A bizarre hybrid of Avid Merrion and Bob Fossil, Mark Davison’s Mr Susan is immature, crude and downright silly. However, this is just what gives him his comedic value. Arranging his props in an organised mess, some that he doesn’t even use in his show, Mr Susan delivers a truly messed up variety performance with song, interpretative dance, stories, jokes and even a quiz show at the end.
Introducing us to his pet/best friend, an inflatable monkey called Noo Noo, he tells tales of their adventures together, including a song about the Pompidou Centre in France in which Noo Noo loses a shoe and how he likes to kick Noo Noo’s face but it’s alright because he likes it too. He then offers to broaden our vocabulary with a selection of brand new words he has taken upon himself to invent.
Audience participation is key throughout the show, whether the audience members like it or not, though in this case they did. After the police declare Mr Susan is no longer fit to look after Noo Noo, he is forced to find him a new guardian, which he does by setting up a quiz show in which two members of the audience go head to head, battling it out to win custody of Noo Noo.
For all his terrible dancing and even worse jokes, it’s surprisingly easy to forgive all that and come away from the show realising that you did actually laugh.
