McCormack Matters

Sketch Overview
Click the thumbnails to watch the sketches on the Foil Arms and Hog YouTube Channel. They have a McCormack Family playlist as well but it's incomplete, listing only 7 sketches so far.

The storyline of these sketches is not linear but, as some FAHns have pointed out on Twitter, you can view the McCormack's stories as memories snippet of the family's story. Anyway, in the previous list, they are in the uploading order on Foil Arms & Hog YouTube channel.

We have also placed Calling your Parents in Lockdown on this list because many FAHns consider it part of the McCormack videos. Or you can agree with others that do not view it as part of this series - because it doesn't follow the same format as the other McCormack sketches, because it doesn't explicitly said the character are the McCormack, because after Last Minute Vaccination Hog's character is showed to be living with the family and is studying for an exam and not being an adult. Or you can also imagine FAH going full Marvel style and starting a parallel universe with different McCormack's timelines. Every opinion is valid ;)

On that note: what would you think about adding Exams are NOT important (6 June 2019) to this list as well? It's a completely different concept altogether, featuring a line-up of different characters, an advert-like script and a blank (green screened) backdrop. But two very familiar characters turn up at the very end, don't they?

And is that Mary McCormack doing a cameo in Actually Scary Halloween Costumes (31 October 2019) as well? There's every reason to believe it's not just an accident or a convenience, as FAH love to sneak little in-jokes into their sketches. The disappointed parent matches Mary's personality quite well, when you think of how pushy she gets when dealing with her son studying for his Leaving Cert, or how ambitious her holiday plans are!

I like to think that the Exams sketch is actually Darren McCormack's fevered dream. The only thing missing is a shot of him waking up sweating and screaming, much like he did in the similar sketch The Leaving Cert Dreams (18 May 2017).

Side note: I had a tough time telling the titles The Leaving Cert Dreams and Leaving Cert Study Nightmare apart in my early FAHn days... Search for Leaving Cert Foil Arms and Hog on YouTube and you'll notice why!

Hog's Character
Hog plays the central character: the teenage to thirties (depending on the storyline) son around whom all events in the family unfold. He seems to be the only sane person in this family.

His name is usually Darren, but it's been known to change into Thomas for no apparent reason (other than that FAH couldn't be bothered to look it up for continuity). We'll just stick with Darren for convenience's sake.

Here's what we know:


 * in his first appearance, he's studying for the Leaving Cert (and his name is Thomas) – it seems he struggles with Irish, since al the other family members keep on saying “It's where he needs a A”.
 * he's a football fan, like his dad.
 * he knows how to work on wood (for A Very Irish Christmas he made a whiskey rack for his father).
 * has a week bladder (The Family Holiday).
 * in a "future memory" (Engagement Nightmare), Darren got engaged and he will marry his sweetheart on the 5thof June 2028.
 * in The Engagement Nightmare we learn that one of his ex-girlfriend's name is Fiona (who cheated on him).
 * he decides, at some point, to become a vegan.
 * we see that, during Last Minute Vaccination, he's studying for an exam – probably an University one? He's still wearing his school uniform though.
 * he's in every sketch of the series

Arms' characters
Arms is one of the FAH member that moves around a lot during these sketches, with a series of quick outfit/characters change, and plays 3 different roles:

Mary McCormack (the mother)
Here's what we know:


 * like for most of the other characters in these sketches, her outfit never changes... neither if she goes on holiday nor during the years.
 * she works... somewhere (we know she wants to send some postcard to “the girls at work" in The Family Holiday).
 * she's a member of the Irish Countrywomen's Association.
 * she owns a slow cooker, possibly like having kitchen robots (see how she tries to buy a multi-functional food processor in The Post-Xmas Sales).
 * she's a tennis player (Engagement Nightmare).
 * a very organized woman, who likes to have lists and doing researches (see The Family Holiday, Engagement Nightmare, The Post-Xmas Sales and Last Minute Vaccination)
 * buys things during sales that she then uses only few times.
 * she's in every sketch of the series

Anne (the little sister)
Here's what we know:


 * age unknown – Arms acts on his knees for this role.
 * she can use the computer.
 * we can assume she can swim (she asks if there is a swimming pool in Last Minute Holiday Panic).
 * she can play Grand Theft Auto.
 * she's known for wanting to do what his big brother Darren is doing.
 * she often ask for things (a puppy, ice-cream).
 * she doesn't appear in The Family Holiday, Engagement Nightmare.

