Why settle for one stand-up routine when you can deliver The First Three Minutes of 17 Shows? That’s the high-concept premise of American-born comedian Abby Wambaugh’s delightfully daffy, subversively philosophical new act — which has landed at Dixon Place on the Lower East Side after an award-winning run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Wambaugh starts and stops a series of routines, broken up with blackouts and the ring of a front-desk bell under Lara Ricote’s direction. There’s a virtue in variety here as Wambaugh shifts from observational monologue to more pointed topical asides to audience participation to absurdist prop humor (deploying googly-eyed puppets and other objects of their own design).

Sometimes Wambaugh blends genres, recalling how they instantly recognized they were nonbinary when first hearing about the concept: “It must have been what Elon Musk felt like when he first heard the word douchebag.” Wambaugh has a flair for cutting commentary delivered with a soft touch, as when they send up David Sedaris’ sold-out gigs reading his wry essays to large crowds and note, “He doesn’t even memorize it!”

This is a show that not only breaks the fourth wall, but barely bothers to establish any walls at all. Wambaugh reminds us that if we don’t like one routine, another completely different one awaits in just a few moments. (“Time is elastic,” they emphasize, so not every set-piece lasts exactly three minutes.) While some of the segments recall traditional stand-up, others lean into wacky sketch-show material as when the performer anthropomorphizes oranges in a fruit bowl or delivers an oddball impression of a vacuum cleaner (as the mic ping-pongs across both sides of their mouth and they try to “accidentally” suck up the skirt of a woman seated in the front row).

What keeps the whole thing afloat is Wambaugh’s winsome presence. They wander the stage with the perky command of a beloved kindergarten teacher, albeit one whose lesson plan includes discussions of yeast infections, pregnancy tests, and miscarriages. There’s a spirit of good will here, and also of play, and they have a unique ability to coax audience members into joining the act in a way that embarrasses nobody.

Like Hannah Gadsby, who serves as one of the show’s co-presenters, Wambaugh also drifts into more emotionally raw territory, sharing how they decided to pursue comedy as a mother of two grieving a personal loss and wanting to make a fresh start at a new creative endeavor. “Sometimes the beginning of something is the whole story,” they observe. And as this show proves, sometimes a series of beginnings can make up one wholly entertaining night out. ★★★★☆

THE FIRST THREE MINUTES OF 17 SHOWS
Dixon Place, Off Broadway
Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes (with no intermission)
Tickets on sale through October 25 for $33 to $55