Live comedy, when done well, can be one of life's great pleasures. 

But there are so many factors that need to be right. The host, the venue, even the audience, all play a role in this fine art. 

And so much of it comes down to taste. With four different comedians, as well as host Chloe Petts, naturally we liked some more than others. 

For us, Live at Brighton Festival was a varied and interesting evening - and there were two standout performers.

Petts was a joy. She was upbeat, cheery and her interactions with the audience were genuinely funny - we just wish we'd seen more of her. 

It felt her talents were wasted on hosting, and her brief mentions of her gender identity and sexuality as a masculine lesbian suggested she had more to say on the topic. 

John Robins opened with a set focused on his various ailments. 

He stepped into his role as stand-up's fall guy easily. He was both highly strung and hyperaware, and there were moments of tenderness that the audience appreciated as he spoke about his struggles with anxiety. 

The star of the show for us, though, was Thanyia Moore. We did not know her comedy before and coming to it with fresh eyes was great - we had no expectations, but she wowed us. 

The loudest roars from the audience were in her set, which was pacy, loud and just a lot of fun. 

She has an incredible stage presence and her performance was even occasionally halted when her microphone lead stopped her marching all the way across the floor.

Moore commanded the room with her infectious laugh and hilarious tales of from her time sky-diving to a strange encounter at a launderette. 

After a short interval it was Lou Sanders' turn to take to the stage. 

Her daftness was endearing, but it felt too much like we were laughing at her. We found her jokes were often crass.

Finally, headliner Nish Kumar took us from the personal to the political and back again as he toyed with his struggle as a British Asian man constantly asked about how he feels that Rishi Sunak is Prime Minister.

"He's taken the joy away for me," Kumar said. 

It was a set full of interesting anecdotes, punctuated by Kumar's somewhat crazed shouting rants which are just hilarious. 

But it was also sobering and sometimes a touch bleak. "If you're not depressed, pick up a newspaper," he yelled to a cackling crowd. 

Overall, it was an evening with varying degrees of success. The range of comics meant there was surely something for everyone, we just don't think all of it was for us.