MRS Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll says keeping his large cast of family members happy is no problem, insisting: “If you’re not in an episode you’re not in an episode. End of story.”
However, the telly sensation admits coming up with wacky new storylines after so many years can be tough — but not so much that it makes him want to jump out a window.
The Finglas funnyman, 69, employs a haul of relatives on Mrs Brown’s Boys, including wife Jenny, children Danny and Fiona, and sister Eilish.
And Brendan told The Irish Sun: “We are not The Waltons but it is a family with brothers and sisters, a husband and a wife. My own sister, Jenny’s sister and in-laws.
“From time to time things crop up, family stuff, but I’ve never had any of them come up saying they wanted more lines in the show or b****ing about an episode they’re not in.”
The Waltons was an American TV show from the ’70s based on a rural Virginian family during the Great Depression and WWII era.
Mrs Brown’s Boys bagged Best Comedy at last month’s National TV Awards in the UK — beating huge hits Brassic, The Gentlemen, Ghosts and Lee Mack’s Not Going Out.
And Brendan says the sixth gong gives him huge encouragement to keep going with the show.
The BBC agrees, green-lighting a new mini-series for Agnes Brown, which starts shooting in April.
Brendan told us: “I can’t tell you what it meant to get that sixth NTA, to be this far down the road and for it to be up against such really stiff competition. I was only signed up for 18 episodes. We have done 56 now.
“Sometimes I’m writing stuff and Fiona Gibney, our producer, will say ‘Oh no, we can’t do that. That’s what happened to Mrs Brown in series two, episode four.’
“‘OK’, I’ll say and go back to the drawing board. It is tough trying not to repeat yourself. But it’s never made me want to jump out of a window.”
When Mrs Brown won the NTA, Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe was spotted looking fit to explode.
Pictures of the 35-year-old, who plays Mike in Ghosts, appearing to be a bad loser went viral prompting a backlash online.
But speaking about the apparent Mrs Brown-bashing, Brendan told The Irish Sun: “The abuse that guy got online over that was terrible.
“I’m telling you now . . . there was no malice in him whatsoever. He was only pretending to look p****d off when we won but everybody took it completely wrong.”
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Buster Brady Danny O’Carroll has played Anges’ son Buster since 2011And while he works on set with his sister, dad and aunt, he also works with his wife, son Bono, best pal and brother-in-law too.Cathy Brown Jennifer Gibney plays Anges’ daughter in Mrs Brown’s Boys, but she’s actually Brendan’s wife.So that makes her Danny (Buster) and Fiona’s (Maria) real-life step mum.She’s also related to Eilish O’Carroll (Winnie), but not by blood, as she is her sister-in-law.Winnie McGoogan Eilish O’Carrol who plays Anges’ next door neighbour Winnie, is actually Brendan’s sister in real life.This makes her Maria and Buster’s aunt, as well as Jennifer’s sister-in-law.To make matters even more confusing, she’s also grand aunt to Bono Brown and her on-screen daughter Sharon is Jennifer’s real-life sister.Maria Brown In the show Brendan’s real-life daughter Fiona O’Carroll plays his daughter-in-law as she is married to Agnes’ son Dermot. But in fact she’s actually married to Martin Delany, who plays Agnes’ son Trevor.So Fiona’s real-life step mum is Jennifer Gibney, Danny (Buster) is her brother, Eilish (Winnie) is her aunt and she’s aunt to Jamie O’Carroll (Bono Brown) as well.Trevor Brown Martin Delany plays Agnes’ youngest son Trevor and is married to Fiona O’Carroll in real-life.This makes him Brendan’s son-in-law, Danny’s (Buster) brother-in-law and Jamie (Bono) is his nephew. Betty Brown Amanda Woods is mum to Jamie O’Carroll, making her Brendan’s daughter-in-law Though things are already confusing enough, Amanda Woods’ alter-ego Betty is also related to creator Brendan.The actress is married to Danny O’Carroll (Buster), so this makes her a daughter-in-law both on-screen and off-screen.Bono Brown The young lad – played by Jamie O’Carroll – is the youngest of the O’Carroll/Brown clan.His real-life dad is Danny, making Brendan his granddad and Amanda is his real-life mum.
But Brendan wasn’t faking his own joy that Mrs Brown’s Boys scooped its sixth National TV Award.
And he told us: “They keep saying that sitcoms are dead so I was delighted that two out of the five shows nominated for Best Comedy, Mrs Brown and Not Going Out, are studio-based sitcoms.”
All of the family cast will be included when Mrs Brown tours Irish theatres later this year. And Brendan revealed he hasn’t been in many of the venues since his stage comedy moved to TV screens in 2011.
SHOW TOUR
He said: “I thought let’s go back to where we started in the theatres.
“It’s soul satisfying for me to go back to places like Derry, which is where Mrs Brown started and already sold out.
“That’s how Mrs Brown took off, places like Siamsa Tíre, playing to 350 people and I loved every minute of it.
But you couldn’t call this a small theatre tour as the INEC in Killarney holds 3,500. But I’ll be loving every minute of it.”
Mrs Brown’s D’Live Show hits Derry, Galway, Killarney, Belfast and Dublin in November and December — with tickets for the gigs on sale now.
