Hold the flipping front page. Comedy sketch group Lebensmüde has changed its name to Lazy Susan. I don't know exactly why. Maybe they were worried people would think they were German. Maybe they got fed up with Google searches for them taking people to history articles about Lebensraum instead. Maybe they were concerned about newspapers missing out the umlaut above the u. Anyway, here's hoping they thrive under their new name. I saw them do a bit in Max & Ivan's Edinburgh show last summer and I heard their own show was very good.
But what's in a name? Lazy Susan are not the first comedy act to re-christen themselves, Snoop Lion-style, once they are up and running. It usually happens, however, when the line-up changes. When Lady Garden fractured, part of the group became Birthday Girls. Another sketch group Simply The Jest split and some of the members are currently continuing as The Jest. Solo acts sometimes start out with an quirky eye-catching moniker, but then down the line opt for their actual name. I'm not sure if Porky the Poet would have landed the gig as team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, but Phill Jupitus looks very good in the credits.
Changing a name these days is a big deal and not as easy as it once was, what with Facebook and Twitter accounts having to be altered and old T-shirts and badges having to be chucked away, but it can sometimes signal a change of fortunes. Though not always. There's a story - possibly apocryphal - of hard rock band Dumpy's Rusty Nuts changing their name to Dumpy's Rusty Bolts to get more airplay. As far as I can gather it didn't make them household names and they later reverted to their original name.
The only examples that springs to mind of a comedy sketch group that changed its name and went on to bigger things are Sabotage, who became The Pajama Men and Pappy's Fun Club, who slimmed down to Pappy's when they went from a quartet to a threesome. Let's see if Lazy Susan can turn those two successes into a hat trick.
Lazy Susan host their next regular comedy night at the Bussey Building, SE15 on January 26. Guests include Sheeps, Bec Hill, Joe Bor and Sofie Hagen. Details here.
