John O'Keeffe was an Irish actor and dramatist. He wrote a number of farces, amusing dramatic pieces and librettos for pasticcio operas, many of which had great success. Among these are Tony Lumpkin in Town (1778), Love in a Camp (1786), and Omai (1785), an account of the voyages of the Tahitian explorer Omai, and Wild Oats (1791).

Mai, known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahutoru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768.