Nick Helm, the self-proclaimed multi-award-losing professional “d*** kicker” is currently filling his stand-up scrapbook in preparation for this year’s Edinburgh festival.
And judging from the tattered scraps of paper loosely glued to dogeared pages, Helm’s show Dare To Dream could be about anything.
Not that Helm will mind and neither should those lucky enough to watch this stand-up comedian live.
Whether you see him perform Dare To Dream in its final, polished guise, or get the chance to watch the act evolve in “practice” shows, Helm will blunder and stumble through his performance – and it works.
Stand-up comics are a pound a penny these days and Helm is coursing foot-in-mouth first through the ranks.
Hot off critical acclaim from his last Edinburgh show and a truly unique set on BBC Three’s Russell Howard’s Good News, Helm’s comic dexterity is clear.
In the warm-up Dare To Dream show, he was the affable, funny man you could easily share a pint with, while his TV performance highlights an ability to grip and maybe even scare his audience into standup submission.
Helm is currently trialing his material and, naturally in this embryonic stage, some yarns are spun better than others.
But he seems to revel in chaos, and it is in this concept that his success will continue to grow.
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