Edward Aczel

There are several hundred comedians strutting their stuff at the Fringe this year, and most of them will be following more-or-less the same rulebook. Act natural, be charismatic, interact fluidly with your audience, don't lecture or bore them, throw them a joke at least once a minute to keep them onside – the list goes on. So it's thrilling, after one too many standard comedy gigs, to watch a performer deliberately and comprehensively reject almost every single one of these rules.

Edward Aczel doesn't tell jokes. He isn't remotely charismatic. His relationship with the audience is tetchy, awkward and reluctant. At one point, he attempts to read out an entire twenty-page Wikipedia article about the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). And for the most part, he is absolutely hilarious.

If comedy works by playing on people's preconceptions and expectations, then this is in a sense its ultimate form. By doing the exact opposite of what people expect in a stand-up gig, Aczel throws the whole genre into relief and makes us laugh at its inherent quirks. There are moments in the set when many audience members will be tense and even bored, but these only serve to make the laughs even more satisfying when the non-punchlines come. And most of the audience do laugh - it's impressive just how many people Aczel has won over to his distinctively post-modern take on stand-up. It is at heart an affectionate piece of satire, and one that any live comedy fan should lap up.