I thought Dan and others would appreciate this quote from the obituary of Brian Behan in today's NY Times:

His first play, "Boots for the Footless," which played at a London theater, was picketed by Irish groups objecting to what they considered its stereotypical portrayals of Irishmen as drunk and violent and Irish women as contradictory and conniving.

He was unrepentant. "I regard being stage-Irish as something of a trade like any other," he said. "It's something we Irish are particularly good at. After all, we have no other natural resource that I know of."