´óÏó´«Ã½

It's funny what makes you laugh and what makes you cry. I saw "Tangled" recently and sobbed towards the end. It was the momentÌýthe handsome young cartoon man sacrificed his life for the impossibly prettyÌýPrincess Rapunzel.ÌýOf course, the happy ending was just a few frames away, and he would live, but I don't know what happened to me but I wept. NotÌýa wee wipe away trickle of a tear but a "where is that tissue, blow my nose loudly" kind of cry. The 6 year olds I was chaperoning laughed at me!

Yesterday I cried again. This time with laughter. I was sitting at my desk watching a preview dvd of "Mrs Brown's Boys", the age old stage comedy by Dublin comedian Brendan O'Carroll, whichÌýgot its ´óÏó´«Ã½ network premier last night. I knowÌýthe jokes are so old there are hairs on them as my dadÌýused to say about jokes but it made me laugh. Out loud, in an open plan office, to the bemusement of colleagues. One watched it last night andÌýsaid she didn't get what IÌýthought was funny. I hate when people do thatÌý. You begin to doubt whether you know what's actually funny. Then I read the reviews,Ìýmixed to say the least.ÌýOne Facebooker said to me that it "belongs in the 'Fifties on the stage of the old Gaiety Theatre or some-such. Dreadful."Ìý For me it wasÌýpure panto,Ìýpratfalls, man in a dress, and except for the liberal use ofÌýthe F word, it could have been ChristmasÌýin a church hall in rural Ireland. I'm not sure it's going to be ´óÏó´«Ã½'s answer to "Fr. Ted" though. Ìý

Brendan O'CarrollÌýisn't Dermot Morgan.ÌýBut what I liked was the knowing look in O'Carroll's eye. As though he was saying, I know you think this isÌýjust Oirish, paddy whackery stuff , feck it, but I'm theÌýone with theÌýbig tv gig. And I'm the one laughing all the way to the bank.