Lazy Susan: Extreme Humans

Contrary to their name, this sketch comedy duo are far from lax. Their generously off-kilter spin on a colourful cast of characters—and two puppets—is fast-paced and inventive, and gets funnier with every richly observed, throwaway detail.

What Celeste Dring and Freya Parker do so well is to apply a keen comic touch with a warmth that never feels like mockery. Played from the corner of a small black-box space in Pleasance Courtyard, their show brings to life a recurring crowd of marginalised, socially reclusive figures who earn our affection, not just our laughter.

Thus, we have the likes of Teesside lovebirds Steve and Viv, who gatecrash a wedding so Viv can live out her dream of singing Yazoo’s ‘Only You’ at karaoke; a lonely office worker who talks to her diary; and a Zippy-style puppet bride with major wedding jitters.

This is observational comedy channelled through small-town absurdism – Lazy Susan give us miniature portraits of life that are painted in surreal but not impossible colours. Love, death and broken homes are the backdrops that fix the humour in place.

It's not a show that tosses out punchlines. Dring and Parker excel at a kind of escalating nonsense, which builds up to belly laughter. And they’re gifted actors, too, shifting seamlessly between characters with the aid of little more than a comedy wig.

Not every sketch quite sustains its momentum, and some linger too long. But this is a gem of a show – beautifully performed and often sparklingly funny.