Edinburgh Preview: Lee Nelson

lee nelson

Balls of steel. Testicles of Titanium. Nutsacks of pure granite. I can’t really come up with a better explanation of how Simon Brodkin has managed to pull off his recent stunts, joining Kanye West onstage at Glastonbury and showering Sepp Blatter with fake bank notes. Some people have said that he's a dick but I’ve always had a soft spot for anything that disrupts the norm and Brodkin has done that with knobs on. The difficult question is where does he go from here? These inflated Dennis Pennis-type pranks might make a great TV show but where does that leave the stage performer? His recent Suited & Booted tour received mixed reviews - he was no longer dressed like uber-chav Lee Nelson, but still doing the same kind of mock-sexist wide boy gags, so was this still the character? He was billed as him so it seemed to be the case, but things were more blurred this time. He is clearly talented - his off-the-cuff crowdwork can be magnificent – but somehow needs to recalibrate himself, which is maybe what he has in mind with these stunts. This is still billed as the Suited and Booted show, so will it mark a change in his onstage approach? That remains to be seen. I doubt if Kanye West will be going along though.

Lee Nelson is at The Pleasance until Aug 30, tickets here.

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