Joannie Taylor
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| Joannie Taylor | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | 16 February 2004 |
| Created by | Catherine Tate/Derren Litten |
| Portrayed by | Catherine Tate |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Nan |
Joannie 'Nan' Taylor is a fictional character in The Catherine Tate Show. She is one of the main characters of the show and is portrayed by Catherine Tate.
Contents |
[edit] The Catherine Tate Show
Joannie is always referred to as 'Nan'. She is an old, cockney woman who constantly swears at and criticises other people. She is always visited by her well-mannered grandson, Jamie (Mathew Horne). His visits usually start off well enough, with Nan showing how grateful she is that he has come to see her. However, the situation usually takes a turn for the worse after she starts to make unfavourable comments about her neighbours, family, or home help visitors. Joannie is mostly very pleasant to visitors, but after they leave, she criticises and rants about them. Sketches in series one show Jamie taking her to a pound shop, which ends with shambolic consequences. Joannie complains to her grandson about her home help visitor, whom she refers to as a "fucking thief". She also calls her new great-grandchild ugly. Her catchphrase, delivered at the crucial point of each sketch, is "What a fucking liberty!"
In series two, Nan spends less time in her living room. She makes a disastrous visit to the doctor and spends two weeks in hospital. True to form, she does not suffer in silence, complaining about her fellow patients, accusing a nurse of stealing from her and caustically surveying the food menu ("I can't eat Chinese - their faces make me feel sick"). While in hospital, her grandson brings his first girlfriend to visit her. Unfortunately, his girlfriend has an abnormally large nose, provoking Nan's insulting behavior as she becomes fixated with it, even offering her some old sheets to use for tissues. Another sketch sees Joannie arrive home from a funeral, where she is very upset, until she realises that the deceased actually owed her £15. She quickly gets over her grief and is overcome with rage, coupled by the fact she had spent another £25 on a wreath. In another sketch, Peter Kay guest stars as one of Nan's friends who offends Jamie by describing homosexuality as a disability. In the 2005 Christmas special, a sketch features Nan attending a Christmas party in an old people's care home. Charlotte Church makes a guest appearance as herself, where she starts to sing for the guests, which prompts Nan to exclaim, "what a load of old shit!"
In series three, Leslie Phillips plays another of Nan's friends, who is himself very much like her, evident when he says "What a fucking liberty" after Nan visits him in hospital and leaves him a present which he did not like. Sheila Hancock appears as Nan's sister June, who lives in Spain and is equally as foul-mouthed as Nan. They reveal that most of their family were London gangland career criminals and mass murderers, with nicknames such as "Clown Face" and "Wallop Nuts". Nan also makes a characteristic appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show, where she storms off the set, exclaiming "The Paul O'Grady Show? What a load of old shit!"
Nan has at least one daughter, Diane, who is the mother of Jamie and an unnamed sister, who bore Nan's "ugly" great-grandchild. The Christmas 2007 special introduced us to Diane herself (played by Kathy Burke), who was exactly like Nan in that she swore at and criticized people behind their backs. The sketch ends with both of them saying "What a fucking liberty!" together.
All three series as well as the 2005 Christmas special ended with a musical number featuring Nan.
[edit] Charity sketches
In a sketch made especially for Comic Relief 2007, Nan appears on the game show Deal or No Deal hosted by Noel Edmonds. In the sketch, Nan plays a game of Deal or No Deal, in which she uncovers the five highest amounts of money in the first five boxes. As the boxes are opened, she makes an offensive comment about the player opening it, targeting their weight, earrings and glasses (in the extended version). Being given an offer of £199 by the Banker, Nan accepts the offer happily, having already cheated and looked in her box and found that it only contained £50.
[edit] Quotes and catchphrases
- 'ere 'e is! You come up and see me? Come up and see me ain't ya? I noticed that!
- Fuck off!
- What a fucking liberty!
- Off her fucking nut, she was!
- Oh, they want shootin', they really do!
- Oh, take a fucking chill pill, you!
- Oh, you are a good boy.
- That's ya lot.
- What a load of old shit!
- Oh, fuckin' chill out!
- Oh, 'ave a look!
- Oh, I nearly had a bilious attack.
- And a lot of good you were. Sittin' there, worried about what side your hair's parted while I'm gettin' turned over by a man whose mother eats her own shit!
- Who is it?
- Is that you, darlin'?
- Well, it's too fucking lastminute.com for that!
- No thanks. I ate before I came out. I ain't touching that muck.
- Don't they fucking stink!
- Every time I see you in them magazines, you're as pissed as arseholes.
- Embarrassing situations? You wanna talk. Runnin' off with celebrities while I'm sat there with Metal fuckin' Mickey.
- Chinese takeaway? No thanks, son. Their faces make me feel sick.
- Well, its too late now love....it's-too-fucking-late.co.uk!
