There’s a lot of love in the room for Mary Beth Barone, the 31-year-old comic who’s gathered a cult following with TikTok, her Obsessed podcast and the Comedy Central hit Drag His Ass: A Fuckboy Treatment Program. Beyond crowd-pleasing cool, her debut Fringe run Silly Little Girl combines the story of Barone’s teenage aspirations to become a model with modern talking points of trans rights, the treatment of female comics, attachment styles and the casual stripping of abortion rights in many American states. 

Twenty and thirtysomethings looking back at their younger selves, usually with accompanying video footage, has been a curious trend at this year’s Fringe, but it’s where Barone’s material shines brightest. Unlike many comedians mining their youth for laughs, a show solely about this deadpan comic’s teenage years seems loaded with possibility. Alas, it’s a potential that she fails to stretch out to a full hour, and her set falters whenever she tackles contemporary discussion topics.  

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Her engagement with the modern world gives the impression of someone struggling to say anything beyond vague liberal gestures, and it’s difficult to craft material with bite when everyone in the room broadly agrees with you. More laboured material about the differences between men and women or the similarities between gay men and priests could have been ripped from a 1990s comedy set, despite the thoroughly contemporary backdrop of her show. Barone is at her best when she’s being apolitically offbeat or venturing into unexpected observational comedy. But with a through-route that’s less than satisfying and an ending that feels forced, there’s more filler than killer in Silly Little Girl. 

Pleasance Courtyard, until 28 August, 8.30pm.