Cancellation in comedy is such a wretched concept that even the idea that’s it’s overblown, with supposedly disgraced stand-ups continuing to win awards and sell tours, is fast approaching a cliché. When Alfie Brown screechingly impersonates Russell Brand, it’s about undesirable associations. Yet Brand’s shameless survival strategy barely needs much satirising for a clued-up crowd. And the consequences of Brown’s own cancellation, for ill-judged historical routines in which he recklessly played with racist terms, have been significant. Open Hearted Human Enquiry belongs to that same slim sub-genre of stand-up as Seann Walsh’s Kiss, a thoughtful mea culpa seeking redemption, which also skilfully deconstructs and kicks back at the taking of offence.

Not being easily likeable is a release for a comic of Brown’s self-destructive impulses and too-clever-by-a-third intelligence. And his unwillingness to pander, contrariness, and commitment to original thinking can be abrasive, with the early audience interactions of this afternoon show attritional and stop-start. Brown’s plea for a fully rounded appreciation of empathy is persuasively argued and he has considered his transgressions from every angle. Moreover, for all of that contrition, he’s not sunk by it, remaining committed to provocative devilry.

In narrative terms, it doesn’t hurt that he’s coming off the back of an absolute annus horribilis of a year and more, with his cancellation bound up with depression, grief, the strains of being a partner and father, copping to his nepo-baby privilege, and the full, middle-class horror of Center Parcs. Whatever else he is, Brown is a gifted storyteller, with the closing half hour of this show bruisingly funny and emotionally moving, an artistic triumph snatched from the jaws of successive personal defeats. 

Alfie Brown: Open Hearted Human Enquiry is on tour until Saturday 14 December; reviewed at The Stand, Glasgow.