IOU Comedy – Nick Helm and James Acaster

Edinburgh previews are always a bit of a strange affair – An atmosphere of tension and anxiety usually permeates through the performers and the audience as jokes bomb, routines are mixed up, and punchlines are forgotten. But James Acaster suffered from no such problems here – his set was slick, original and well conceived, with jokes and themes being recycled in an interesting fashion. Nick Helm is the complete antithesis to Acaster, comedy’s equivalent of a drunken bull running riot in a china factory warehouse. But Helm feeds off the chaos superbly, crafting a choreographed disaster and depiction of personal trauma that left the audience laughing riotously and feeling strangely uncomfortable and disturbed in equal measure.

Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 9 July 2012

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