The Boys are back in town
Hit show returns to Edinburgh, and the city’s Playhouse Theatre, after an 11-year wait
MRS Brown’s Boys is finally back in Edinburgh tonight – 11 years on from the last time the show was in the capital.
While Dubliner Brendan O’Carroll, 66, sees Glasgow – the city that got him a foothold in the UK and had the BBC offering him a TV series – as a second home, Edinburgh has missed out. Until now, that is.
Ahead of his Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Live Show stint at the Playhouse, Brendan let’s loose...
Is Edinburgh a different crowd to Glasgow? And why has it taken you so long to do a live show in the capital?
It’s very different. The last time we played Edinburgh was before we had a TV series, so it’s more than 11 years. But what a theatre the Playhouse is – it’s just beautiful.
I think we did our biggest crowd ever then. It was pre-TV and there were 3200, I think, on the last night. I said, “We’re coming back here” but we didn’t get the chance as we got a new promoter after the success of the TV show and there’s no arena in Edinburgh. How come there isn’t one in Edinburgh?
There’s even one in Aberdeen. It’s unbelievable.
Are you surprised at the success of Mrs Brown?
I get letters from people all over the world saying Mrs Brown lives just down the road from them. She’s the type you invite to a wedding and is lovely at the start but halfway through the reception would be standing on a table waving her knickers in the air and spilling drinks on everyone. But she’s also someone who has unconditional mother love for her kids and would be really disappointed if one of herkids killed somebody. Really disappointed. But she would help bury the body.
The current tour has been postponed because of the Covid pandemic – was it hard to just stop?
When we stepped off the stage in Dublin in 2019 if you’d told me we wouldn’t be gigging again for two-and-a-half years I’d have fe**ing laughed at you.
Our business was the first to close down and the last to open.
We now have a huge staffing problem on our hands as those who were crew – sound and lighting guys – have gone to other jobs and places they like better because they don’t have to travel.
Is that what happened to you?
No, we hedged our bets. We paid everyone even when they weren’t working. Whenever there’s been a crisis in their lives, such as illness, we didn’t want them to be affected financially.
We didn’t take any government money, or breaks. We looked after people and made sure they were kept in the business so we could literally do what we’re doing now – ring them up and say, “We’re ready to go back to work now, are you guys ready?”
How did you cope during lockdown?
I did an awful lot of writing. I’m 15,000 words off a 90,000word autobiography so that kept me going. We didn’t miss the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas specials so I wrote four of them and I’m writing two more for this Christmas.
I also wrote a couple of pilots I might do. I got the s**t out of my head so I’ve room for other stuff.
Of course I had Jenny, his wife, who plays Mrs Brown’s daughter Cathy, so I was lucky. I had someone who wasn’t only my wife but my best friend.
We both play golf and spent most of the pandemic in Florida, where we live on a golf course,
We have our own cart so would go out every day. We wouldn’t meet or talk to anybody but would play a round of golf, come back and
I’d write. Jenny, who runs the finances the company, would do her work then we’d watch a couple of movies and FaceTime everybody in Ireland.
One of your grandsons plays Bono in the TV show. Was it hard being a grandad and not seeing them?
I didn’t physically see any of them for 18 months. We have six grandsons and adore them.
We saw them digitally but I’m a hugger, I need a fe **** g hug. I said to the eldest, Jamie, before we came home for the first Christmas specials: “Be prepared as when I get a hug I’m not sure I’ll let go”.
But we got back to do Christmas specials two years in a row. Then eventually my grandsons were allowed to come out for a trip in January.
● Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Live Show starts tonight at the Edinburgh Playhouse, with two shows tomorrow and one on Sunday.