Tom Wrigglesworth: I'm Struggling to See How That's Helping

In Birkenstocks and tweed trousers, Tom Wrigglesworth is “as left wing as he looks.” In the first five minutes of his set, the audience are hit with the evidence of so many years of name calling that it's hard to look the man in the eye again without giggling: “Don't laugh, I know I've got the body of Peter Crouch and the face of Postman Pat. And I can tell what this woman's thinking. This is the easiest game of Where's Wally you've ever played, isn't it?”

However, as the build up to the advertised set drags on, it can feel as though you're in the company of a street performer who got lucky at the Pleasance audition: poor audience interaction and continual promises of better things to come appear to be merely time-filling devices.

But the comedy does arrive eventually and whilst some heavily scripted, “off-the-cuff” tangents do cause the mood to dip, the majority of Wrigglesworth's material displays competence.

I'm Struggling To See How That's Helping's less pretentious observations about the likes of off-kilter supermarket signage—“Everyday cheeses? 'Sorry sir, you bought some brie yesterday. Brie is clearly not an everyday cheese'”—could compete with Peter Kay's. But as the show progresses, critical comments about London Underground's requests not to “encourage” begging begin to get a little too preachy. Few are laughing.

Ultimately, Wrigglesworth makes too much of being political for most tastes. But then again, we should all pop on some socks and sandals occasionally, just to remind ourselves what it means to be British.