Josie Long: Be Honourable!

If you think you know what Josie Long is all about, think again. If you have no idea, don't bother looking on YouTube to find out – this is a comedian who deserves an hour of your time, not just a cursory glance.

The title of this year's show reflects a shift in tone since the Englishwoman's wide-eyed debut, at which she gave out hand-made badges and implored everyone to be kind to each other. Subsequent offerings were similarly charming, but Long remained a niche comic unlikely to convert anyone for whom the adjective “whimsical” was a red flag.

After a year away, Long has returned with both porridge and fire in her belly – the first after discovering the joys of breakfast during a health kick, the second after the General Election result indicated that not everyone had received her earlier messages. Now, it's time for action.

Long supported Stewart Lee at the tender age of 21, and his influence has become more marked with every passing year. Now that her mentor has crossed over from brilliantly smug to tediously so, Long is confidently striding into a new phase of her development as a stand-up.

She opens as a hostile cockney astronaut delivering a lecture about going “up space”, and gives sharp, witty responses to questions from the boldest audience members. It's a surprise start, and evidence that Long is not content to simply coast along on the strength of her loveable personality.

That is given space to shine later, of course, as she offers an earnest account of her year away and sings the praises of her current hero, Nye Bevan. There are sketches, slides, extended yarns and neat life lessons, as a show charting our heroine's hunger-driven obsession with an online stranger and his delicious flickr account culminates in an impassioned plea for real-life human interaction.