Mrs. Brown's Boys

I hate this. Let me be clear on that. I hate it but include it here because I know it's wildly popular. This episode is called Chez Mammy and the audience laughs at the first two or three seconds when a cast member is simply sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper. Maybe, then, it's the audience I hate; they're only encouraging this type of thing! Or maybe I simply don't get the joke. Mrs Brown is brought to the door by two strapping policemen who say they found her wandering the streets confused, so thought it best to bring her home.

Everyone in your household, even your snoozing dad, your deaf budgie and your leftover New Year steak pie, will see the punchline coming: she just wanted a lift home with her shopping. And Bono is being bullied at school so Mrs Brown steps in - and makes it all worse. Elsewhere, jokes abound with a stair lift and some marijuana.

Mrs Brown: Jokes 20 years past their sell-by date

O'Carroll's speech about bullying had me retrospectively wishing I hadn't loathed what had gone before. Yet the irony was that for the previous 30 minutes the viewer had been menaced with endless groaners.

Mrs Brown's Boys scam exposed

Police in Birmingham are investigating after theatregoers were conned into buying tickets for a non-existent performance of Mrs Brown's Boys.

Are we being well-served by elderly sitcoms remakes?

Even if the old jokes still amuse some, Aidan Smith finds the BBC's celebration of its comedy classics far from funny.

Coming to terms with people liking Mrs. Brown's Boys

Even if you don't find 'best sitcom of the century' remotely funny - and I don't - it's not right to claim it's safe or lazy. It's something much odder than that

We need 'low brow' comedy like Mrs Brown's Boys

I sat down to watch my first ever episode of Mrs Brown's Boys this week. I felt like I should - given that it has just been voted the best comedy of the 21st century by Radio Times readers, was I missing out on a cultural phenomenon? My first foray left me perplexed. Mrs Brown - spoiler alert - gets hypnotised, clucking like a chicken at random moments. The cast crack up and redo their lines - much to the live audience's delight. It felt more like panto than anything I'd ever watched on television.

Why the riskiest TV comes straight from the stage

Screenwriters often find themselves in a straitjacket - but comedy shows written for the theatre have free rein to be as foul-mouthed and foul-minded as they like. The world needs more of it.