Can you teach someone to be funny? Is it healthy to transform trauma into a punchline? Is Andy Kaufman still alive? These are just some of the intriguing questions that populate The Material, Camille Bordas’ new novel about a group of insecure students and their distracted professors at the University of Chicago.

Taking place over the course of a single day, the book seamlessly flits from one character’s perspective to another as it follows the troupe through excruciating workshops where laughs are few and toe-curling silences many, to a climatic comedy night where the would-be standups pit their questionable skills against that most derided of performance groups: the improvs. With their reputation as entertainers on the line, will they die on stage or live to riff another day?

An invigorating blend of earnest soul-searching and hilarious set-pieces (the bit where the most soft-hearted of the student cohort is incorrectly suspected of being a school shooter is worthy of any sitcom), The Material is literary fiction at its most ambitious and accessible. Like all the best comics it has something important to say, delivers its message in a punchy, clever vein, and leaves its audience wanting more. Encore!