Fred Armisen’s comedic abilities are beyond question. He’s the co-creator and star of Portlandia, undertook a decade-long stint writing and performing in Saturday Night Live, and is the guy who regularly pops up in a raft of other US TV shows from Wednesday to Curb Your Enthusiasm. His musical capabilities have also been proven over the years, through memorable SNL parody songs and in his criminally underrated Documentary Now! series. 

But in his guise as a live comedian, Armisen is relatively untested. Comedy For Musicians is the follow-up to his debut show, Standup For Drummers, released as a Netflix special in 2018. For the most part, this new one consists of exactly what its title concisely alludes to. If you go in expecting a series of barely connected music-based observations that all begin with ‘have you ever noticed?’ or ‘this is my impression of’, then you’ll leave happy. Many of these disjointed skits elicit a chuckle, but when the person performing them is as talented as Armisen, their simplicity can feel like a case of wasted potential.

One example: his history of punk strumming is hilarious in its accuracy, but as soon as he’s pastiched one genre he’s onto the next without giving those jokes any room to breathe. Hyper-specific impressions are very funny and bolstered by Armisen’s winning persona, but his reliance on a pre-programmed iPad for their execution becomes wearisome. 

That’s not to say the audience didn’t have a great time. Even the more banal moments elicited frenzied applause, and Armisen finished his lukewarm hour to a standing ovation as though through some alchemical act he’d turned this British audience American. For those less in thrall, this is an erratic and at times self-indulgent roll call of the performer’s party tricks. For Armisen’s next tour, he could benefit from ditching his iPad and returning to the DIY ethos of the punk music that he’s so clearly enamoured with.

Fred Armisen: Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome is on tour until Tuesday 5 December; reviewed at EartH Theatre, London.