Nick Hornedo @ Underbelly Bristo Square

Nick Hornedo has a problem: he keeps falling in love with his best friends. Over the course of a set filled with laughter and poignancy, he explains the past, present, and future of his tortuous relationship with romance. It’s a show which has a big heart, which Hornedo wears firmly on his sleeve. It would be easy for some of the material to slip into The Fault in Our Stars territory, a reference which Hornedo alludes to, but he has the skill to keep pulling away from the pathos, and back towards the humour.

Hornedo has a gentle Stateside delivery and harks back to his times at college and in Washington DC. His extended riffs take in everything from high school crushes to the films of The Lord of the Rings. You are left with the clear impression of how Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother might approach a comedy show – self-aware and heartfelt, but also leaning into his own emotional frailties. Is he interested in finding love, or is the performance of love a goal in its own right?  

It doesn’t all work. There are repeated plays of video sequences which never quite hit home, even though there is a pay-off via a twist right at the end. The small space makes the screen too difficult to engage with for some at the back, which is a shame. And ultimately, Hornedo’s show is probably just a shade too long, creeping well over its one-hour slot. That’s not to say the material isn’t interesting, but it is too dense with too many details to be absorbed in the quickfire arena of a stand-up show. It’s a warm, sometimes whimsical show, which never strays into the realm of the saccharine.

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Nick Hornedo: Watch This When You Get Home, Underbelly Bristo Square (Clover), until 24 Aug, 2.25pm, £8.50-13