Next to comedian, he’s honest (8,3)
I believe the answer is:
straight man
'next to comedian he's honest' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'he's honest' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'honest' could be 'straight' (similar in meaning) and 'straight' is located in the answer.
'he' could be 'man' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'man' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for straight man that I've seen before include "Stooge to a comedian" , "Heterosexual" , "Feed" , "Comedian's stooge" .)