It had all started out so well for Felicity Ward.

The Australian stand-up was set for a triumphant return to the Fringe with her new show, 50% More Likely to Die.

Packed with dark humour and statistics, the hour-long skit picked up where her last Edinburgh show left off, covering the frequently avoided subject of mental health.

However, her show took an unexpected plot twist after an unfortunate incident on a bus.

"The show's inspired by my absent mindedness," she says. "I had grand plans to write an hour of material about mental health statistics after doing a show about mental health last year. Then I left a bag on a bus with all my important things in it and what transpired over the next 24 hours was close to a magic trick.

"So now it's a low-fi, comedy thriller, stand-up, storytelling show about a lady with control issues who lost her bag."

Despite the set back, Felicity's show, which is the follow-up to last year's incredibly successful What If There Is No Toilet?, is everything you'd expect it to be.

Not afraid to tackle issues like depression and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), it is full of dark comedy, honesty and one of her 'heaviest' pieces of material.

However, unlikely last year, the stand-up doesn't feel she needs to justify her choice of material to comedy fans.

"I'm not as hell bent on trying to persuade people that it's fine to see a show with mental health references in it anymore," she says. "I did it last year and I didn't die, and this year is a little less 'challenging' so to speak.

"Having said that, I've written the heaviest bit of material I've ever written this year and it's near the end of the show so they'll trust me by that stage... I hope."

Felicity's frank and honest humour about her battles with depression and IBS helped her find a new audience at the Fringe last year, with her show becoming the third best reviewed of the festival.

Her openness is something that many would find difficult, but it comes very naturally to the comic.

"It's difficult to make people laugh " she says. "They say write what you know and I know I'm crazy so I may as well write about it.

"I write what my brain tells me to. I think if I stood there and told one liner jokes for an hour I don't think people would buy it from me. They buy abject humiliation and emotional despair told through jokes from me for some reason.

"I think it's important to talk about mental health and IBS outside of comedy. I don't know if it's important to do it onstage but, having said that, you'd rather hear about my bum hole in a joke than a scientific and graphic retelling, wouldn't you? So maybe it just makes it a little more palatable to hear about it."

Felicity, who has appeared on The John Bishop Show and Russell Howard's Good News, may not have set out to start a discussion about IBS and mental health issues, but her show definitely made people think.

"I had some people contact me after last year's show saying that they went to the doctor the next day," she says. "So that was pretty rad but that's not what I set out to do."

The stand-up, whose influences include Amy Schumer and Bridget Christie, is now back in Edinburgh and can't wait to unveil her new show at the Fringe.

"I was really surprised by how well my show was received last year," she says. "A month before the festival last year, I actually inquired into how much it would cost to hire a curtain to cordon off a section of the audience because I thought the room was too big for me and I would never fill it.

"I'm very excited to be back. I adore the city. I love the chaos of the festival and I deeply love Scottish people.

"What makes the Fringe so special is that it's 3,000 shows in a month; actors, comedians, artists, dancers, musicians, punters, families, set against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It's a city that has a sea shore, a mountain and a castle. I also met my fiancée there so I'm probably a bit biased."

Felicity Ward will perform 50% More Likely To Die at Pleasance Courtyard until August 29.