"‘This is my show – I get to spin it however I want to make myself look good." Those familiar with Ken Cheng or his polymathematical creation might have feared that The Mark Liu Story would turn out to be an elaborate façade, designed to disorientate the audience and turn their expectations in on themselves so many times that they wouldn’t remember what they’d thought in the first place. After all, from the subtle joke on the opening slide, it was abundantly clear that everything Ken Cheng produced would be unquestionably deliberate, and fine-tuned to levels of imperceptible detail.

A structure as artful as the one Cheng moulded would have been nigh on impossible to pull off without this close attention. The many increasingly niche references were sprinkled throughout the show with perfect pacing, and timing that gave the audience ample warning to look out for something clever without ever giving away until the punchline what that something might be. Early on, Cheng announces that he’s just used the first callback of the show, despite having already slipped several in: he might want to play down how neatly designed this show is, but we are definitely meant to pick up on it, and rightly so.

Cheng never risks his show being architectured to death, though. Mark Liu has a story worth telling, from humble beginnings on YouTube to attracting police attention and a ban from St John’s by the Senior Tutor, and it’s told with a mixture of excruciating self-awareness and, in moments, really quite touching pathos. His introduction to the character is genuinely heartfelt, and the knowing smile he maintains throughout the show lets you know he’s pleased with himself without ever feeling smug.

The Mark Liu Story was more of a showcase for Ken than for Mark, though. He has a great ear for whimsy and manipulation of language, to the point where you suspect he’s tried five different ways to phrase each idea before settling on one. The warm-up material on his mother – not that he needed much of a warm-up, with a staunch fan club adorning the front rows – picked up an excellent pace. His riff on the politically correct Texan councillor was a particular highlight, but, were it not for the brilliant "calzone" gag that closed the show, I would almost rather it had ended around that point, purely in terms of length. It seems unfair to bring up the halting delivery of the powerpoint, but it happened so frequently and at such inopportune moments that it couldn’t fail to stem the momentum.

Pick apart the elements of this show, and it unravels like a knitted jumper: every line feeds into something else further down the road. Though his show is long and could perhaps do with tightening, Cheng must be applauded for the effort and planning that went into it, and for the naturally observant and playful mind that turned it into top class comedy.