Kathleen Hughes @ Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose

Kathleen Hughes spends Cryptid!, her debut hour, regaling the crowd with a series of small anecdotal events spanning childhood until now which, once woven together, produce the tapestry of her life so far. Except, she tells us, it’s a difficult one to make sense of. This is an hour of existentialism, of a confused sense of self and sexual identity, held together by a metaphor of the metaphysical and a lot of brilliant gags.

Despite drawing parallels between her own existence and that of mythical, paranormal creatures, there’s an undeniable humanity to Hughes. Maybe that’s obvious – she is human – but there’s an empathy which radiates from her, something that she’s acutely aware of. She has a face that people like telling their problems to, and it’s partly due to this likeability, her innate compassion, that she’s here now, mic in hand. Not an astronaut, or a girl that’s good at doing boy things (which, she once believed was the key to good feminism), but a comic with a straight, golden-retriever boyfriend and nothing that seemingly anchors her to the little girl she once was.

Apart from, that is, the paranormal. Horror, spookiness, all things weird, have always intrigued Hughes because, she says, there’s no clear answer. It turns out this is exactly how Hughes feels about herself. Her own disjointedness is reflected in some sections of the show – there are a few asides which turn into central arcs and occasionally leave the audience fumbling around, adrift with no real understanding of how we got there. With that in mind, however, this debut is one of self-assuredness, of confidence and charm and whip-smart wit.

Cryptid! is an hour that will strengthen throughout the Fringe, as crowds will certainly begin to flock. While Hughes might not be able to see the whole picture of her self yet, the one fragment that’s dazzling clear is that she’s an incredibly funny woman.

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Kathleen Hughes: Cryptid!, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Snug), until 26 Aug (not 12), 4.20pm, £9.50-12.50