Bilal Zafar @ Underbelly Bristo Square

Imposter is presented as an hour-long narrative comedy; a retelling of a frankly bizarre experience of Zafar’s prior to his marriage. With its London shared housing setting and ‘wedding in a week’ stakes, Imposter could plausibly be presented as an episode of a BBC Three sitcom, complete with ‘phone calls from the bride-to-be as she chooses the table settings’ B-plot. 

Zafar's disposition is calm and assured. The sense is that his hour-long anecdote format would negatively impact audience buy-in were it delivered by anyone but him. However, this safe yet sedate pair of hands is a double-edged sword: moments in the set that are written to provide the biggest laughs seem instead to elicit an underwhelming response given Zafar's placid style.

This isn’t to diminish how genuinely barmy Zafar’s retelling of housemate ‘Jack’ and the effects of his crescendoing compulsive lying (or unbelievable truths) is – it is mad, and Zafar swears to the veracity of it. Our antagonist (and he is one) is so outrageous and unnerving, that to think of him as a villain from a League of Gentleman sketch would be more than apt – he’s fleshed out fully, replete with a catchphrase that Zafar proffers is "Dutch" mixed with "American" but delivered as a dead-on Christopher Walken impression.  

Zafar is a brilliant act, and Imposter a worthwhile and funny show with oodles of originality in its writing. It may just be that with an on-side audience, and with a case of tunnel vision to some degree, the cynical side of Zafar’s comedy isn’t quite sprung from its cage.

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Bilal Zafar: Imposter, Underbelly Bristo Square (Friesian), until 28 Aug, 3.50pm, £11-12