By Rollo Ross and Alan Devall
(Reuters) – When two cross-dressing matriarchs across the Atlantic collide, the comedy goes global in “A Madea Homecoming” on Netflix.
Madea is the feisty, wise-cracking old woman who has been portrayed on film by Tyler Perry since 2005, while Agnes Brown of hit Irish sitcom “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” has been the alter ego of Brendan O’Carroll since 2011.
“We got together – our birthdays are a few days apart,” Perry said in an interview at the movie premiere in Los Angeles. “It’s a match made in heaven or in hell, depending on who you ask.”
“I think this pandemic, we need a laugh,” O’Carroll recalled Perry as saying to him. “I said, ‘I’m on board. Count me in.'”
Both comedians’ love for improvising has its pros and cons, O’Carroll said. “We’d be riffing, riffing, riffing, riffing, riffing, riffing, and eventually one of us would have to say, ‘Oh look, cut, we have to cut’ because we could keep going on forever and ever.”
While both franchises have been critically panned, they are loved by audiences – and the actors.
“It was double the trouble, and I mean, there was underwear and there was boobs everywhere,” said Brandon Black, who plays Madea’s great-grandson. “It was a very, very funny experience to be in, because I’m like, ‘This is literally Madea of the UK.'”
In the film, Black’s character, Tim, returns from college with friend Davi (Isha Blaaker) in tow. What was supposed to be a celebration becomes mired by hidden secrets and family drama.
Netflix will stream the film, which Perry also wrote, produced and directed, globally on Feb. 25.
This is the first time O’Carroll’s sitcom is going beyond Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil and Mexico.
“You just go wow, this is genuinely and really worldwide,” O’Carroll said.
(Reporting by Rollo Ross and Alan Devall; Editing by Richard Chang)
