^{Picture: Matt Stronge}

If you’re into tightly written stand-up with satisfying through-lines, clever call-backs and ‘tie it all up in a bow’ resolutions, Olga Koch is the comic for you. Just Friends is Koch’s fourth Fringe hour and the first to focus on more trivial subject matter: her debut show Fight (nominated for Best Newcomer in 2018) was about her relationship with her father; If/Then on her expertise in computer science; and Homecoming was all about her upbringing in an American school in Surrey. 

Focusing on a post break-up adoption of ‘ho culture’ and the early stages of a new relationship, this show may be of a thematically lighter persuasion, but an unshakable narrative and interesting take on sexual power dynamics and femininity ground the performance. In tonight’s show some crowd-work felt lacking in tact and energy, but stellar observational stories about Mamma Mia! The Party and digestive problems at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert generated enough laughs to power through to a conclusion. 

For a comic who sets her own bar high every year, Just Friends doesn’t feel like a step above any of Koch’s previous well-crafted hours. But it certainly maintains her place as one of the brightest and most consistent comics on the circuit. 

Monkey Barrel, until 28 August, 7.35pm; Pleasance Courtyard, 26 August, 9.40pm.