Mrs Browns Boys - Why doesn't it make me laugh?

[Pistom]

Not wanting to sidetrack this thread but Mr Gearchange was kind enough not to take the piss out of me too much earlier so I would like to repay by responding to his posting of the Educating Yorkshire clip.

It is of course incredibly moving and the producers must have been thanking their lucky stars that such a great story unfolded. No person with an ounce of humanity could remain unmoved by that. I could write a book over the rights and wrongs of it all but that can wait.

I suspect EY is entertaining for reasons other than my original bias. In my defence, even in that 10 minutes there is material that could be used in a spoof but let's leave that behind as many say I draw humour out of situations where others couldn't. Anyone who attended my mothers funeral would vouch for that!!!

With regards to whether EY is a good documentary, well if those 10 minutes are representative, I have concerns over what is considered to be a good documentary.

I remember a time when a documentary was supposed to an instructional piece of non fictional film intended to document some aspect of reality or historical record. From the clips I've seen of EY, it is great fly on the wall entertainment but instructional???

The brilliant documentary by "Sir" Jeremy Clarkson on the Atlantic Convoys was instructional. I suppose that was aired too late for these awards but in comparison, EY, would appear from the little I've seen of it to be entertainment for the masses. Which is of course what prime time TV should be. It doesn't get in the way of truly great documentaries so it is not a bad thing just like MBB doesn't get in the way of other forms of comedy. On balance though, I see why EY has won this award.

I only rise to MBBs defence as it is being criticised by those who do not recognise that it is very hard to act acting badly and it is also very hard to make clichéd jokes and situations funny. I am sure that there are many simple folk who find it funny but as has been said. It is not only simple folk who find it funny.

I hope they do put MBB to bed as just like Fawlty Towers, it cannot go on at this level.

One last point, to those who think that the bloopers are funny - they aren't bloopers, they were intentional. They weren't intentional on the radio show but when B O'C was interviewed by RTE before the first series he said that the radio bloopers added comedy and they would be including some in the series. Rehearsing for them was the hardest part as nobody wants to get it wrong.

Top Gear is also staged and Santa does not exist.

[ch108]

MBB actually started as a stage show originally at the Glasgow Pavilion. It ran for years there before the TV show was made and sold out every time. My uncle went to see the TV show being filmed at the BBC in Glasgow. There were that many people they couldn't get them all in the studio and had to put people in other rooms watching it on big screens.

[Kinky]

So the BBC showed a new one-off live episode last night. Totally missed it. Apparently they were told to run for as long as they wanted. Just hoping that catch-up has the complete programme and not cut-off after 30 minutes.

[uber]

Kinky said:

So the BBC showed a new one-off live episode last night. Totally missed it. Apparently they were told to run for as long as they wanted. Just hoping that catch-up has the complete programme and not cut-off after 30 minutes.

The PR for the show was far better than the show itself. If you believe the hype you would think it was all done improve style but in reality they have been in Glasgow rehearsing for 2 weeks and everything is timed perfectly including when they were coming off air.

The show got a lot of hate on social media with a lot of people saying its not funny and felt awkward. I personally think its a show you need to want to like because you are are supposed to when in reality its well past its sell by date

[fausTVR]

I put MBB in the same camp as the likes of 'green green grass', it is aimed at a very specific demographic and they love it beyond anything. It cannot be explained to the unbelievers (such as me) how it presses their buttons, but it certainly does and that can only be a good thing.

I think the UK must have made most of the very greatest comedy (and music come to that) in the world, full stop. Spike Milligan's work on radio and TV, Dad's Army, Python, Faulty Towers, Rising Damp, Rise and Fall of Reggie Perrin, Porridge, Young Ones, all the following Comic Strip stuff, Not The Nine O'clock News, Bottom, Brass eye, Red Dwarf, Jam, Green Wing, Alan Partridge, The Office, tons more stuff besides.

The point is, perhaps a lot of people just want something unsophisticated, without nuance. They need brain out, plain old laughs without the arch cleverness that subtly underscores much of our best comedy.

Anyway, I don't like it.

[Sheepshanks]

uber said:

The PR for the show was far better than the show itself. If you believe the hype you would think it was all done improve style but in reality they have been in Glasgow rehearsing for 2 weeks and everything is timed perfectly including when they were coming off air.

The show got a lot of hate on social media with a lot of people saying its not funny and felt awkward. I personally think its a show you need to want to like because you are are supposed to when in reality its well past its sell by date

It did feel awkward sometimes as the timing was often off - it's easy to understand why it takes hours to film a 30min show.

I like the little asides in live shows / theatre so it was funnier than usual for me. My missus thinks it's hilarious but it'd be a bit baffling if you just watched it as a one-off.

[Ilovejapcrap]

freecar said:

Because you have a modicum of inteligence.

Nail head

[V8covin]

The over enthusiastic audience ruined it for me.Turned off after 10 minutes

[WCZ]

I am going as far as saying this is the worst comedy show of all time.

notable dialogue from one episode:

a woman: oh thats the door bell, maybe its the postman
mrs brown: it's 5pm, the postman usually comes earlier
-5 seconds of silence-
mrs brown: it's 6pm, sorry
-roaring of canned laughter-

I need to try and find the exact episode to get a proper quote but I've never been so confused as to a single joke that I have absolutely no comprehension of what the source of comedy is?

