To the uninitiated, David Ian may appear to be a rising name. With Am I Mean? he brings to Edinburgh a show as precise in concept as it is in execution. Is Ian mean? Friends have told him for years he comes across that way and he’s ignored them — but reflecting back now forces him to re-evaluate and try to answer the big question.

And what comes out is comedy gold. Ian is candid about his history of stealing moments at weddings, upstaging friends, and insisting on being the centre of attention. Yet he frames these stories with context: the satisfaction they brought, the insecurities beneath them, and the method in his carefully calibrated madness. The result is not unhinged but artfully skewed — a portrait of a comic probing the edges of his own persona.

His crowd work is exemplary. The front row become accomplices rather than victims, cast into roles with what he wryly calls “main character energy” and a game-show host’s verve. The barbs land, but never wound. Later, a bucket of “evidence” — anecdotes and observations from friends — becomes both confession and comic fodder, charting just how far his so-called meanness has gone.

Threaded through the show is a recurring devotion to Cher. What could have been a fleeting pop-culture joke evolves into something deeper: admiration, identification, and camp reverence that lends the hour both humour and unexpected heart.

The strength of Am I Mean? lies in its balance, delivered by a skilled comic on top of his game. The jury may still be out on whether David Ian is truly mean — but he is undeniably skilled at showing how a Fringe show ought to be done.