Twitter How do you review something like the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special? In some ways, criticism is irrelevant; the show is beyond criticism. I don’t mean in the sense that it’s perfect or anything… It’s just, you either “get” Mrs Brown… or you don’t. You either find it funny, or you don’t. You either enjoy it or… you know the rest of it.
That goes for the “regular” Mrs Brown shows too, and the live gigs, and the spin-off movie, and every other facet of this (almost) one-man entertainment machine. Most critics hate Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy phenomenon. They decry it as stupid, vulgar, predictable, unimaginative and, ultimately, terrible television. The funny thing is, they’re probably not far off. It’s not terrible by any means, but examined objectively and forensically, Mrs Brown isn’t great either. The acting is mostly fine, but the scripts veer from moderately okay to pretty poor. The viewer can not only predict in advance how most of the plotlines will develop, you can almost predict the exact gag that’ll follow the set-up line. It’s that obvious. On the other hand, and returning to the opening paragraph, these critiques are somehow irrelevant. Nobody tunes in expecting razor-sharp wit, startling narrative twists and dark themes; part of the whole point for fans is that they know exactly what to expect. They want it to be predictable, safe, cosy. And that’s not a backhanded dig: there’s nothing wrong with enjoying telly, particularly comedy, that doesn’t provoke or challenge or make you think. Sometimes people just want a chuckle. They want TV that’s warm-hearted, cheerful, a bit cheeky. Something that doesn’t take itself seriously. They want, in other words, Mrs Brown’s Boys. Even the fact that the gags are so lame and second-hand: there’s a weird kind of comfort in that. It’s presumably hitting the same neural pleasure-spots as reading the joke in a Christmas cracker — we know they’re not wildly funny, but that fact itself makes the experience sort of funny. Hey, people are complicated. And lots of you love the Christmas Special, running annually on RTE and the BBC since 2011 (there’s also a New Year’s Day show). Last year, it was the highest rated festive programme in Ireland, hitting viewer figures of 612,000 — a 41pc share. It’s a Yuletide staple in the UK as well. The Christmas Special reached a record high of 12 million viewers in 2012, and as late as 2017 drew in nine million. The magic might be wearing off slightly — last year, a relatively small five million tuned in on BBC — but you wouldn’t bet against another rise in the graph. So how do you review the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special? Well, I could tell you that this year’s was titled ‘It’s a Wonderful Mammy’, and you’ll rightly predict that they do a take on the iconic James Stewart movie. Agnes gets annoyed by the family and, off-handed, wishes she’d never existed. Enter Corrie legend Kevin Kennedy as an angel, who shows her what life would be like if that were true. All is changed: posh neighbour Hillary is now the real Mrs Brown. Each of the children has been born, looking and sounding the same, but their names, personalities and jobs — and in one case, sexual orientation — are all different. Agnes has a Capra-esque revelation that, yes, she was loved, she has value, the world would be a worse place without her. Kevin gets his angel’s wings and, in a nice final twist — see, it’s not always predictable — it doesn’t turn out to be a dream, as I’d expected, but an elaborate gag/surprise Christmas gift. Did I laugh? Ah, a few times. Was it awful? Not really, no. It was grand. It was a bit of crack and silliness. It was Mrs Brown’s Boys, and for half an hour every Christmas Day, that’s enough. Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special, RTE One 10pm & BBC One 10.30pm
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