The Joker's Chair

Another couple of images from the archive. Normal food blogging will resume tomorrow once I get that camera back from Mr. B!

To set the scene: I was wandering through Merrion Square one fine summer's day...

When this quirky-looking (bronze?) chair lurking under the trees caught my eye...
Well, it was quite clearly staring at me (I mean, look at the eye on that thing!), so I stared straight back.

Once I'd stopped being so aggressive, I took a closer look at the inscription...

If you can't quite make it out, it says 'Dermot Morgan 1952 - 1998'.

Father Ted.

I don't know how much the name means to anyone outside Ireland or the UK but Dermot Morgan was an Irish comedian and actor who played the eponymous lead character of the Father Ted series on TV, making a generation of students laugh so hard that beer/alcoholic beverages of choice would spray out of their noses. Check out the Friends of Ted for some seriously devoted fans and Tedfest '07. Other (more sane?) people must have liked it too as it won several BAFTAs along the way.

Dermot was also a founding member of Scrap Saturday - a political satire on RTÉ radio during the late 80s and 90s. I would never have known about this wonderful program except for Mr. B, who was a big fan and snapped up the 'best of' CD that came out a couple of years ago. It's side-splittingly funny and has been on repeat in our house ever since.

And that was my first introduction to some of the key players in Irish politics. Unfortunately, because the series was so darn funny, it's difficult to take any of them seriously in real life. Although, come to think of it, who does?

What particularly makes me smile is that this beady-eyed memorial is only a stone's throw away from the Irish government buildings and all the characters Dermot used to mercilessly satirise. Clearly, someone else has a sense of humour too...