Comedian, columnist, broadcaster, and author Colm O’Regan is renowned throughout Ireland for his hilarious standup routines and series of bestselling books celebrating the wit, wisdom, pragmatism, and warmth of the women he admires as Irish Mammies.

You know a Mammy. You might be one. There are matriarchal equivalents around the world, advising “you’ll get another wear out of that” and admonishing “I don’t care WHO started it. I’m FINISHING it.” They establish tea towel hierarchy and the importance of airing clothes properly.

Less than a week before St. Patrick’s Day, O’Regan — whose popular Twitter account spawned the books — examines the global influence of the Irish Mammy through history, science, politics, and literature. Were you aware, for instance, that Hamlet had an Irish Mammy?