Writer and comedian Eilish O'Carroll

The Sunday Show

Sunday, 28 May 2023 - 41 minutes

This week's guest on The Sunday Show is writer and comedian Eilish O'Carroll, well known for the multi award winning sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys where she plays the loveable character Winnie McGoogan.

Eilish was born in Dublin in the early fifties and was the second youngest in a family of 10. Her father was a Cabinet Maker; her mother was the first female Labour TD (MP) to be elected in Ireland in 1954. Space was a premium in their two up two down house in Stoneybatter, so she never knew the comfort of a bed to herself let alone a room till her early teens – but was never cold. Eilish developed a passion for performing at a very early age in order to get noticed by her parents and siblings. Nine times out of ten this got her a clip around the ear rather than applause. Despite hardships endured by many a large family at that time, love and laughter were a huge part of her life. Having a younger brother like Brendan (writer and creator of Mrs Brown’s Boys) and a mother who against all odds influenced change particularly for women, inspired her to follow her dreams.

In her early teens Eilish sang and played in a band called The Pentagon performing mainly in pubs and clubs, in fact anywhere that paid enough money for the bus fare home. In 1971 her singing career was interrupted when she met and married her first husband, making her home in Surrey England. As a mother of two sons, Stuart and Lee, a housewife, and a full time Sales Representative (selling beer), she still found time to join the Windlesham Drama Group playing more roles than she can remember.

In 1997 she returned to Ireland and started working with her brother Brendan O’Carroll (Agnes Brown herself). In 1999 she took to the stage in in the very first of Mrs Brown’s Boys plays as Winnie McGoogan, and life has not been the same since. Eilish also tell us about her critically acclaimed one woman play - Live Love Laugh Live Love Laugh

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