Night of big laughs and hysterical sketches from comedy trio

This wonderful feeling happened for me on numerous occasions during the two hours I spent watching Foil Arms and Hog at Birmingham Hippodrome on their Hogwash tour.

The trio from Ireland have become an internet sensation with their weekly sketches on YouTube and Facebook, but want people to come and see their live shows which, they have gone on record of saying, are even funnier than the videos.

The group, which consists of Sean "Foil" Finegan, Conor "Arms" McKenna and Sean "Hog" Flanagan, came to Birmingham to put on a fast-paced mix of sketches, improvisation, audience participation and talking suitcases.

Straight from the get-go, you could see how at ease the three are with their audience and the size of the venue, which was filled to capacity across all three levels of the Hippodrome.

They joked around with members of the first few rows, as well as two sisters sitting in one of the boxes at the side who happened to work in probate (the settling of dead people’s estates).

They also met a man from Lichfield who sold air conditioners, a woman from Northfield who was a retired primary school teacher and a 14-year-old, which raised a laugh as the show was touted as 18+.

These chats were called back to throughout the evening, starting with a sketch about a man hunting for ghosts in the Hippodrome, especially the spirit of a girl who couldn’t leave (expertly played by Arms with wheelie shoes).

The sketch featured physical comedy, sound effects and plenty of asides from the three throughout the performance, with Foil at one point highlighting that the gag about 200 years of history hadn’t worked in the USA and he was glad to be in a place with loads more history.

It was vivid and very funny, with people around me rocking back and forth in their seats with laughter and myself struggling to stay seated at times as I was laughing so hard.

There were also regular bits which raised a cheer when they came up, from John and Mary the suitcases complaining about being too heavy and being lost to someone being invited on stage to hug “someone who wants to see you” in the style of a cheesy TV programme.

It’s hard to talk about the show as I don’t want to give too much away about it because I want you to go and see it, but highlights included a parody of every musical ever, where a bit where flowers were meant to be thrown to the trio, but fell into the orchestra pit, brought the house down.

Other bits worth mentioning a rock anthem from three pensioners trying to escape a nursing home, which stemmed from a section where Foil played an old man and threw bread out to the ducks, otherwise known as the front row, and threw full slices as a frisbee into the balcony.

There was a techno song called Olympic running, a scene where a man is buying a gun to shoot an actor and gets a demonstration of someone forming a gun with his fingers and some tremendous over-acting by a Birmingham actor and an hilarious sequence involving a mother, her son and his step-father, who just happens to be a robot.

It was a night full of quality comedy from three very funny and very talented comedians, with my own favourite sketch “Three monks who joined a monastery” being featured at the start of the second half a personal highlight.

They may be described as “The Internet’s best kept secret”, but with shows like this, they won’t be a secret for long.

Go and see them live and tell them I sent you. You can thank me later.