Tom Deacon

Recognised more these days for his Sunday night slot at Radio 1 than his stand-up comedy, Tom Deacon puts a face to a familiar voice in his performance with his show Can I Be Honest? Starting slowly, Deacon improves as the hour progresses with him visibly relaxing before his audience. The show is effectively a 60 minute-long tirade against a number of issues that Deacon believes to be close-to-the-bone as well as nudging near his heart and although there are moments of darker-edged humour, there is a slightly distracting contradiction between the material and his delivery as a naturally timid Deacon introduces us to a number of his pet hates.

The hour’s progressive improvement is largely down to Deacon becoming bolder, apparently less concerned about offending in a show that is designed to upset. With content ranging from caviar to awkward-to-eat fruit, Deacon lets rip with a number of funny anecdotes regarding past relationships and current flatmates to name just two. There is certainly no lack of diversity in subject matter in a fun performance but one that partially fails to deliver on the promise of hard-hitting, dark comedy.

Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 28), 8.20pm, £8.50–£9.50 (£7–£8).