Brendon O'Carroll wants to fund research

Brendan O’Carroll says his sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys is a tonic for children with autism.

He says that more than 100 parents of children with autism had written to him, saying their youngsters had laughed for the first time when watching his foul-mouthed Irish mammy.

And now he wants to fund university research into how his hit show could connect with those with autism.

Speaking on Ryan Tubridy’s show on RTE 2FM in Ireland, he said: ‘Since the TV show started, we have over 100 letters from parents of children with autism who say they’ve heard their child laugh for the first time ever.

‘Somewhere out there there’s somebody in university studying autism. I’d love to put them in touch with these people and I will fund any research that can explain the connection they are making with Mrs Brown.

’It works with Mrs Brown, it worked with Charlie Chaplin and it works with Buster Keaton. There has to be something in it.’

A woman called Aoife called the programme the next day to confirm that her autistic son Harry had learned to read other people’s emotions from the facial expressions on silent movies – then moved on to speaking comedies Now he turns to Father Ted, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Tommy Tiernan DVDs to deal with anxiousness.

On a separate RTE news show, O’Carroll revealed that one woman had had written to express her gratitude that her son had said his first word when watching Mrs Brown.

‘It was ‘bastard”,’ he added.

Published: 3 Jun 2012