I won’t go into too much detail about James Acaster’s Latitude set because it was clearly an excerpt from his forthcoming Edinburgh show, Represent. I will say for starters though that if you are going to Edinburgh and don't have a ticket yet get one quickly.

Acaster’s show is based on what I presume to be a true story of his time doing jury service. From this simple premise, however, he spins out a colourful yarn, packed full of vivid, instantly recognisable characters. 

The jury theme gives the angular-bodied comic free rein to go off at a tangent about the various personalities sitting with him. This must surely be where fact turns into fantasy. Some have exceptional jobs, some have mundane jobs. Acaster makes each thumbnail sketch hilarious.

Even in this short extract callbacks are neatly set up so that an early casual aside takes on a more pivotal position later in the story and prompts a much bigger laugh. It is clear that a huge amount of work has gone into crafting this monologue. Every syllable counts, to the point that even something not particularly funny becomes funny just because of the way it is framed.

Some tightly observed gags about gang culture, Stephen Hawking and an arch riff on the transient nature of modern celebrity made this a great short set that one wanted to hear more of. Those with tickets for the full version should be in for a treat.

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