History YMMV / FatherTed

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Bishop Brennan, who gained legendary status after appearing in a total of three episodes ("The Passion of Saint Tibulus", "The Plague" and "Kicking Bishop Brennan Up The Arse".

* CrossesTheLineTwice: "Night of the Nearly Dead" essentially has Frank Kelly in ''black-face'' to show that Father Jack's condition is hardly unique.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: As noted above, it's incredibly popular in Ireland. Yes, it was created by Irish writers, had an Irish cast, and was set in Ireland, but it was still intended for ''British'' audiences, making its popularity in Ireland an unintentional (or least secondarily intentional) byproduct.
** On a similar note, you'd think Catholic clergy would hate this show. You'd be absolutely wrong.

* AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame: "He got his lad out!"

** In the Niamh Connolly episode, her anti-clerical song starting with a shriek of "MEN! IN! DRESSES!", given Graham Linehan subsequently becoming more notorious for his violent online transphobia than his comedy writing.

** Averted in the finale; the writers originally intended the series to end with Ted commiting suicide, but this was replaced with a clip montage when Dermot Morgan died.

* TheBadGuyWins: This trope could apply to Brennan, the closest thing the show has to a BigBad, given that he closes out his role on the series by ultimately getting the last laugh on Ted.
* WhatAnIdiot: Where does one begin with a show like this? Ted has done it a lot, as have people such as Dougal (though he has not done it as much as his personality suggests).

* TheBadGuyWins: Depending on how you look at it, this trope could apply to Brennan, the closest thing the show has to a BigBad, given that he closes out his role on the series by ultimately getting the last laugh on Ted.

* TheBadGuyWins: Depending on how you look at it, this tropes could apply to Brennan, the closest thing the show has to a BigBad, given that he closes out his role on the series by ultimately getting the last laugh on Ted.

** Alternatively, Dougal is conscious of his status as a {{Manchild}} and became a priest as a means of attempting to metaphorically [[NeverGrewUp Never Grow Up]]. We hear him mention on multiple occasions that he considers Catholicism to be a load of nonsense, and he describes having a job outside of the priesthood at the end of "Speed 3" as being part of the "real" world. Perhaps he decided to pursue religion precisely ''because'' he found it so absurd and fantastical that he believed it would enable him to go through life without ever having to develop a sense of maturity and face reality.

** Is Dougal just [[TheDitz extremely stupid]], or does he have schizophrenia (or some other psychosis)? His behavior throughout the series is that of someone completely detached from the real world — with Ted even having to draw him a chart describing the differences between fantasy and reality — and moreover Dougal's thoughts and words ''do'' occasionally conform to reality and to varying degrees. In addition, many of his behaviors throughout the show are not outright stupid but just plain weird and nonsensical. He probably only became mentally ill sometime in his adult life, after becoming priest.

** Alternatively, Dougal is conscious of his status as a {{Manchild}} and became a priest as a means of attempting to metaphorically [[NeverGrewUp Never Grow Up]]. We hear him mention on multiple occasions that he considers Catholicism to be a load of nonsense, and he describes having a job outside of the priesthood at the end of "Speed 3" as being part of the "real" world. Perhaps he decided to pursue religion precisely ''because'' he found it so absurd and fantastical that it would enable him to go through life without ever having to develop maturity and face reality.

** Alternatively, Dougal is conscious of his status as a {{Manchild}} and became a priest as a means of attempting to metaphorically [[NeverGrewUp Never Grow Up]]. We hear him mention on multiple occasions that he considers Catholicism to be a load of nonsense, and he describes having a job outside of the priesthood at the end of ''Speed 3'' as being part of the "real" world. Perhaps he decided to pursue religion precisely ''because'' he found it so absurd and fantastical that it would enable him to go through life without ever having to develop maturity and face reality.
* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: In the episode ''Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Rollerblading'' Father Jack gives up drinking for Lent. When he sees Father Ted and Father Dougal for the first time while sober, he asks "Where are the other two?" This joke could have meant that he either saw a blurry and distorted version of Ted and Dougal while drunk, or he always saw 4 other priests thanks to SingleMaltVision.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Dougal just [[TheDitz extremely stupid]], or does he have schizophrenia (or some other psychosis)? His behavior throughout the series is that of someone completely detached from the real world — with Ted even having to draw him a chart describing the differences between fantasy and reality — and moreover Dougal's thoughts and words ''do'' occasionally conform to reality and to varying degrees. In addition, many of his behaviors throughout the show are not outright stupid but just plain weird and nonsensical. He probably only became mentally ill sometime in his adult life, after becoming priest.

** On a meta level, Frank Kelly's death is this, as he died ''exactly'' 18 years after Dermot Morgan and of the same cause (heart attack) [[note]]However, Kelly also had Parkinson's disease, was recovering from bowel cancer ''and'' had previously survived skin cancer.[[/note]].

** On a meta level, Frank Kelly's death is this, as he died ''exactly'' 18 years after Dermot Morgan and of the same cause (heart attack) [[note]]However, Kelly also had Parkinson's disease, was recovering from bowel cancer ''and'' had previously survived skin cancer.[[[/note]].

* CommonKnowledge: Dermot Morgan's death wasn't the reason Going to America's ending omitted Ted being DrivenToSuicide. It was changed because the writers didn't think the original was funny.

** The Christmas special. Even the show's creators complain about it in the DVDCommentary.

* HollywoodHomely: Mrs. Doyle.

** The episode "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" had Father Jack's apparent death after drinking floor polish. Sadly, the episode is harder to watch now that Frank Kelly has passed.

* FandomBerserkButton: God help you if you call this show a "{{Britcom}}" around Irish people.

** The entire episode "Are You Alright There Father Ted?", which is a gigantic comedy of misunderstandings leading to the entire town thinking that Ted has become a Nazi, is this in light of creator Graham Linehan's outspoken diatribes against Nazi jokes in the modern day, [[{{Hypocrite}} claiming that they're masking legitimate belief in Nazism.]]