“It’s like coming home. I know that sounds ridiculous but to me, it’s like coming home – I walk out on the stage in Belfast and the audience looks like family”
The creator of the award-winning Mrs Brown’s Boys has shared his special link to Belfast ahead of his massive return to the SSE Arena Belfast this Christmas.
Brendan O’Carroll is bringing the infamous Agnes Brown back to Belfast from December 12 to 14 with the hilarious Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Live Show – The Musical on Moore Street.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Brendan shared his excitement to return to Northern Ireland later this year, his fond memories of Belfast from his youth and what fans can expect from ‘the funniest thing he’s ever written’.
On what the show is about, Brendan said: “It’s been decided that these developers have moved into Moore Street which is one of the cornerstones of history in Ireland and they’ve moved in to close down the whole market and redevelop it to put in a shopping centre.
Mrs Brown decides that she’s going to take up the cause to stop it happening and take them to court to demand our rights but when they find out how much it’s going to cost to go to court, they just haven’t got that kind of money.
They are trying to think of house to raise the money and Agnes suggests they do a musical – so it’s a musical about a musical.
“I always promise the audience that you will leave the arena with your stomach sore from laughing and in this case, you’re going to leave the arena with your stomach sore and your foot tapping because the musical is just so much fun.”
Despite initial reservations from his family, who star alongside him in the iconic Irish sitcom, Brendan’s son Danny who plays Buster on the show turned to him on the musical’s opening night and said “this is the best thing you’ve ever written”.
Mrs Brown’s Boys’ success has been nothing short of incredible – it was voted the No. 1 Sitcom of the 21st Century and has racked up countless awards including 5 BAFTAs, 4 National Television Awards, 3 TV Choice Awards and many more.
Brendan said that when he started the original ten-minute radio show he could have never imagined that Mrs Brown would translate across the globe and become a world-wide phenomenon.
“Mrs Brown has had a regular series, five novels, three movies, 50 episodes of a TV series and five stage plays. I’m not living my dream, I am so far beyond my dreams.
“My mother had a great saying about things that are successful that you don’t understand the success of it – she said ‘Brendan, sometimes these things are like disco music, don’t analyze it, just f****** dance to it’.
“So that’s what I’ve been doing,” he laughed.
No stranger to bringing Mrs Brown on her holidays up north, Brendan said he almost feels like he comes home when he performs in Belfast.
He continued: “My uncle Johnny had a chipper on the Falls Road and I used to work there in the summer – my mother sent me up there in the summer to spend a couple of weeks in Belfast and I’d work in chipper.
“So I got to know the city and I have great memories of my summers there, super memories.
“I did my first stand up there during The Troubles and I never felt strange or out of place because people came and laughed and boy, they needed a laugh.
“So going back to Belfast now, it’s like coming home. I know that sounds ridiculous but to me, it’s like coming home – I walk out on the stage in Belfast and the audience looks like family.
“There’s nowhere like Belfast to have a good laugh.”
He credits Northern Irish pantomime legend May McFetridge for opening “so many doors” for him when he performs in Belfast.
He explained: “When I go up north, they’re not going ‘oh it’s a man dressed as a woman’, they just accept it because they’ve had May
“This is a privilege to do – it’s a privilege to go out and make these people laugh and to be part of their Christmas and to be part of their celebrations.”
