Andy Barr @ Pleasance Courtyard

Welcome to the wonderful and frightening world of Andy Barr. At times unhinged, at others plaintive, at times manic, at others morose, Barr leads us through an hour of surreal and emotive comedy. Let’s put it this way – you’ll never look at an apple in quite the same way again.

On the face of it, Barr seems to be dealing with trauma, though he claims to be over it. He is on to his third pint of Guinness by the time we’re thirty minutes into the show, and whether it’s staged with the 0% stuff or not, it lends an arresting, unsettling sensation to the set, with an audience never quite sure whether they are laughing at him or with him. This is ultimately Barr’s genius. Jokes which seem to fall flat are in fact cunning levers to push the show in a different direction, with interludes for poetry and the threat of an acoustic guitar in the corner. He couldn’t – could he?

At times this show feels like the bunker scene from Downfall transported to the set of Twin Peaks. Barr’s louche swagger brings to mind Matt Berry in The IT Crowd, but there will also be much to love here for fans of cult comic novelist Dan Rhodes.

This is a show which covers a lot of ground. Were things really so much better in the 90s? Did you really get scorpions in bags of bananas? And what chance have we all got, anyway? If it sounds downbeat, it’s anything but, and Barr’s sardonic take on modern life leaves us with just as many questions about the future as the past.

This may be his fourth Fringe debut – a concept outlined with some clever use of tech throughout – but no matter what character he may or may not be playing, Andy Barr is the real deal.

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Andy Barr: The Hotly Anticipated 4th Debut Hour from Rising Star, Andy Barr, Pleasance Courtyard (Cellar), until 24 Aug, 8pm, £9-13