Back with another brand new hour of polished and gag-heavy material, one of the UK’s most consistent stand-ups opts to take things to a slightly more personal level. In a wild tale about a romantic trip to Japan with a man she’d met just once, Olga Koch takes us for a sexually promiscuous ride through threesome stories, HPV revelations and even academically-backed hot takes on parasocial relationships.

Using real-time voice notes to drive the plot forward, while surprising us with a hearfelt admission in the show’s final act, Prawn Cocktail was clearly written from a place of emotional rawness. We sense how manic this all became as she recalls visiting New Zealand not once but twice in close succession for reasons she can’t quite rationalise to herself. Nevertheless, Koch fires out tightly written jokes with ease as she regales us with her year of wanderlust and self-discovery. 

The strength of her charisma and delivery has the room so firmly on-side that audible gasps and ‘awwws’ are heard as this story unfolds. Despite the show’s emotional climax venturing slightly into clichéd territory (breaking into an earnest reveal at her finale is far from an original idea), the fact we’ve never seen this side of her before allows Koch to use it to her advantage. In a highly ironic parasocial relationship of her own making, audiences now feel closer to Olga Koch than ever. 

Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail, Monkey Barrel, until 21 August, 7.35pm, 9.55pm.