‘Someone in here is going to hate this. I hope it’s not me.’ Despite being a previous Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, Jordan Brookes is well aware that a radical deconstruction of comedy’s fundamental essence isn’t for everyone. Brookes has long been performing simulacra of comedy shows; now he’s turned his postmodernist gaze to musical theatre. Interspersed throughout Fontanelle are teasing snippets of a musical he’s apparently written about the ‘brave boys’ of the Titanic. Of course, being a Jordan Brookes show, there’s more to all this than meets the eye. He uses the ‘going down with the ship’ trope to discuss masculinity, albeit it with a wry smile, subverting some of the more superficial ‘men’s mental health’ rhetoric that abounds. Brookes has long been a master manipulator of his audience, as devious as he is divisive.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the whole ‘deconstruction of the form’ discourse without mentioning that Fontanelle is very, very funny. Brookes’ shows have always towed a fine line between comedy and performance art. Where they’ve fallen down before is that they aren’t necessarily laugh-out-loud, but not this time. Gags that cater for every preference of tastelessness abound, and his crowd work (if you can call it that) is exceptional. Against the odds, Fontanelle strikes a supreme balance between cerebral and silly. At one point in the show, Brookes laments not being ‘the guy’: a once in a generation genius. While that may be true, he is veritably a master of his craft, and a quite singular talent.

Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle, Pleasance Dome, until 25 August, 8.30pm; main picture: Jennifer Forward Hayter.