Thomas Nelstrop - Great(ish) Hits

• Marissa Burgess
• 22 August 2012

This article is from 2012.

Fast-paced multi-character stand-up show

Thomas Nelstrop's central conceit is a demanding one: to play every single character in a one man show called In a Field, set at a music festival. He runs about, sometimes playing his guitar, sometimes not and performing a mixture of made up characters such as popstar Johnny Rock and creating caricatures of the likes of Jools Holland, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and, from the festival archive, Jimi Hendrix before he could play the guitar. Don't worry if you don't like one creation - it will have transformed into another before you have chance to get bored.

A fair few of the gags sit at playground level - Nelstrop suggests that Bob Dylan's first song might have been about his harmonica smelling like his penis - and there are plenty of bad puns. What saves the comedy are the times that you find yourself laughing uncontrollably at sights such as the news anchor on his back in the dance tent waving a carrier bag, or an impression of Mick Jagger before he could form words.

Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 14), 4.30pm, ￡10-￡11 (￡8-￡9).