COMEDY Luke Mcqueen: The Boy With Tape on His Face Heroes @ Monkey Barrel (Venue 515) JJJ

There are moments of unquestioned brilliance in Luke Mcqueen’s latest hour, fuelled by the desperation he transmits as his standup peers pass him by. Too accomplished to quit, too idiosyncratic

and self-defeating to sustain a career, he endures a Skype chat with his mother in which the threat of her withdrawing financial support lingers heavily in the air.

Although niche and in-jokey, almost certainly appealing to hardcore comedy fans only, Mcqueen is mesmeric in the lengths he’ll go to in order to secure a laugh, treading a fine line between unhinged bleakness and lastthrow-of-the-dice creative ebullience.

Very much of, but one step removed from the comedy industry, his title is a blatant play for some of the audience of the artist now known as Tape Face. And he recounts the episode in which he scammed Frankie Boyle’s fans into watching him instead. The main example he’s set himself against though is Joel Dommett, whom he engages over another awkward Skype chat.

Seeking to pick his brains about the direction he should take his stand-up, he ultimately resolves to follow the I’m A Celebrity Star into graphic notoriety.

Audacious to the end, with several hilarious set-pieces, the show is nevertheless too

Until tomorrow. Today 10:40pm.