Kato Tests the Stand-Up Waters in Hermosa Beach : Comedy review: The infamous house guest is amiably self-deprecating but needs writers who can feed him edgier, more focused material.

The idea of Brian (Kato) Kaelin doing a stand-up comedy routine is funnier than him actually doing it.

America’s House Guest, the O.J. Simpson murder trial’s witness-heartthrob, tested material for his June stint as an opening act in Las Vegas for veteran comic Louie Anderson in a 12-minute set Wednesday night at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. It was only the fourth time in his life he took the stage, in the process becoming the most bizarre collision between real life and pop culture since Bill Clinton wailed away on his saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”

For the time being, the novelty of having such a tabloid sensation interloping, however feebly, on a stage is enough for audiences to forgive his forced delivery and lame gags and overlook the queasy circumstances that have thrust him into the public eye. If you can’t beat the guys mocking you, Kaelin seems to reason, join them. But if he has any real interest in making a career out of this, he must locate joke writers who can feed him edgier, more focused--or, at the very least, funnier--material.

He did gag after gag about being the Poster Child for Slackerdom. On doing his taxes: “It took me seven hours to answer one question--occupation.” On his family: “I was raised with six siblings. We had a four-bedroom guest house.” On his celebrity: “I’m changing my name to Witness Formerly Known as Kato. . . . You know me as a witness, but I haven’t been with Jehovah’s for 10 years now. . . . I was given a key to the city by Mayor Riordan--it’s the first time I’ve had a key to my own place.”

And this is the stronger material. Unemployed drummers, take note--here is a guy who needs some heavy-duty rim shots.

To be fair, however, you can see worse in any club in L.A. on any given night. Even if Kaelin is a washout, he’s amiably self-deprecating (of course, if you’re Kaelin, you pretty much have to be).

Kaelin’s problem is what forced prosecuting attorney Marcia Clark to declare him a hostile witness--his eternal puppy-dog eagerness to please and unwillingness to affront. His material is too watered-down, too vapid to honestly attack the idiocy of the trial or the idiocy of his own celebrity.

He could, if properly induced, elevate exploitative hackdom to an art form. Certainly, he’s in on the joke enough to do so. If he’s going to be cynical enough to do something like this, he should can the disingenuous shtick--that way, at least we could respect his honesty.

His closing joke sums up his dilemma: Knock-knock. Who’s there? Kato. Kato who?

“Believe me,” he says, “in six months, that is my biggest fear.”