There’s a comforting sense of craft in Paddy Young’s new show Hungry, Horny, Scared, an hour of solid comedy that charts the twentysomething’s travails with house-sharing, his northern English background and his attempts to build a career on the stand-up scene. Amidst anxieties about the housing market, he weaves in overplayed but effective material about stereotypes towards his working-class background, the social wasteland of his Scarborough hometown, and an entertaining discussion about his competitive flatmate. 

Young makes for genial company, even if his show offers more wry smirks than belly laughs. He’s the kind of likeable, uncomplicated bloke who doesn’t struggle to bring the audience on his side, turning interactions into engaging back-and-forth without feeling the need to rush to his next piece of pre-planned material, and side-stepping potentially dicey conversations with a wink and a smile. 

Even when Young steps into sharkier waters, he emanates the palpable sense of a safe pair of hands. It’s easy to imagine Young being viewed like a well-loved comfortable pair of shoes on the panel-show circuit in a decade’s time, lighting up his crowd with flashes of brilliance and creativity but more often than not falling into the cosily unremarkable.

Paddy Young: Hung, Horny, Scared, Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 August, 9.35pm (plus 26 August, 5.20pm).