AS SOON as the eccentric bearded Canadian takes to the stage in the Turn Pot, the audience knows they’re going to see something… unusual.

Dressed in a shirt that can only be described as the painting blouse of a 17th Century artist, and carrying a rubber horse’s head mask and a trombone, Tony Law sets out his stall for a unique brand of comedy from the off.

But he acknowledges the act itself, an hour of material under construction for next month’s Edinburgh Festival, is a work in progress, and the opening ten minutes support his claims that he’s not done as much preparation as he’d have liked to, with pauses that don’t seem scripted and some reliance on foghorn sound effects.

“It takes a lot of work to look this out of control”, he says triumphantly off the back of a successful bit, imagining himself and a member of the audience communicating through charades inside the Trojan horse at the gates of… he waits for the punter to say Troy, but instead gets “Harrogate”, to much amusement.

Playful references to the firetrap nature of the venue, teasing the barstaff until they bring him a drink and remembering the time he and a guy in the front row were accountants for Genghis Khan get big reactions, but while the payoff with the trombone and horse mask get big laughs, his observational bits about family life are far from clichéd and deserve a little more time.

While uneven to start with, Law’s enthusiasm and gusto ensure laughs, even when bits he seemed certain would get an uproarious response don’t quite land as expected. When he notices a gag or line of thought is working though, he follows it down the rabbit hole, wringing laughs out of an audience he repeatedly claims is just killing time until Al Murray’s show.

It’s a fair bet the show will be tidier by the time it reaches Edinburgh, but with enough chaos at its heart to leave you in no doubt you’re watching a one-of-a-kind act.

*Tony Law will perform at the Tea Pot venue at 7.30pm on Sunday, August 2.