Showing @ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh until Mon 25 Aug (not 12) @ 19:00
Lazy Susan are sketch comedians Celeste Dring and Freya Parker in their first Fringe show since ditching their previous moniker Lebensmude. They are a highly versatile duo, flitting as easily from male to female to canine characters as they do from Geordie to Cockney to American accents. The sketches are tight, pacy and never less than inventive, even if some are a little light on laughs.
The pair have hints of a female Vic and Bob about them, most obviously in the Geordie lovebirds Steve and Val (I keep expecting Steve to say ‘are you looking at my bra?‘), but also through the occasional non sequitur and surrealism. Like Vic and Bob, the duo’s obvious chemistry lifts even the weaker material, giving the performance real flow and seamlessness.
They need more killer lines though. Characters such as the repressed call centre worker talking to her diary and the elderly sisters Jilly and Sally are well thought out and excellently performed, but the laughs never quite arrive. In fact it’s the most out of place sketch that is actually the funniest – a parody of online video appeals which builds to ever more ridiculous and hilarious heights. There’s also some brilliant quick, funny sock puppet interludes. The regular character material would benefit from using similar dynamics. Nonetheless, this is a pleasingly daft, immensely likeable show, delivered well. With a little more punch to the material, Lazy Susan could be very good indeed.