Musical comedy duo Flo & Joan return to the Fringe as part of their 66-date UK tour with Sweet Release.
The sisters – Nicola and Rosie Dempsey off stage – sold out their previous festival runs and bring their unique mix of hilarity and harmonies to Edinburgh on the back of releasing their own Amazon special and appearances on Live At The Apollo and in The Royal Variety Performance.
Here, they answer our questions ahead of the festival kicking off next month…
How are you both feeling ahead of returning to the Fringe?
We feel like Norma Desmond returning to a film studio for the first time in decades, but we’re happy to announce we are much more emotionally stable than both Norma and our past selves when we were last at the Fringe in 2019.
What can audiences expect when coming along to see your show?
An hour of gentle meditation, Enya-inspired music, and gunge.
You’ve been touring the show for most of the year – what is life on tour like with Flo & Joan?
Disgusting.
Your shows have received rave reviews at the Fringe and have sold out tours worldwide, how pleased are you with the reception you’ve had?
We live in constant fear that it will all disappear in an instant, so we’re always relieved and genuinely extremely grateful when the lights come up at each show and there are people in the audience. If that amazing feeling ever goes away then it’s time to take these two to the barn out back and turn us into glue.
Do you feel any pressure following up five star, sell-out shows with new material?
No, not at all. Though our screaming night terrors that have been reported to Neighbourhood Watches all around the country might suggest otherwise.
Last time you did a Q&A for us you picked American reality TV as an essential for surviving a month at the Fringe. What show are you queuing up this time?
It’s important for us to watch different things when we’re at Fringe so we can have something to talk about. Rosie has abandoned American reality shows in favour of horror. Nicola is opting for documentaries about Stephen Sondheim and various seasons of ‘Nothing to Declare’.
What are your favourite memories from the festival?
The first time we came to the festival was as visitors in 2013, before either of us had even considered trying comedy at all. We got the train up, and as soon as we got outside the station, we opened our map to see where we were going and a seagull s*** right bang in the middle of it. A clearer omen couldn’t have fallen from the sky that day.
What do you think it is about the Edinburgh Fringe that attracts people from all around the world to come to watch and also to perform?
The reasonably priced accommodation and a chance to gawp at some of the most damaged people in the United Kingdom.
If you were in charge of the Fringe, what changes would you make?
We’d bring back the app. And every performer gets given one Furby to hide in the audience of another person’s show.
What is your favourite one-liner?
Your mum.
Flo & Joan bring their show, Sweet Release, to the Assembly Roxy, Central as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 3rd – 28th August (excl 16th) at 8.10pm, then on tour.
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