It takes a special kind of person to stand in front of a crowd of people and tell his very personal story of going through testicular cancer.

And to stand up there, joke about the whole ordeal, tell people to "grab life by a nut" and sell nuts (from a hardware store) on strings for charity -- well, that just takes marbles.

And cancer and surgery be damned, Lyle Nelson has those marbles.

"My Man Cancer Story," a 35-minute solo act, is Nelson's Rogue Festival confessional, where he tells the tale of when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 22.

It starts when he goes to the doctor with an enlarged testicle, follows him through the surgery and ends with Nelson advising of the crowd of symptoms and urging them to get checked.

While Nelson's performance is understated -- dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and a fedora, he spent most of the time just sitting in a chair, reading from his notebook -- he told his story in such an truthful and humorous way that presentation easily took a backseat to his engaging content. His subtle humor and the way he voiced his characters gave the performance life.

Nelson's performance was good because it didn't seem like a performance. It wasn't ultra-polished or over-rehearsed. It was real.

It was funny, but it wasn't a stand-up comedy act. It was educational, but it wasn't like sitting through an anatomy lecture. It's more universal -- a good, insightful, interesting story.

"My Man Cancer Story" plays again at 3:45 p.m. today and 8:45 p.m. Thursday.