Mrs Brown’s Boys dropped the f-bomb during its special live episode on Saturday, but viewers on social media loved it.
The show opened with a “Feck off!” from foul-mouthed Irish matriarch Agnes Brown, played by creator and star Brendan O’Carroll.
Agnes said: “You’re all very welcome to Mrs Brown’s Boys Live. That means this can’t be edited. Somebody will be leaving the BBC on Monday!”
The f-word was liberally sprinkled throughout the 30-minute live episode which launched the BBC’s landmark sitcom season to celebrate the genre.
During a scene with Agnes’ friend Winnie McGoogan (played by Eilish O’Carroll), the two women discussed a memorial mass for an acquaintance’s husband.
Winnie said: “God love poor Lily. You know she blames herself for his death?”
Agnes replied: “Well, she did f****** shoot him!”
Later in the pub, Winnie talked about a spiritualist.
Agnes said: “Winnie, don’t start that s****!”
Winnie chided: “No, Agnes. This one is really good. She helped the police find the body. What would you call that?”
Agnes responded: “I’d call her a f****** suspect!”
In the monologue at the end of the show, Agnes joked about the publicity sparked by the issue of profanity. “A lot of people thought this was just going to be a half an hour of bad language. For f**** sake!”
On a more serious note, Agnes also paid tribute to some of the BBC’s most loved and acclaimed situation comedies.
“If you ever feel lonely or a bit down, turn on the television and flick to comedy. Have yourself a good laugh: from Dad’s Army to Fawlty Towers, Only Fools And Horses. We’ll be there. You can depend on that. Agnes Brown – out!”
In the live episode, the potty-mouthed mammy continued to interfere in the lives of her family and friends.
The show’s live status resulted in a couple of missed cues and the cast could clearly be seen laughing at the jokes. But there was no mistaking the constant laughter from the live studio audience.
Brendan, 60, revealed that 37,000 fans applied for the 400 tickets available to see Mrs Brown’s Boys Live.
The popular comedy, which has generated ratings as high as 12 million viewers, was broadcast after the watershed at 9.45pm.
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