Me Mammy

Mammy was not always virtuous.

Benjamin comes home one night after his mother has had a man around to the house, sees a briar pipe on the sideboard

Benjamin: "Whose briar pipe is that?" Mammy (embarassed): "It's mine." Benjamin: "Don't talk rot! You smoke a clay pipe!"

Milo O'Shea's characters often seemed to be matched with unattractive women. Apart from Yootha Joyce the most notable was Phyllis Diller as Mrs Zero, his wife in "The Adding Machine" (1969).

Benjamin's Uncle John, the Catholic Priest was also a strange character. He would turn up at the house and Mammy would offer him whisky. "Now you will have a little drink."

"I won't".

"You will, you will, you will."

"I won't, I wont', I won't".

The routine would finish with Father John holding out a glass he had with him and saying "Ah, you're a terrible woman."