With his slow, hesitant delivery and down-home, folksy manner, Joe Pera's stand-up style has been described as ‘grandfatherly’. Which sounds about right for a 34-year-old who often seems as if he could have emerged from Middle America at any point since the Great Depression. That’s not to say that Pera hasn't formed critical, incredulous views on the King’s Coronation or Irn-Bru while in this country. Or to overlook his resemblance to a famous serial killer. Or indeed, the vague aura of grief-tinged doom he confesses to, which ought to dissuade any women from viewing him romantically.

But these fleeting, darker and David Lynchian aspects are masterfully apportioned out amongst an otherwise endearing, gentle assault of shambling, diffident charm. Pera’s extended, back-and-forth interactions with the crowd are a legitimate artistic undertaking, ensuring his references are UK-relevant and forging a communal spirit. Yet they also seem less calculated than that, genuine curiosity in another culture and an attempt to better communicate.

Simply written down, his conversational tales are wholly throwaway, a significant chunk of this show given over to a story about him sitting, Forrest Gump-like, in a park feeding snacks to a squirrel. The lack of incident and slice-of-life mundanity almost dares you to take issue. Yet these ostensibly innocent yarns seldom dissipate without some kind of absurdist slant arriving out of leftfield, with his recollection of dating a lawyer and them debating ownership rights for the moon, suddenly flipping on a dime in a way that makes you reappraise his whole persona.

Keeping you guessing, with almost every routine a non-sequitur, Pera is more slyly manipulative than his outward amiability suggests. And yet as stand-ups go, he remains shyly loveable. The risks he takes are rewarded, evidenced by him selling out two shows on a Sunday with virtually zero profile in this country, beyond word-of-mouth appreciation for his cult podcast and television series, Joe Pera Talks With You.

Reviewed at The Glee Club, Glasgow.