Jodie Mitchell @ Pleasance Courtyard

At last, we can answer the question: have you ever seen Jodie Mitchell and John Travulva in the same room? 

Bringing their stand–up and drag king personas together under one roof, Becoming John Travulva tells the story of the strangest day of Mitchell’s life – this begins by being booed onto stage at a comedy club, and ends with them trapped in their flat with an unknown criminal. It makes for a fun hour and a wild story, the highlights of which include a delightful five on how a gay god might behave, and the tale of a ceilidh caller approaching gender-neutral language.

Travulva himself opens the show, and Mitchell re-emerges as the story evolves (by way of an entertaining mock-shaving routine), before re-dressing in the Santa costume that accompanies the story’s climax. The device is fun and childlike in the best way, with a vanity mirror set piece that evokes an appropriately theatrical glamour.

Mitchell naturally uses the show as a vehicle to explain the concept of a drag king to those who are unfamiliar, adopting a recurring joke that “not all drag is just pointing somewhere and walking there”. But they also create a good beginner’s guide to the idea of tension and release in comedy – and how audiences naturally afford masculine presences more trust to create that tension. 

Mitchell uses this to explain why they became Travulva, but we’re left wanting to know more – especially about Travulva himself. The show’s opening section is performed as him, and given his prominence in the hour it would be good to get a better sense of him as a character in his own right, rather than simply the combination of a deep voice and a drawn-on beard.

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Jodie Mitchell: Becoming John Travulva, Pleasance Courtyard (Below), until 27 Aug, 9.50pm, £10-11