, a computer programmer from Morningside, stepped into Mr Taylor’s taxi on Thursday evening for a journey home from the Pleasance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was pretty much the most interesting taxi ride I have ever been on,” he said. “I had just met up with a friend, had some curry and was heading home to watch a movie.

“We jumped in a taxi because the weather was rubbish. The show started as soon as the door closed and the fare light went on.

“My friend didn’t know what to make of it. I felt like I had walked right into a Fringe show.

“The puppets were amazing. More taxi drivers should use puppets. It makes a lovely difference from them complaining about the trams.

“In a certain light maybe puppets, fake noses and harmonicas wouldn’t be appropriate, but it made my night.”

And he added: “The delivery was fast-paced, he mixed poetry, stand-up and sound effects. He rushed from one joke to the next. You can see this man is dying to be on stage, in front of an audience.

“He told jokes then, when the taxi stopped, his puppet would suddenly appear next to him. It was almost tempting to keep going on down the road, just to see what he did next. My only regret is I didn’t have a kazoo with me, or I would have joined him in a duet.”

The Shuffler was unavailable for comment last night. If you know of Mr Taylor’s whereabouts, contact our newsdesk on 0131-620 8733.

Related topics: