Review: FOIL, ARMS & HOG, London Palladium

“There’s a lot of bullshit going on right now at the Palladium!”

If you haven’t seen Foil, Arms & Hog live, you’ve probably seen one of their many sketches on YouTube, where their videos have reached hundreds of millions of views. The trio’s specialty is sketch comedy, and their show at the Palladium brings audiences exactly that. The show, split into two acts, is mostly sketches with some extended audience interaction in between, as well as several jokes that defy the sketch structure. 

Foil (Sean Finegan), Arms (Conor McKenna) and Hog (Sean Flanagan) begin the show by introducing themselves, with Hog declaring himself to be “the sex symbol of the group.” Immediately after these brief introductions, they dive right into crowd work, quite literally going into the crowd to talk to people and ask them questions. Some highlights including an investment banker on a first date whose shoe was brought on stage for a closer look by the trio, a couple from Bath, and a 15-year-old who quickly whose father had let him and his brother sit in the back row while he took a better seat!

Normally, if a comedy show had gone as much off the rails as this one did, I would not have enjoyed it. But luckily, the trio manages to be chaotic while still being hilarious, only rarely letting jokes go on for longer than the laughs. Several jokes come back throughout the show (including Foil and his determination to throw bread into the Grand Circle) and the audience members spoken to in the beginning are frequently referred back to as well (which led to a hilarious and satisfying finale). 

One of my favourite sketches is one in which the trio joins a monastery, believing it will be good for banter and unsure of exactly what they have gotten themselves into. The sketch itself is in the style of a Gregorian chant and a fun reference to Buckfast Tonic Wine, made by monks in Devon, England. A particularly great lyric is “I was off my tits reading manuscripts,” which had me laughing much louder than I should have!

Ultimately, Foil, Arms & Hog is, even with its timing flaws, a hilarious comedy show full of memorable audience interaction and great sketches. There were several bits that had me nearly rolling in the aisle, struggling to breathe through heavy laughter. I look forward to doing a YouTube deep-dive in the future through their many sketches!

Foil, Arms & Hog runs at the London Palladium until 7 October.

Photo Credit: Luca Truffarelli

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