Comedy Trio and YouTube sensation Foil, Arms and Hog talk about their current live show ‘Hogwash’ embarking on a UK tour

In total, comedy trio Foil, Hog and Arms have accumulated over 1 billion views online, an achievement within our digital age to be celebrated. Their sharp, viral comedic sketches attracting vast audiences in over 150 countries from the UK to the Middle East for over a decade now – the trio referred to as The Three Brothers in China. Admired by celebrities alike, including US comedy duo Key and Peele and renowned actress Emma Thompson, their popularity is clear to see – they all able to foster a sense of relatability that inevitably forges connection. An Edinburgh Festival favourite having sold over 26,000 tickets last year, they’ve enjoyed sold out runs at the New York Town Hall and Hammersmith Apollo. Ready to embark on a UK tour, starting off at the Theatre Royal Brighton on the 28th September and concluding at The Lowry Theatre on the 29th October – Foil, Hog and Arms present their latest live work, Hogwash– a fast paced mix of sketches, improvisation, audience participation and talking suitcases! Ahead of the tour, the trio tell us more about creating work for both live and online spaces and what to expect.

Hi Foil, Arms and Hog, your show Hogwash will play nationally from 28th Sept at Theatre Royal Brighton to 29th Oct at The Lowry Theatre Salford. How are you feeling ahead of the tour?

That we’ve a lot of sandwiches to pack.

Hogwash is a fast paced mix of sketches, improvisation, audience participation and talking suitcases! Featuring plenty of music – including a parody of ‘Every Musical Ever’ and a rock anthem from a group of octogenarians looking to escape a retirement home. How have you all approached deciding what sketches make it into the final show?

Fortunately it’s not up to us to choose. We let the audience decide on new material nights in the comedy clubs. It’s a simple rule of thumb; Deafening silence = it’s not in the show, cheers and laughter = it’s in. General confusion probably just means one of us has forgotten their lines (read Hog). It’s a fair, if not brutal, system but it’s gotten us this far.

You’ve been touring and posting comedic sketches online for over a decade now – with videos having amassed over 1B views as well as you selling out Hammersmith Apollo and New York Town Hall. How have you found creating work for both the online and live realms?

Annoyingly they are very different skills. Live performance is what we think we’re best at but in order to attract people to the live shows we started making online videos. What works on stage generally doesn’t work on video and vice versa, so you’re kind of switching your brain from one to the other. It is however much easier to write for the online videos, it takes a day or two to script the video but the live sketches take months.

The work you create is far reaching, your sketches having been shared in over 150 countries – with millions of followers in India, the Philippines and China where you’re known as ‘The Three Brothers’. What do you believe draws audiences to your sketches?

God knows. We keep making them and people keep on watching thankfully. Sometimes we are really surprised when we write something that we think is very Irish or UK centric and then find out that it resonates in India or Brazil. You just never know with the internet, but it’s great being surprised by cultural similarities that you just didn’t think existed.

What have you learned/taken away from creating the show?

That gambling heavily on audience participation is a very risky business. We recently motioned to a man in the audience to come join us on stage. He wouldn’t budge but we didn’t want to give up… turns out he was blind.

What can audiences expect from the show?

That they’re not going to see any of the online sketches. Sorry guys, what happens online stays online. But the live stuff is way better anyway.

What would you like for audiences to take away from the show?

None of our props, it’s really hard to replace them.

Questions by Lucy Basaba. 

Tour Dates:

DATE                            LOCATION                   VENUE

28/09/23                      BRIGHTON                   Theatre Royal Brighton

29/09/23                      CARDIFF                      St. David’s Hall

30/09/23                      LIVERPOOL                  Philharmonic Hall

OCTOBER 2023

01/10/23                      BIRMINGHAM              Hippodrome

05/10/23                      LONDON                     London Palladium

06/10/23                      LONDON                     London Palladium

11/10/23                      NEWCASTLE                 Tyne Theatre

12/10/23                      GLASGOW                   Pavilion

26/10/23                      CAMBRIDGE                Corn Exchange

27/10/23                      OXFORD                      New Theatre

29/10/23                      SALFORD                     The Lowry Theatre