<p>　　Mrs. Brown&#39;s Boys became a runaway success upon its initial broadcast. Every episode aired won its timeslot for RTÉ, with an average viewership of 753,500 in January, 2011. One episode&#39;s rating beat that of RTÉ&#39;s own ratings giant The Late Late Show, with 856,000 viewers tuning in to watch. However, critics disliked the show. &quot;The whole thing is entirely predicated on viewers finding a man dressed as a foul-mouthed elderly woman intrinsically funny,&quot; noted Bernice Harrison in the Irish Times. &quot;If you do, you’re away in a hack (and the viewing figures are astronomical), but if you don’t, and you think that died out with Les Dawson and Dick Emery, then it’s a long half-hour.&quot; &nbsp;The Irish Independent said that Mrs Brown&#39;s Boys was the type of TV programme that &quot;that makes you vaguely embarrassed to be Irish&quot;. &nbsp;The Daily Telegraph&#39;s Sam Richards noted that show&#39;s comedy has a &quot;rudimentary nature&quot;, consisting of &quot;an old-fashioned blend of silly voices and slapstick, played out in front of a live studio audience who collapse into giggles at the mere mention of the word “willy”.</p>