Simon Amstell Performs Comedy in "Numb," at Theater 80 The British comic Simon Amstell has a gift for taking a social norm and gently mocking it until it seems utterly ridiculous. Explaining why he was circumcised, Mr. Amstell, a slight figure with a mop of curls on his head, acted out his parents thinking: "We better cut off his penis, or people will think we're weird." In another bit he imagines someone in the future looking back at the absurdity of the past, marveling at everything from the pope to the practice of eating animals while also keeping them as pets. Mr. Amstell is a vegan, which he describes as difficult to maintain, "if you're interested in the concept of joy." If one really wanted to find a connective tissue within his solo show, "Numb," it would be this intense scrutiny of societal mores. But it's a stretch. "Numb" is basically a conventionally wandering, if highly literate and charming stand-up set. Mr. Amstell, who is in his early 30s, is a popular veteran of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the star and co-writer of the British sitcom "Grandma's House." "Numb" represents something of an introduction to American audiences. As suits Mr. Amstell's persona, it's an ingratiatingly shy, modest greeting. Frequently pushing his dark glasses up his nose, Mr. Amstell, an openly gay navel gazer, evokes a young Woody Allen, sometimes to a fault. When he makes jokes about an awkward offer of cocaine or the connection between happiness and shallowness (two famous targets from "Annie Hall"), he risks seeming, like the actors in Mr. Allen's films who mimic their director, overly familiar. What he lacks in freshness Mr. Amstell makes up for in verbal wit and pinpoint timing. He lopes onstage, pokes fun at hipsters while not sparing himself, and when a joke doesn't get a big laugh, he acknowledges it. His most acute observations may be about his sex life, which he delivers with an endearing mixture of offhanded candor and sharp wit. Such ease and understatement makes him very good company.