On previous occasions, Boothby Graffoe has had me breathlessly rocking to-and-fro with laughter.

He has fantastically performed anecdotes on the perils of Peckham living, clever political snides and absurd songs such as Baseball Playing Spider, which surely could only have been conceived under the influence of drugs.

Tonight, however, it was clear from the outset that something was wrong. Beginning with an unremarkable new song, Graffoe appeared off-balance, without the all-important comic timing and subtle facial expressions that I'd come to expect from him.

The most obvious clue to the disappointing direction in which the show was heading came when, during his usually-hilarious tale of self-defence against a group of young thugs, Graffoe half-heartedly acted out the way the boys had turned and fled at his anger.

On previous occasions - albeit with more stage space - Graffoe had imitated the boys' West Side Storyesque swagger enthusiastically.

This time the gag was ruined by his lacklustre effort.

It was a pleasure to hear Boothby dishing out some great new material, and there's no doubt the quality remains. Yet his poor timing and over-use of music and wacky sketches, such as his literal use of the phrase "talk to the hand", left me feeling disappointed.

Bad night as it was by Boothby's usual standards, a moment where the comic began playing his guitar, then bowed down to pick up his pint while the music continued of its own accord, took me by surprise and had me laughing for a good few minutes. His tales of camping catastrophes also left me winded with an unexpected punchline to the normally obvious headlights-on-tent story.

Apparently I was not alone in my disappointment, as one heckler yelled, "Especially when you're not funny", in response to Boothby's admission that being a comedian was, indeed, hard work. Having seen the comic twice before at his absolute best, I won't judge him on this one heartbreaking night of under-achievement and urge everyone to check him out at the same venue again next month.