“I must say a special thanks to Charlotte Moore, who I know is looking down on us,” said Mrs Brown’s Boys’ Brendan O’Carroll at last week’s National Television Awards.
It brought a poignant, “Aaah!” from a well-oiled audience. Only for Brendan to continue, pointing to the upper circle of the venue: “She’s not dead, she’s in a box up there.”
And actually, that was quite funny.
It did leave me wondering, however, why any of that comedy isn’t ever in the show that lifted the BEST comedy gong. To be fair to the cast and crew, the camaraderie shone through on stage as they went up to take the plaudits.
But it is also true to say that Mrs Brown’s Boys winning the award is probably even more humorous than the show itself. It's certainly not the US hit comedy Friends, in which every other line is a banger.
And quite apart from the weird scheduling of MBB (it just seems to appear at random times after hours on random nights), it is more famous for its inability to hit the spot than its success at consistently hitting it out of the park.
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This isn’t a piece to pull it apart and certainly not to hate on a show that clearly has its audience and the ear of the commissioners at the BBC.
But never have I ever watched it and creased up laughing at a single gag, character or punchline.
It's like squinting, in a group, to look at an excited pregnant friend’s blurry ultrasound pictures. She, her partner and everyone else is beaming with delight while, in your head, you are thinking: “I can’t see it….”
Clearly your columnist wasn’t the only one because fellow nominees Kiell Smith-Bynoe, star of the BBC’s Ghosts, didn’t appear to be too enamoured with MBB’s success either.
He’d later share an “I’d like to report a crime” meme on social media, leaving little doubt as to his feelings.
Having won an NTA in 2013, 2014, 2015 and now again in 2024, which means Ghosts have been beaten in the same comedy category as last year.
You can’t blame the show or the NTAs for that. Someone, somewhere is enjoying it. So much so, the talk is the Beeb are commissioning another series.
They should get whoever came up with that gag for Brendan last week to work on the show full time.
