One of the indications that it must be nearing nearing Christmas is the sheer volume of stand-up comedians' DVD's hitting the shelves. It seems that anyone who's been on a panel show can release one these days. Or host one.

As Carr announces in this very DVD, he's been a regular on the comic circuit for over ten years now. This almost makes him, by default, an elder statesman of British comedy. In that sense at least you know what to expect from one of his gigs: witty quick quips and dark one-liners. And that's exactly what you get here.

But although much of the content is amusing enough, Carr, somewhat surprisingly, is let down by his execution. The comedian normally has a polished delivery, to the point where it could be best described as silver service.

Here though, from the off, he resorts to fairly mundane tactics for laughs. For instance, he opens his set with a whole section on regional accents, prefacing each gag with "Is there anyone here from...?", before attempting an array of silly voices.

This could be overlooked if it was to just warm things up, but Carr continues to ask his audience questions throughout his set. It's almost as if he isn't confident enough to just do the gig without knowing if there's anyone out there watching him. If he's looking for answers, he should simply use Wikipedia like the rest of us.

It gets worse when he asks members of the audience if anyone has an unusual job, and his met with very few replies. In the end he picks someone who is a funeral director, who he brings on stage to interview. The entire section just feels awkward, as are the laughs.

Before you throw that at me you should know one thing, I'm Jimmy Carr, not Alan. You already knew that? Bugger.

Perhaps he's trying to shake up the formulaic stand-up routine, but Carr should realise that audience participation isn't really his thing. He should leave that kind of shtick to the likes of Peter Kay and Jason Manford.

Because many of his gags are so short, he gets through a hell of a lot of material in one night. Due to this, his ratio of funny jokes is quite high. But despite the DVD declaring that it's all brand new material, those who watch 8 Out of 10 Cats, may beg to disagree, as some of his gags from this live show have already appeared on it.

There's no denying that he's one of the UK's best stand up's, but on this evidence it's a poor show. Maybe it's time that some of these comedians, and most definitely Carr included, shouldn't feel the necessity to produce DVD's like this at this time of year, just for the sake of it. Because on this evidence, Jimmy Carr appears to find Being Funny more of a struggle than anyone could anticipate.