Mrs Brown's Boys actor Brendan O'Carroll launches appeal for the RNLI before donating huge sum out of his pocket

O'Caroll, whose alter ego is foul-mouthed matriarch Agnes Brown, pledged £10,000 for the cause live on stage.

Brendan O’Carroll launched an appeal for the RNLI – then pledged to ­donate £10,000 himself.

The star of Mrs Brown’s Boys was at Rhyl, Denbighshire, where the RNLI are trying to raise £2.2million for a new lifeboat.

The comedian announced he was starting a collection off with the hefty donation at the end of the Good Mourning Mrs Brown sell-out show at Rhyl Pavilion on Saturday night.

Theatre staff were said to be “in tears” when the Irish actor, best known for playing foul-mouthed matriarch, Agnes Brown in the BBC comedy series, made the surprise announcement on stage.

Audience members applauded as collection buckets where put out on the final night of the show’s three day stint in Rhyl.

A spokeswoman for the Pavilion Theatre said it came after RNLI volunteers wrote a letter asking the cast to visit the station to boost their fundraising appeal for a new lifeboat.

But due to time constraints, they were unable to attend and instead agreed to put out collection boxes asking the audience to donate.

The theatre spokeswoman said: “We gave Brendan O’Carroll a piece of paper to read out after the show explaining to the audience that we’d be collecting for the Rhyl RNLI to help fund their new lifeboat.

“Out of the blue, he announced that he was going to start the ball rolling with a £10,000 donation, there was a massive round of applause from the audience.

“We had no idea he was going to say that, I was in tears.

“The production company have a very deep feeling for the work of the RNLI and appreciate what they do.

“Thanks to people donating on their way out of the auditorium, we managed to raise another £600 on top, it was fantastic and showed great support for our local volunteers.”

The money will go towards a new Shannon class lifeboat which will replace the station’s 24-year-old current boat and mark an “exciting new chapter” in the station’s 170-year history.

It will also be 50 per cent faster.