LAURA Lexx made waves on the British comedy circuit in 2018.

The comedian, from Brighton, has been on a sell-out run of gigs and even made her debut on BBC comedy show Live At The Apollo, all off the back of her 2018 Edinburgh Fringe show Trying.

The success gave Laura a boost going into this year and the comic is now hoping to replicate that success at this year’s Fringe.

Laura said: “Trying brought a mad new wind of enthusiasm for me.

“I think last year really showed me that my style of comedy is finding its audience – there are people really looking for something snappy, punchy and fundamentally kind hearted and I have that.

“The last 12 months have been mad, I’ve barely stopped.

“I’ve been all over the country gigging and enjoying myself.”

Trying was exactly that for Laura.

The show focused on her battle with depression and anxiety, which all stemmed from her struggle to have a baby with her partner, fellow comic Tom Livingstone.

At the time of writing the show Laura was in a difficult place, and spoke about how challenging it was to put the most personal parts of her life into her comedy.

Speaking to The Argus last year she said: “I don’t find it therapeutic. I like that I can do it, but for me to put it into the show I detach myself slightly from what I’m doing.

“But, I love that it would be therapeutic for somebody else.”

Now, however it does look as if performing Trying has given Laura a new hit of confidence, one she is raring to show the country again.

She said: “My confidence in myself as a comic has never been higher, well not since I was a deluded 21-year-old before it all got beaten out of me.

“I feel like I have a new set of toys and I’m really excited to be able to play with them.”

Laura, now 32, is currently up in Scotland performing her new show, Knee Jerk, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.

The show has already had a couple of sell-out performances at this year’s festival and Laura wants to continue that good run of form. Unlike Trying, the focus of Knee Jerk is less about the inner workings of Laura’s mind.

She said: “I thought with Trying being such a success there would be loads of pressure to create something on those same topics – depression, anxiety and trying for a baby – again but it turns out the sort of people who fell in love with that show are really open minded and happy to consider things on any subject.

“I didn’t want to do Trying II as I think it would undermine the last show to try and milk it again.

“But equally, I don’t want to walk away from the subjects of climate change and mental health.

“This year I’m exploring how polarised things feel within the general public at the moment.

“I’m fascinated by how tribal the world feels, and how people have become.

“I’m trying to look at that and suggest that maybe us turning on each other isn’t the best expression of our energies.

“This year has been nice because the material being less personal means it’s less painful to do all the delving, but also harder because it wasn’t as immediately obvious what I was trying to write or say.”

Edinburgh Fringe is considered by many to be the biggest comedy and arts festival in the country, if not the world.

Comedians flock from all corners of the globe to put on their shows, and hope they can make their money back over the course of the month. For Laura it is the freedom of the festival that is so liberating.

She said: “Fringe gives you the space to do whatever you want to do.

“For any criticism you want to throw at the festival, it is undeniably open to whatever you want to do creatively.”

Following the Fringe, which ends on August 25, Laura will be taking Knee Jerk on tour across the country.

After one of the busiest years of her life she is once again ready to hit the road, excited to see whether Knee Jerk will garner the same overwhelming reaction that came with Trying.

She said: “I’m really loving being out under my own name and having more on stage time to play with so I will be looking to tour as widely as I can.”

With a Live At The Apollo appearance and a run at London’s Soho Theatre already under her belt there may be a certain pressure on Laura to improve on what was a monumental 2018.

But as one of the more level-headed comedians currently on the circuit, there will surely not be any rash, knee-jerk reactions to whatever is to come.