Brendan O’Carroll was in studio on The Marian Finucane Show ahead of a live Mrs Brown’s Boys gig in the 3Arena on Sunday in aid of Childline, the Peter McVerry Trust and Saint Vincent de Paul.

Saint Vincent de Paul, in particular, is a cause close to Brendan’s heart. He and his family once availed of their services.

“We had two men used to come around on Fridays to the house and they’d always bring a bag of broken chocolate…I didn't know at the time of course…they would give her [Brendan’s mother] some money for fuel. They’d help with the ESB bill. And, you know, subsequently found out as you get older and older that we wouldn't have had Christmases, at times, without the Vincent de Paul…I honestly thought those two men were my uncle Vincent and my uncle Paul.“

Brendan told Marian that this period of hardship “shouldn’t have happened”. His mother had previously been a TD.

“When she resigned from politics, instead of putting the few bob that she had made in politics into the house and into us, she opened a home for battered wives and homeless children.”

A charitable vein clearly runs deep in the O’Carroll family. Brendan explained the process of donating Christmas dinners to families in Ireland every Christmas.

“We give a turkey dinner, so- turkey, ham, a tin of biscuits and some soft drinks for 7 people, for a full family. And we do 2,750 of those every Christmas…it’s incredible because, you know, there’s a new poor. It’s not unusual for a man in a pinstripe suit, shirt and tie, looking the business with a briefcase, to tap me on the shoulder in the street and say ‘Thank you for the Christmas dinner’.“ 

Marian asked Brendan if he felt his family were treated unfairly by the media during The Paradise Papers revalations. Several of his relatives were named in the papers. He shared an anecdote about an experience his daughter Fiona had.

“They doorstepped her [Fiona] at the BBC. We were in the middle of trying to make a comedy and it’s very hard to be funny when you don't feel funny…The other two people who were involved, Marty and Paddy, had just walked in the door straight ahead of her. Why didn’t they doorstep them? Why did they pick the girl? It knocked the stuffing out of her. I was dealing with a crying girl all day…there was something like 70,000 people involved in the Paradise Papers. It’s the unfortunate thing that the rest of them aren’t on television every Saturday.”

It’s rumoured that Netflix looms for the television version of Mrs Brown’s Boys but in the meantime, fans are wondering who will play Rory Brown following actor Rory Cowan’s departure. Brendan wasn’t giving Marian the exclusive. She’ll have to wait like everybody else.

“It’s not new Rory. It’s the old Rory but he’s had plastic surgery. And the bandages come off on Christmas Day.”

Listen back to the wide-ranging conversation with Brendan O’Carroll on The Marian Finucane Show here.