Pre-order the first ever autobiography from Brendan O'Carroll, now in paperback
'A story of humour born of pain, success wrung from adversity and of the steely ambition beneath the affable exterior' Sunday Life
'What forking trouble are you in now?' Mammy asked. She opened the letter and I waited.
'It's nothing, just the result of your check-up.' There was a pause and then she did an 'uh-oh'.
'What? What is it?'
'It's nothing really . . . but you're colour-blind.'
Nothing? Nothing? I was aghast.
'But that could be dangerous. I mean, when I start to drive how will I be able to tell traffic lights?'
'I'll give you a hint, son, the red one is on the forking top.'
Before he became the nation's favourite Mammy, Brendan O'Carroll was known simply as Brendan.
The youngest of ten children from a poor family in Dublin, his father died when he was just nine years old. Leaving school at the mere age of 12, Brendan began what would become a long and varied working life; he would go on to be a waiter, a publican, a window cleaner and a publisher amongst other jobs.
Throughout the tough moments, Brendan always had humour and a good story to tell alongside the ever-guiding inspiration of his own Mammy, a formidable figure who became Ireland's first female Labour MP. His hope and determination meant he never gave up, and eventually a chance opportunity to perform stand-up would pave the way for the TV show that would become 'Mrs. Brown's Boys'.
In his own unique voice, Brendan O'Carroll strings together the threads of his life, a helter-skelter story tracing the helter-skelter journey of a scrawny kid from Finglas, Dublin to TV screens around the world, told with warmth, humour, a touch of mischievousness - and more than a few coincidences.