After the diligent front-of-house staff have spent some time urging her crowd to sit as close to the front as possible, Yuriko Kotani enters the stage and asks everyone to move back. It’s an odd decision for this performer whose material works best when she confidentially draws us into her world. Starting with some faltering crowd work which comes across more like admin, the Japanese comedian, who has spent 20 years in the UK, eases into some smart observations about mistranslated tattoos and the joy/confusion of polysemous words. This then segues into a story about a recent trip to Japan that comes to a literally cataclysmic conclusion from which Kotani swiftly moves on while the crowd sit with their jaws on the floor.

Remarkably, she later concludes her show with a similar bolt from the blue. Thoughts cascade from her head, including repeated (and unnecessary) callbacks to her show from 2022 even though she’s already established that no one in today’s audience saw that hour (I did see it but kept quiet). Kotani is a sweetly enthusiastic performer who would benefit with a much tighter focus. Her proclivity for abruptly profound diversions will leave some audience members bewildered.

Yuriko Kotani: The Meanings Of Life, Monkey Barrel The Hive, until 25 August, 1.55pm.