Amy Schumer, a breath of foul-mouthed fresh air as a stand-up comic, seems noticeably less revolutionary in her new series on Comedy Central, “Inside Amy Schumer,” which begins on Tuesday night. It’s primarily a sketch show, and what you get is the same sort of sketch-comedy roulette “Saturday Night Live” has been serving up for years: The good bits are hilarious; the others often kind of just lie there.

The opening episode, for instance, features a sketch in which Ms. Schumer goes way overboard after a first date with a not very appealing guy. She’s picking out their joint cemetery plots; he doesn’t even remember her when she calls.

Amusing? Yeah, probably, to a lot of dating-scene types. But cutting edge? Not very. Sitcoms and stand-ups have been riffing on the “waiting for a day-after text message” theme since before there were text messages, and this version doesn’t do much but string out the conceit a bit further than usual.

But another sketch in the same episode proves that Ms. Schumer and her writers do know how to turn a familiar idea on its head to good effect. Start with one of the most overworked comedy subjects there is: airplane humor. And merge it with — survivalist stories as seen on third-tier cable?

One man tells a horrific story about being attacked by owls. Another describes how he survived a shipwreck. And Ms. Schumer, in the same tortured tones, relates her ordeal of taking a cross-country flight without headphones. Ridiculous and, for Ms. Schumer, understated, a better fit for the sketch format than vulgarity often is.

That, of course, is a significant distinction. Ms. Schumer’s stand-up is so funny because it is a high-wire act: I’m here, I’m raunchy, take it or leave it. There’s a suicidal fearlessness to this approach that, in the stand-up format, earns the audience’s admiration. Similar material folded into a sketch doesn’t draw the same respect. It might get laughs, or it might just cause you to think, “A bunch of smart, funny people in a writers’ room and the best they could come up with was an extended scrotum gag?”

The series does provide glimpses of Ms. Schumer in her comfort zone. Each episode has clips from a stand-up show, reminiscent of “Seinfeld.” They often complement or set up the sketches, a device that helps make the episodes seem less random. On-the-street interviews (“Have you ever had a one-night stand?”) are used the same way; the show would do well to jettison them since they’re nothing but annoying in this series or any of the many others where they have turned up.

Ditto the outtakes at the end of the episodes. These tired trappings make the show feel as if it’s still searching for a way to capture Ms. Schumer’s talents in a form that will translate into a series.

Here’s a hint: Stale gimmicks won’t do the trick, because she’s an original.

Inside Amy Schumer

Comedy Central, Tuesday nights at 10:30, Eastern and Pacific times; 9:30, Central time.

Produced by Jax Media. Created by Amy Schumer and Daniel Powell; directed by Neal Brennan, Steven Tsuchida and John Lee; written by Jessi Klein, Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan, Kurt Metzger and Gabe Liedman; Ms. Schumer, Mr. Powell and Ms. Klein, executive producers; Brooke Posch, executive in charge of production for Comedy Central; Questlove, composer.

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Published: April 29, 2013

NYTimes.com