'Embarrassing' - RTE Late Late viewers shocked by 'car crash' interview with Brendan O'Carroll

RTE Late Late Show viewers were left cringing on Friday evening during what was described as a ‘car crash’ interview with comedian and actor Brendan O’Carroll.

The star and creator of Mrs Brown’s Boys was asked to respond to recent backlash over a racist joke during a rehearsal for his hit show in an awkward conversation with Late late host Patrick Kielty.

Brendan was first asked about his upcoming shows and the latest Christmas special of his hit BBC Mrs Brown’s Boys series before the conversation turned serious.

Kielty asked: “A few weeks ago there were reports in the papers that you made a racist joke during a running rehearsal for the show, what happened there?”

O’Carroll leaned back on the couch, put his hat on his face and said, “Oh, Jesus,” before answering the tough question.

He explained that he decided that he would make fun of people who “marginalize other people” in an episode of Mrs. Brown. He explained that the scene was meant to portray Agnes Brown’s misunderstanding of racism and what could be considered racist.

He first explained that when Mrs. Brown’s character found out her son was gay, he showed that she “didn’t understand it, that she didn’t understand gay.”

“Now she knows her son is gay and accepts it, but she still doesn’t know what gay is,” he added.

“I wanted to poke fun at intergenerational racism, that Ms. Brown doesn’t get racism, that she doesn’t know what racism is.”

He then explained that in the scene, Mrs. Brown begins the rhyme: “eeny, meeny, miny, tired, catch a…” before Mrs. Brown’s daughter in the show stops her from completing the line of attack.

Brendan said the read-through continued, but he then discovered that a ‘kid’, a young runner working on the show at the BBC, was offended by the racist comments referenced in the joke.

“I immediately sent him an email apologizing because I don’t want to offend anyone, I’m not that guy. I believe the workplace should be a happy place, not just for us, but for everyone,” said Brendan .

Host Patrick Kielty then asked, “But can you see why it offended him?”

Brendan replied sharply: “Oh yeah, that’s why I apologized, otherwise I wouldn’t have apologized. If I thought he was spoofing I would have said ‘f**k him’ but I understand completely.”

He then explained that he knew the audience would finish the joke in their heads after the Cathy character stopped Mrs. Brown mid-sentence.

“I expected them to finish it in their heads and realize, ‘Oh, she doesn’t get it.’ Listen, it was a joke that backfired. It landed on my ass. There was Ukraine, Gaza, the US elections, but I was on the front page of the English papers for a week, so I clearly deserved it.” , O’Carroll said.

During the interview, viewers commented online via

The interview continued and Brendan explained that he has good people around him who tell him what to say and what not to say when it comes to jokes. Then he gave an example.

He said: ‘I remember one and this will probably be offensive too, so prepare to lose your job. In one read-through at Christmas, Winnie and Agnes were chatting in the pub and Winnie said, “It’s awful about Mr Flynn down the street.” Road, Christmas week, he hanged himself,’ and I just went (as Agnes), ‘oh my God, that’s terrible, well, she’s very traditional, she won’t cut it down until the 6th…’”

He said an executive on the show immediately said, “No, there’s nothing funny about suicide.” Brendan said: “Then on second thought you think, ‘What was I thinking?'”

Kielty then asked again, “So you’re not sorry they were offended, you’re sorry you were wrong,” to which O’Carroll replied, “No, I don’t want to offend anyone.” Like I said, I wanted the workplace to be happy. I was disgusted with myself for offending him.

“I misunderstood, move on,” he added before asking Patrick Kielty, “haven’t you ever misunderstood?” Kielty laughed off the question, suggesting the audience had seen him do several things wrong during Friday’s show.

Brendan intervened: ‘In reality this was a storm in a teacup that should have been dealt with between me, the BBC and the man involved, but someone leaked it to the press and it was blown out of proportion. I’ve seen things. Because this is blown out of proportion, I read about you a few weeks ago,” he told Patrick Kielty, adding, “That was ridiculous, stupid stuff, but comedy is comedy and if you don’t push it to the limit, There’s nowhere for us to go.”

He said it’s “becoming increasingly difficult to make comedy without offending anyone.” He concluded by saying, “All I can do is try to be as funny as I can and hope the audience agrees, and if they don’t, the door swings both ways.”

Other viewers added their reactions to the interview on complete.”

Another added: “Oh good god Brendan O’Carroll…what were you thinking. So inappropriate. So insensitive. How did RTE not cut him?”

Others agreed with O’Carroll that people are too quick to take offense and not accept someone’s apology. One viewer said: “Brendan O’Carroll is right when he’s wrong: why do today’s moral police look down their noses when someone admits they were wrong or messed up. It’s like breathing, we all do it. Go further.”

Another criticized host Patrick Kielty for “mishandling” O’Carroll with questions about the issue. They wrote: ‘Patrick… you’re the one who made the mistake tonight with Brendan O Carroll. He admitted his mistake and apologized for it, but you kept bugging him about it. Very poor judgment and interview. Brendan was a gentleman to keep his cool.”