I like pretty much all types of comedy from the weird (armando iannucci/mighty/etc) to 90's (fast show/enfeld) to classic (monty python etc) to american sitcoms (friends etc)

but this entire show has gone completely over my head, I don't get it all (as emphasized by how puddling the joke I referenced is)

[marcosgt]

WCZ said:

I am going as far as saying this is the worst comedy show of all time.

notable dialogue from one episode:

a woman: oh thats the door bell, maybe its the postman
mrs brown: it's 5pm, the postman usually comes earlier
-5 seconds of silence-
mrs brown: it's 6pm, sorry
-roaring of canned laughter-

I need to try and find the exact episode to get a proper quote but I've never been so confused as to a single joke that I have absolutely no comprehension of what the source of comedy is?

I like pretty much all types of comedy from the weird (armando iannucci/mighty/etc) to 90's (fast show/enfeld) to classic (monty python etc) to american sitcoms (friends etc)

but this entire show has gone completely over my head, I don't get it all (as emphasized by how puddling the joke I referenced is)

What???? You don't get that 6PM is hilarious and 5PM isn't????? What's wrong with you...?

No, I don't get it either...

A friend of mine said to me when it first came out "Oh, I know something you'll love... Mrs Brown's Boys"... I put him right... I wonder if it's even SUPPOSED to be funny at times and I've only watched a few minutes of a couple and the trailers...

M.

[Sheepshanks]

marcosgt said:

What???? You don't get that 6PM is hilarious and 5PM isn't????? What's wrong with you...?

No, I don't get it either...

A friend of mine said to me when it first came out "Oh, I know something you'll love... Mrs Brown's Boys"... I put him right... I wonder if it's even SUPPOSED to be funny at times and I've only watched a few minutes of a couple and the trailers...

M.

I haven't got a clue either but it might be one of those things were it links to a comment made in some previous show, or maybe there's a clock on the wall saying 6PM??

A lot of this type of show are about the interaction of the characters - the actual story-line in each episode is usually nonsense so you can't just dip in and watch a few minutes of it.

[WCZ]

Sheepshanks said:

I haven't got a clue either but it might be one of those things were it links to a comment made in some previous show, or maybe there's a clock on the wall saying 6PM??

A lot of this type of show are about the interaction of the characters - the actual story-line in each episode is usually nonsense so you can't just dip in and watch a few minutes of it.

I'm the sort of person who is stubborn enough to watch every episode that predates that one just to find the joke, which I shall do.

[Wait Here Until Green Light Shows]

So a year and a half on...did you find the meaning of the joke?

This thread resurrection was in response to the Xmas special they keep plugging. It's still absolutely NOT FUNNY, and I can't fathom how it's still going?

[marcosgt]

Wait Here Until Green Light Shows said:

So a year and a half on...did you find the meaning of the joke?

This thread resurrection was in response to the Xmas special they keep plugging. It's still absolutely NOT FUNNY, and I can't fathom how it's still going?

If he's had to watch all the Mrs Brown's Boys he's probably hung himself or been sectioned

I wonder, reading back, if that was the 'live' one, so the "hilarity" was getting the time wrong?

Of course, it's still totally unfunny, unless you've drunk 15 pints of cider...

M

[travel is dangerous]

vxr8mate said:

Everybody keeps banging on about how funny this program is, but when I watch it there’s a nothing funny going on.

Have I just switched on at the wrong moment, or is like an old car in that it takes a while to warm up?

I have been contemplating this problem for some now.

It's because it's st.

hth.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Even after all these years, I've yet to find anybody who finds Mrs B's Boys watchable, let alone funny. Yet it's still being advertised constantly and getting prime time festive slots...WHY/HOW?

[Morningside]

Funny because it uses rude words on the BBC.Did he say feck or fk? No? Gosh the BBC? Wow! Edgy and "funny" with fixed mistakes (Camera in the way etc).

Still each to their own I suppose. I find it as entertaining as Michael Mcintyre

[Blink982]

Some of my former work colleagues think MBB is the funniest thing ever and couldn't fathom why I thought it was utter drivel. I haven't changed my mind, each and every time I have been subjected to it, I've wondered how on earth anyone think it's remotely funny. It's not, it is just utter kak. I seem to recall it was panned by the critics but Britain's hard of thinking took to it in their droves.

[HTP99]

Blink982 said:

Some of my former work colleagues think MBB is the funniest thing ever and couldn't fathom why I thought it was utter drivel. I haven't changed my mind, each and every time I have been subjected to it, I've wondered how on earth anyone think it's remotely funny. It's not, it is just utter kak. I seem to recall it was panned by the critics but Britain's hard of thinking took to it in their droves.

My colleague loves it, he's the only person I know who likes it, he even paid to see the film at the cinema.

[Frank7]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Even after all these years, I've yet to find anybody who finds Mrs B's Boys watchable, let alone funny. Yet it's still being advertised constantly and getting prime time festive slots...WHY/HOW?

WHY/HOW?, give me a clue, I have to qualify that by confessing that I watched maybe four of five minutes of it, at my in-laws place, before getting up and walking out.
It was being discussed once in a pub near my place, and I was asked why I didn’t like it.
All I could come up with, aside from the fact that the bit I saw wasn’t funny, was that I’m not over keen on watching men dressed as women.
Someone said, “Oh really? then asked if it was possible that I may be “in the closet.”
I said, “You tell me, we’ve been out with enough girls together, since we were at school, plus I dated your sister for a few months.”
Obviously, some people like it, but not you and I.