Musical comedy duo Flo & Joan on Victoria Wood, The Simpsons and their Sweet Release tour coming to Yorkshire

Sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, who perform as duo Flo & Joan (the names of their grandmother and great aunt), represent a new generation of feisty female comic voices.

The pair create smart, sophisticated satirical songs that are hilarious, often quite sweary, sometimes political, always with a feminist sensibility. They blasted into the public consciousness five years ago when their 2016 Song, bemoaning what, it has to be said, was a pretty bad year, went viral online.

Expressing sadness – over the losses of beloved figures such as David Bowie, Terry Wogan, Alan Rickman – and anger, at Brexit, divisive politics, gun violence, misogyny, it’s all delivered in deadpan style to a jaunty tune.

Since then they have played to sold-out audiences around the UK, America and Australia; their high-profile TV appearances include Live at the Apollo, The Royal Variety Performance and in 2019 they also filmed an hour-long special for Amazon Prime.

Their latest show Sweet Release heads out this week on an extensive UK tour which includes several Yorkshire dates. “We’re really excited to be getting back to touring and looking forward to sharing this new show with audiences,” says Rosie. Much of the material for it was written during lockdown. “It has come together over the past two years and it was nice to write without the pressure of a deadline,” says Nicola.

“There is a bit of topical stuff but not too much because we want people to have a good night out and forget about everything that’s been happening.” Rosie adds: “We’re trying to keep it as light on its feet as possible because we want to give everyone a good laugh – and politics moves so fast it doesn’t make sense for us to write things that are too topical – but there is a mix.”

So, while there are songs about anti-vaxxers and privileged rich kids, there are others about over-thinking, alien lovers and fringes. Nicola (Flo) plays keyboard while Rosie (Joan) is the percussionist and both have strong singing voices – music has always been an important part of their lives.

“We grew up having music lessons and we were really lucky that our mum loved music so it was always played around the house,” says Nicola. “I think it’s the variety of music that we listened to as kids which has inspired us.”

Their comedy inspirations range from (not surprisingly) Victoria Wood to The Simpsons.

“We watched a lot of comedy together as kids,” says Rosie. “Our nan had lots of old sitcoms like Keeping Up Appearances on video that we used to watch over and over.”

These diverse influences are apparent in their work – from binge-drinking homage I Drank Too Much to folk song spoof Lady in the Woods. “We’ve really enjoyed writing the show,” says Nicola. “We hope audiences enjoy it too.”

At Square Chapel, Halifax February 18, Leeds City Varieties, February 20, King’s Hall, Ilkley, February 24, with dates in Hull, Huddersfield, Sheffield and Harrogate later in the year. floandjoan.com