A man has entertained millions of viewers online with his unusual approach to answering scam calls on his mother's vintage-style landline telephone.

Rather than hanging up immediately, he adopts an exaggerated British accent and speaks as though he were answering a phone call in the early 20th century, turning the unwanted interruptions into a comedic performance.

The video sharing the comedic form of trolling has since gone viral, receiving roughly 10.2 million views on Instagram and 4.9 million on TikTok in just six days.

The post was shared by JJ Kirwan, an Irish content creator who has been active on TikTok since 2019 and has amassed over 1.7 million followers on the platform.

Kirwan primarily produces short comedic sketches, many of which feature his mother, Shazreen, who regularly appears in his content. He also occasionally shares videos about literature, internet trends and other subjects, with several of his previous posts attracting widespread attention.

Kirwan's latest viral video draws on his mother's household and his talent for improvisational comedy, using an everyday nuisance as the basis for an elaborate joke. His theatrical delivery and commitment to the character provide much of the humor, contrasting the formality of his imagined historical persona with the modern phenomenon of scam calls.

The sketch also reflects the family-centered humor that has become a recurring feature of his social media content.

@jjkirwan

MAMA HATH IBS

♬ original sound – JJ Kirwan

The video starts with Kirwan walking as a phone rings. The ringing is that of an old-timey phone, and it gets interrupted when Kirwan crouches down and picks up the landline's receiver.

The receiver is painted gold and seems old, imitating the 1920s style of phones. "POV: your mother still has a landline, so this is how you answer scam calls," Kirwan writes on the video.

"Good eve," Kirwan says in an old-fashioned British accent, making faces and holding the receiver by its middle with a few fingers. "Speak quickly, peasant, because the hostess is getting angry, and I hope to make her more angry," he says, exaggerating the accent and his expressions.

"Who are you talking to?" his mother says, in her normal Irish accent.

"None of your business," Kirwan says to her, in his normal voice and accent.

"Well, can I have the phone?" she asks.

"No," he says. "Oh, she does? Yes, she has. She has got IBS, Irritable B. Syndrome," he says to the phone, returning to the exaggerated accent and expressions.

"Excuse me?" Kirwan's mother says, and he lets out a burst of laughter. "This house is not a hotel, you know," she adds.

"Well, the hostess is the most aggressive," he continues, telling the scammer on the call, "and the towels are, like, rivita."

"What if you can wash them yourself?" his mother says.

"What is this? I don't own a well," Kirwan says, before muttering something unintelligible, "Yes, umm …" he adds, before getting interrupted by his mother.

"Do you know you're actually giving me wrinkles?" she says.

"That predated my arrival, mama," he says, still doing the fake accent as he tries to contain his laughter. "Well, I wouldn't take credit for another man's work," he says.

"You are horrible," she tells him.

Kirwan pretends to be shocked, and then says, "Tell me something we don't know."

Then, Kirwan hangs up the phone, and it makes the old-timey hang-up noise as he does. "I've hung up now because you've just kept up," he tells his mother in his normal accent.

"If you want a conversation," he says, putting on the fake accent again, "you may have it with me personally," he says, standing up and looking at her.

"Look at me. Who are you telling that good idea for?" she asks.

"I don't actually know who that was," he says, back in his normal accent and laughing.

"So you just pick up the phone and talk to random people?" his mother asks.

"Yes," he replies.

"That could be somebody selling-" she says, but he interrupts her.

"I could be making new friends, mama," Kirwan says, putting on the fake accent yet again.

"No. Nobody wants to be a friend of yours," she tells him.

He smiles and then holds it back. "Do you have any friends?" he asks her in his normal accent.

"I have loads of friends," she replies.

"Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, mama," he says, using the fake accent again. "I saw a fly escape thy mouth earlier; it went to witness protection," he says.

Users in the comment section of the post quoted some of the funny lines Kirwan says in the video, while others posted screenshots from the video that showcase Kirwan's exaggerated expressions.