Comedy review: Alfie Brown: Scissor

From a breathtakingly arrogant debut show that could not have been more irritating had it been done to a backing track of nails scraping down a blackboard, Alfie Brown has evolved into an extraordinarily impressive comic.

Rating: ****

Venue: Laughing Horse @ City Cafe (Venue 85)

He is still an energetic bundle of egregiously educated, middle -class self confidence, but the borderline sociopathic arrogance has gone and, as he starts this exhilirating hour by taking on well worn subjects like alcohol and Facebook and enthusiastically ripping them a new one, you feel Alfie and his ­talent have finally clicked.

English and French, he says, are the only languages in which we “fall” in love, and follows with a glorious demonstration of him falling in love with his girlfriend. It is manic, openhearted and funny. For all that Jennifer Rush claimed “the power of love” could do, she never once mentioned turning a smug opinionated boy into a great comic.

Apart from making a very good case for men’s opinions on feminism being more valid than women’s, his argument that, while society might not favour the female, nature certainly did, had the room persuaded. I laughed more at Alfie’s revelations of his clit envy than was entirely comfortable for the person next to me. The end, he tells us, casually, “isn’t really written yet”. Which would normally light my personal blue touch paper. But this is terrific stuff. Fellow comic Jimmy McGhie is beside me on the way out. “Alfie’s comedy has finally caught up with his intellect,” he says. I could not have put it better myself.

• Until 28 August. Today 3pm

Click here for more reviews from the Edinburgh Festival