Granny
Here's what we know:


 * possibly Mary's mother (the resemblance is astonishing).
 * even if she's shown to be almost always at the McCormack's, possibly she doesn't live with them (if we assume that Darren had to cut her grass before leaving with his family in Last Minute Holiday Panic... might be the other granny though, mentioned also in The Family Holiday).
 * she can play Grand Theft Auto better than her grandchild Darren.
 * she's the first in the family to get vaccinated for Covid-19 (and then goes to Santa Ponsa)
 * she doesn't appear in Last Minute Holiday Panic, A very Irish Christmas, The Family Holiday

Foil's characters
Like Arms, Foil plays more than one character for these videos. Here his roles:

Paddy McCormack (the father)
Here's what we know:


 * he's a football fan – in Leaving Certificate Study Nightmare he's watching a match (the teams playing are unknown).
 * he clearly doesn't know how to protect himself from sun rays.
 * he uses togs for swimming (see Last Minute Holiday Panic + The Family Holiday).
 * he like to eat meat (he tries to bring sausages on holiday, goes into food coma for eating too much turkey at Christmas,).
 * he's a little bit... old fashioned (traveller cheques, cassettes in the car).
 * he owns a not very reliable Renault, bought in 1982.
 * in The Engagement Nightmare his name changes to Dennis.
 * better not sending him to buy groceries (An Irish Summer + Telling your Family you're Vegan).
 * he's in every sketch of the series

Jason/Tom/Ben McCormack (the big brother)
Here's what we know:


 * in his first appearance his name is Darren. His name's Jason in The Post-Xmas Sales. It changes again in An Irish Summer, it becomes Tom. Then the name's Ben in Telling your Family you're Vegan.
 * not great with gifts (see A very Irish Christmas and The Post-Xmas Sales).
 * in The Leaving Certificate Study Nightmare we learn that he failed all the subject for his Leaving Certificate.
 * it's not clear what he does in his life but he's always drinking a beer (and when he opens it, beer goes usually on his brother Darren). And his mum wakes him at 11:00 A.M.
 * he got eventually married (wife unnamed) and has kids (The Engagement Nightmare).
 * he tries to organize his brother's stag.
 * he practices capoeira... more or less.
 * he doesn't appear in Last Minute Holiday Panic and The family Holiday

One-off characters outside the family
Claire


 * Darren's fiancée appears only in The Engagement Nightmare with pink hair.
 * her bridesmaids are Rachel and Michelle.
 * her best friend is Jenny (too pretty to be her bridesmaid).

Ryan


 * Darren's friend appears only in The Engagement Nightmare
 * his girlfriend's name is Rachel (possibly one of Claire's bridesmaids, since he already knew that Darren got engaged).

Facts and assumptions about the McCormacks (family and sketches)

 * their neighbours are the Nilands (mentioned in Last Minute Holiday Panic and in The Family Holiday) – the McCormacks leave them a copy of the house key every time they go on holiday... and “they only lose the bloody things every time” (we can assume Paddy doesn't love them very much – in A Very Irish Christmas he sends Annie to bring a card to "the neighbors" because he doesn't want to meet them - even if he doesn't mention the name, he' probably talking about them).
 * in The Engagement Nightmare other families – acquaintances – are mentioned: the Flanagans and the O'Rourkes (they hate each other).
 * in The Post-Xmas Sales, other acquaintances are mentioned: Mrs Dineen's and her daughter.
 * in Last Minute Vaccination, a Margaret Percival is mentioned (probably a woman that lives in the neighborhood). She owns a dog.
 * we can assume Annie, Paddy and Granny are the most religious ones in the family (see A Very Irish Christmas, Leaving Certificate Study Nightmare and The Engagement Nightmare).
 * in Last Minute Holiday Panic the family goes on holiday, all of them but the big brother and granny (who are not in this sketch). From this sketch, we can also assume it is the first holiday of the family, since Paddy doesn't know that traveller cheques are no longer used.
 * in The Family Holiday, Paddy, Mary and Darren go ... try to go to Bordeaux, France, for 5 days... 3, since 2 are for traveling. Not their second family holiday, since Paddy says that the previous year he had 7 bottles (of wine?) hidden in the car.
 * their telephone number is 9070704.
 * their family doctor is Dr. Corcoran.
 * A very Irish Christmas was one of the top 10 videos FAH chose for their Top 10 sketches 2009 – 2019.
 * Most of the videos are filmed in Arms' mum's house (see our Out of Office page)