Benny Boot: As Seen On TV

A promising sight greets us. Stagehands creep around pointing cardboard TV cameras, and soon a gangly "producer" steps out to brief us on the day's performance. It's to be filmed on spec, he says, enhanced with "blackscreen technology" and sold as part of a big-bucks DVD deal that's definitely maybe in the bag.

This is Benny Boot, of course, setting out a tricksy frame narrative around his gently offbeat standup. Where others might turn this conceit into a searing satire on the bigwig TV industry, the Australian is content with simply milking it for a frivolous dose of theatricality, brought to life via charmingly low-rent special effects.

Once begun, Boot cuts a pixilated, slightly vacant figure and the jokes, unpredictably constructed, retain an often-noted hint of Mitch Hedberg about them. Much of his standup takes root in a bored prankster persona, little daydreams that begin "but what I like to do is". As the meat of the show, it's fairly one-note; it seems like the meta-narrative and lapses into panicked interior monologue are there less to subvert the form, and more just to contrive some variety.

As the show stop-starts towards a conclusion, the Michel-Gondry-meets-Blue-Peter prop work escalates, raises obliging laughs. But on the whole this feels like a hesitant flirtation with high concept – a perfectly serviceable bit of standup stuffed into an attractive yet underdeveloped idea. "Cute", the one-word verdict of a departing audience member, just about sums it up.