Review of novel about a comedian facing a paternity crisis Simon Taylor was a young, jobbing comedian on the Melbourne stand-up scene when a one-night stand led to a paternity scare that forced him to confront a different future from the one he’d envisaged. Now he’s written his first novel – about a young, jobbing comedian on the Melbourne stand-up scene who had a one-night stand, leading to a paternity scare that forced him to confront a different future from the one he’d envisaged. So it’s little surprise that the events in the book titled, you guessed it, One Night Stand, have an air of authenticity. The action starts in the Exford Hotel, a real-life backpackers’ hostel with weekly free comedy night, where our hero Ben Thomas is trying anything to engage with a thin audience of disinterested punters, despite being distracted himself.