Tig Notaro joked at the start of her UK debut that she thinks there is a horse in her house that eats her hair. But most of the audience were wondering not about horses but about elephants in the room.

The American comedian is famous for talking about her breast cancer onstage. A recording of the 2012 gig in which she first tackled the subject has become a bestseller. The topic soon popped up, as Notaro, a skinny 42-year-old wearing jeans and hoodie and now in remission, wondered if her breasts became cancerous as revenge for her making jokes about being flat-chested.

Elephant addressed to huge, relieved laughs, she moved on to the meat of Boyish Girl Interrupted, an hour of sublime stand-up deconstruction as she dissected the vicissitudes of her vocation, from irksome agents to misguided Las Vegas residencies.

There was nothing misguided here, though. If the terrain was potentially mundane the delivery, relaxed yet pin-point precise, made her compelling.

This was comedy at its finest, with twists, turns and playful multiple endings. It was probably more scripted than it seemed but it takes lots of skill to appear this spontaneous.

As if to confirm her comedic supremacy, the closing routine simply involved pushing a stool around to see, Stewart Lee-style, how many laughs it prompted.

To some she was pushing her luck as well as furniture, yet a mix of charm and cheek made it work. Not as radical as her double mastectomy material but almost as unforgettable.

Until Sunday (0131 226 0000, edfringe.com)