Zoe Lyons may well be cheerfully dismissive of Germaine Greer’s recent comments about women not being as funny as men (go, sister!). Aside from it being a tedious argument, Lyons is living proof it’s not true. Even at preview stage, the live equivalent of a working drawing, Lyons’ new show looks set for Old Master status.

As always, the Brighton comic had a hundred things to talk about – a wince-inducing (and slightly outdated) Shannon Matthews observation; the desperation of celebrity perfumes; vegans.

Then there were the sartorial difficulties of her wedding to another woman (who gets to be the princess?), her ambivalence towards being named one of the country’s most “influential gays”, the Pope’s hypocritical fondness for cross-dressing.

Such was the richness of the material and the force with which she steamed through, it was difficult to fully appreciate it all, but undoubtedly some judicious editing will take place before the show reaches Edinburgh next month. Slick, imaginative and utterly charming, this deserves to be Lyons’ year.

if.comedy best newcomer nominee Pippa Evans is several stages behind Lyons professionally but shows compelling potential.

A character comedian with a penchant for the unsavoury, her transformations include an embittered Northern cabaret hostess, a hungover, psychotic American country singer and an egg-collecting stalker.

Her writing is often impressive, with well- observed dialogue and subtle, clever jokes, but she’s not yet as versatile as she needs to be. Her tendency to splash all of her characters with a League Of Gentlemen-style black streak can make the show feel repetitive and some are rather familiar (her cabaret hostess, a friend observed, could have been vintage Victoria Wood).

Evans’ confident and refreshingly skewed approach will, however, ensure audiences stick around to watch her trajectory.