When she takes to the stage, McEvoy seems like a soft, unassuming act, with a few gentle and jolly exchanges and some modest jokes about life among the single teenage mums who apparently rule her home town of Watford.

But first impressions can be deceptive, and soon her dry, wry and wonderfully cynical view of the world comes to the fore.

For while she always maintains her friendly, gossipy manner, her material becomes increasingly barbed, perhaps never more so than when she's dismissing fey celebrity lifestyles.

But she's equally comfortable dishing out home truths about relationships, her travels or teenage brides ­ topics not too far out of the ordinary, yet always given a distinctive world-weary edge.

The gags are efficiently written and endearingly told, and gradually all this accumulates into a satisfying whole.