Kemah Bob @ Pleasance Courtyard

Kemah Bob has been on the circuit a while and, despite Miss Fortunate being her debut Fringe hour, it’s obvious. Her presence is all-encompassing – so much so that it’s entirely possible to ignore the pressing heat of the Baby Grand, and totally impossible to not be swept up and away into Bob’s manic, chest-achingly funny world.

Bob is an excellent storyteller. In Miss Fortunate, we follow Bob through her last manic episode in 2023, which took her physically to Thailand and mentally to places we hope to never go. The necessary tools for a good story are all there – bizarre circumstances, heaps of dramatic irony made all the sweeter with unexpected callbacks, asides, songs (yes, she sings, and raps) – and every one is used without fault. What isn’t necessary, but Bob still delivers with abundance, is the cheeky, giddy, teetering between self-love and self-loathe style delivery.

She zips about the space, her body desperately keeping up with the incredible pace of her mind. It’s heady and exciting, and it makes us all the more amenable to the overarching message of Bob’s show: give yourself a break. Perhaps not one that takes you to Thailand where you spend an eye-watering amount of cash, but more one of some good old-fashioned mental respite.

The show is peppered with Gen-Zisms. She says something wildly uncomfortable or unsettling then counters it by flipping up a peace sign and sticking out her tongue. Never does this stray into the irritable; as with most of the themes Bob deals with – race, queerness, mental ill-health, abortion laws – there’s irony, silliness, and not a hint of a sanctimonious undercurrent. It feels like a refreshing return to form for comedy in general, and provides an exciting glimpse into the future of stand-up, with Kemah Bob at the helm.

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Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate, Pleasance Courtyard (Baby Grand), until 25 Aug (not 7, 14 or 21), 7.05pm, £9-14