Despite the low profile he maintains across the year and that phalanx of tech, sound cues and audience game-playing moments he jams into his shows (all with the eminent capacity to go wrong), Mat Ewins has come to be seen as close to a safe bet in Edinburgh. A late-night draw for the cognoscenti, he is an easy diversion of daftness in stark contrast to the earnestness elsewhere in the comedy section.

With little social media presence, how Ewins monetises his uniquely quixotic humour while keeping the entertainment industry at arm’s length is surely a genuine question. But he’s sending it up in a message of hard-headed defiance to one broadcaster, after they turned down the chance to make his police procedural series, Good Cop, Bad Cop, a hilariously rendered misreading of the police cliché. 

Meanwhile, he’s created the gameshow Danger Money, a series of rudimentary computer games where the audience compete for nominal cash that never materialises anyway. All good throwaway fun, supplemented by sarcastic, pre-prepared slams that pop up in response to volunteers’ answers and an ongoing dialogue with a robot sidekick which elicits more laughs. Highlights include Ronaldo over-celebrating a goal in a rejected FIFA 2019 sequence, and The Matrix allegedly accelerated to normal speed (think arthritic Morris dancers). Throughout, you’re aware of the thought and feverish labour that must have gone into producing such snappy gags. So come on Sky, give Mat Ewins a show! 

Just The Tonic At The Caves, until 28 August, 10.30pm.