Careering onstage with joy and energy, Taiwanese comic Kuan-wen Huang is a pleasure to spend time with. He blares exuberance at you, instantly over-familiar with members of the audience and cutting through any reluctance for his punchlines with a fit of gregariousness. In this debut hour, Ilha Formosa, his likeable bluster is given weight by centring on the complex relationship he has with his home country and its tense political struggles with China. 

No one is safe from Huang’s barbs, from his overbearing mother who can’t show affection without insulting him, to Portugal’s failure to colonise Taiwan hundreds of years ago, and on to Liz Truss’ disastrous term as Prime Minister. There’s real depth to the well-researched material (Huang brags early on that he’ll only berate another country’s culture with facts), which is only ever undermined by the broad brush strokes he approaches his family with. 

Taiwan itself is so interesting that it’s disappointing when Huang pulls focus to his large teddy bear collection (charming as that is) or tries unnecessarily to tack on a resolution between himself and his mother in lieu of a more satisfying closer. Yet there’s strong, funny material here in abundance, and Huang is clearly a charismatic new voice in comedy. 

Kuan-wen Huang: Ilha Formosa, Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 27 August, 5.40pm.