Mrs Brown's Boys - Series 1 [DVD] [2011]

In 2011, i became a fan of 'Mrs.Brown's Boys' after seeing the christmas episode on the B.B.C. H.D. channel. 'Mrs.Brown's Boys' is the hugely popular comedy starring Brendan O'Carroll as Agnes Brown, the foul mouthed, hyperactive, Irish matriarch, who interferes in the lives of her children and also has a laugh and a natter over a drink down the local, with her next door neighbour Winnie, played by Elish O'Carroll, (Brendan O'Carroll's sister). At the start of every episode, we the viewers are invited and welcomed into the family home, by Mrs.Brown herself. This is the most unique and funniest comedy series since the Old Mother Riley films and Hinge and Bracket's 'Dear Ladies'. Just a few things that make 'Mrs.Brown's Boys' unique is all mistakes, ad-libs and corpsing is kept in, much to the delight of the audience. O'Carroll also breaks the 4th.wall, (looking straight into camera). Watching the christmas episode of 'Series 2', O'Carroll can make you cry with laughter, or just cry! with scenes when missionary son Trevor came home for christmas and the entire cast sang 'Silent Night', and wished us the viewers a 'Happy Christmas', the singing was lovely. The beauty of this wonderful comedy series is the superb performance from Brendan O'Carroll, his performance is faultless and with his great attention to detail, he has cleverly created a more than believable character. I think Agnes Brown reminds all of us of someone we know, or once knew. A welcomed extra to this DVD set is the Pilot episode of 'Mrs.Brown's Boys', entitled 'Dermot's Dilemma', it is interesting to see how Brendan O'Carroll's make-up was slightly different in this, as are some of his facial expressions, (not unlike Les Dawson, in the 'Cissy and Ada' sketches). The Pilot was re-filmed and became the first episode of the series, instead of being called 'Dermot's Dilema', it was called 'The Mammy', it is interesting to see the subtle changes made to O'Carroll's make-up, since the Pilot. This comedy is funny, very funny and a real tonic! Since purchasing the B.B.C's 'Mrs.Brown's Boys- Series One', i have also bought another 4 DVD's of the original RTE series of 'Mrs.Brown's Boys'. The DVD's are entitled 'Mrs.Brown's Boys- Good Mourning Mrs.Brown', 'Mrs.Brown's Boys- Triple Trouble', 'Mrs.Brown's Boys- How Now Mrs.Brown' and 'Mrs.Brown's Boys- Believe it or not'. There are quite a few differences compared to the B.B.C. series, the pace of the RTE series is slower and there is no live audience. Agnes Brown is just as foul mouthed, but O'Carroll plays her as less agile and less hyperactive, she also appears with an extra mole on her chin! The stories include some of the same stories from the B.B.C. series, such as Agnes Brown's bikini wax, but others are new, such as Agnes having trouble with a wardrobe and trying to book a flight to Canada, to see her sister Dolly. Brendan O'Carroll without a shadow of a doubt deserves to go down in popular culture, with the wonderful and very talented Arthur Lucan (Old Mother Riley) and George Logan and Patrick Fyffe (Hinge and Bracket).

I had never previously heard of Brendan O'Carrol, but I leapt from ignorance to being a fan in about a minute.

Although very different from Father Ted, Mrs Brown has the same maverick, off-the -wall humour which catches you off guard.

The fact that Mrs Brown is acted by a bloke is never milked for laughs. There is absolutely no echo of the pantomime dame or even Mrs Doubtfire.

I can sum up MRS BROWN'S BOYS by using the old Irish phrase "It is all right, if you like laughing."

This is an excellent series, it has similarities with the comedy series Bread which
featured the Boswell family only this is funnier, it contains some fairly strong language so not for young kids, although it is not vulgar, for instance Mrs Brown who is a male by the way says feck a lot but this is not considered a swear word in Ireland bit similar to saying frick in England. Mrs Browns gender does not seem to matter, you just accept him as a female without really noticing, it is about a family living in Dublin where they all have issues of one kind or another and Mrs Brown is hilarious in sorting things out.I would say it is the funniest show on TV.

Hawkeye.

Forgot to mention I believe this show is filmed in front
of a live studio audience, so no canned laughter. I think this adds
to its appeal.