EDINBURGH FRINGE 2017: Flo & Joan ★★★★

Flo & Joan

The Tron (Venue 51)

Saturday 26th August 2017

I’ve admired Flo & Joan’s work for awhile now - with over 500,000 views on ‘The 2016 Song’ on Youtube and digital album ‘Victory Flaps’ currently available on all platforms, the comedy duo comprised of real life sisters are slowly becoming a phenomenon in the comedy circuit. Having originated from the UK but in the past few years lived over in Canada, when I knew that they would be returning to perform at The Fringe Festival, I immediately bought a ticket weeks prior to travelling up to Edinburgh.  

The Tron I believe was the perfect venue to hold the performance from this incredible duo; feeling very intimate with a capacity of around 40-50 punters, you really have this close connection to the performers during their slots at The Fringe, and this was no exception with Flo & Joan, which I should point out is not their actually real names, but names from their family history. For those who have listened to their digital album, some of the songs performed in this year's fringe show, The Kindness of Stranglers, would feel very familiar; their most current song hitting the comedy waves, Save The Bees, is even better live then when listening to it in your own space on the album or watching it on social media, and that’s because you are able to laugh along with those around you who wouldn’t of heard the track before.

Flo & Joan have such a unique skill when it comes to not corpsing during their songs or getting the words mumbled; Joan especially has this technique of just staring above the audience to compose a straight face, but has such a likeable personality when addressing the audience; there’s some audience interaction within the show where the duo ask the audience some ultimatums; Would you rather be in a room with Mr Blobby or Noel Edmonds, (which there was a resounding response to Mr Blobby), Do you prefer Salad or a Sandwich, and finally, Burgers or Sausages. This did lead on very nicely to song about ‘Flo & Joan’s Burger Basement’ and a sausage shop, and this the duo’s relationship with the audience feel genuine and really gives you the value for money that you pay for, which in this case was £5. I would've happily of paid more, and did so on the way out of the performance at the end!

Overall, with some familiar numbers from the duo and a spin on the track ‘Jane’ from their Victory Flaps album, this was an extremely clever and well contrived performance from the duo which was a brilliant start to my experience at this year’s Fringe!