Election time was once famously described as "going around the country and stirring up apathy".

But for satirists Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones, the current malaise about the happenings at Westminster is ripe for mischief.

In their new show, The Joy Of Politics, the comic duo are running a skewer through the entire party system.

"People are not getting massively excited yet," admits Ciaran.

"In previous elections you think of these big, titanic struggles between charismatic leaders with clearly different policies. That's something you've not got at the moment.

"In certain ways, that makes things more difficult to satirise. The big characters you used to get in politics in the 1980s and 1990s are not there any more because of the culture of spin.

"Back then, people could shoot from the hip – they did not have to have an opinion tied to the party line.

"If you look at the bolder characters – people like Boris Johnson – they tend to get sidelined. There's a feeling they are not right to lead a political party."

Despite the lack of "big characters", Ciaran says there's still much for them to get their teeth into.

"What we are doing is satirising a system rather than individual people," he said.

"It is a system that means those who are pushed to the front are the ones that cause the least waves."

The show follows a year in the life of a politician – one William Wilberforce – imagining his early years as an ill-informed junior minister.

The humour, previews indicate, is pretty broad. In between the story of Wilberforce, Hull's campaigning anti-slavery MP, there are appearances from various political heavyweights including Winston Churchill, who turns up to deliver a rap.

But alongside these figures from the past, the duo get more than enough inspiration from the current crop of politicians.

"I heard a radio interview with the shadow chancellor George Osborne," said Ciaran.

"He used the word 'change' 12 times in 12 minutes – but did not say what the change was, just that change was needed.

"There are ridiculous things like that happening all the time."

And, as Ciaran reflects, the mantra of change can be a pretty empty one.

"I was one of Thatcher's babies," he said.

"I was brought up with her as leader, then John Major. The first time I voted was when Tony Blair came into power – and I hoped there would be a noticeable change.

"In the end, Blair looked just as autocratic as Thatcher. Neither of them could accept the lives of everyday people.

"In the end, you can see why a consensus occurs. Ultimately, the least bad thing that can happen is to keep everything on an even keel – rather than affect a major change in anything."

The Joy Of Politics is on at Hull New Theatre, Kingston Square, Hull on Monday, March 29, 7.30pm. Tickets are £14-£16, call: (01482) 226655.