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LAST UPDATE | 19 Nov 2024
ENTERTAINER JON KENNY made the world a brighter place” by “sprinkling laughing love” wherever he went, his funeral mass heard today.
The “many sides” of the mad-cap comedian, actor, musician, poet, story-teller, husband and father, were celebrated in a true traditional Irish musical session themed mass performed by a host of his fellow stars of the stage and screen at St Patrick’s Church, Lough Gur, Bruff, in his native Co Limerick.
Mourners at the party atmosphere inside the crossroads church pews, swayed to soulful laments and toe-tapped to musical jigs and reels, performed by guitarists, fiddle players, flautists, accordion players and singers, including well-known box player Sharon Shannon and Irish folk band the Mary Wallopers.
Mr Kenny’s friend and co-star of their hit comedy sketch-show D’Unbelievables, Pat Shortt, was accompanied by his daughter and fellow performer Faye Shortt, and his brother, former Limerick city and county councillor Tom Shortt who had worked closely with Mr Kenny in the early days of his career.
In a loving tribute, Mr Kenny’s heartbroken widow Margie told mourners: “Jon just loved people, he adored people, and, when we fell in love in 1983, it was the thing that I really loved about him and was really amazed by him, I was amazed by the fantastic time he had for everybody.”
She described how she and her family were “overwhelmed” with “such an outpouring of love for Jon” since his death at Galway University Hospital last Friday.
Despite the shock of Mr Kenny’s sudden death, after he had battled cancer and recovered from heart surgery, Margie Kenny told mourners, “we feel joy and love, thanks to all of ye; Jon loved ye all and thanks for showing your love for him”.
In a final touching tribute to her late husband, she looked across at his wicker coffin, telling him she and their two children Aran, and Laya, were “really privileged” to have had him in their lives, “so thank you so much Jon, and Rest In Peace”.
Mr Kenny’s friend, Cork radio and television broadcaster John Creedon, also paid an emotional personal tribute to the “remarkable” funnyman.
“When I think about Jon, I think about the Irish word ‘laochra’, meaning ‘warrior’, Jon came into this life charging, and he battled through illness, he had good days and bad days but he battled on gamely, and the show always went on,” said Creedon.
“He loved horses, plants, stones, he loved ordinary people and he loved ordinary towns, and above all he loved his wife and children. He was overflowing with heart and humour in the great Celtic tradition of Céad Míle Fáilte.”
Laughter rang out from the church as Creedon recalled that his first encounter with Mr Kenny’s quirky character was when the comedian invited him to meet him in Co Limerick “for the craic…and I did catch up with him, and he was having the craic…at a funeral”.
“He had the ancient, noble craft of comedy, a marvelous gift and noble trade, and Jon sprinkled that laughing love wherever he went.”
Creedon also highlighted Mr Kenny’s “razor sharp wit” and “compassion and love” for all of the characters he played “from the bachelor hill farmer to the town busy body”, to the “wonderful rollercoaster that was D’Unbelieveables” as well as his recent poetry collaboration with his daughter Laya.
“He was always reaching for that magic, but in truth, he always had it. Our warrior has fallen, but he’s on the path of truth now,” Creedon concluded to a standing ovation.
Aide-de-Camps representing President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Simon Harris, and notable entertainment industry figures including live music promoter, Peter Aiken, and singer songwriter Richie Kavanagh also attended the celebratory funeral mass.
Local priest Father Edward Cleary said Mr Kenny “brought so much life into all he did, and all any of us can do is try to make this world a brighter place, and one can truly say Jon Kenny did that”.
An acoustic version of Roll Back the Clouds (I Am A Star) written by the late singer songwriter Christie Hennessy, was performed as Mr Kenny’s remains were laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery.
“I have known my highs and lows, I’ve worked in every show,
I’ve played in every town, brought some houses down,
Yes Sir I would sing on Mars,
My dream scene is, me a star,
Is me a star,
I am a star.”
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Nice sentiment but let’s be honest here it means nothing. The question for western democracies now is how many more citizens they are willing to sacrifice before patience runs out.
Similar situation to war where the establishment talks the talk and the ordinary man and woman and child in the street walk the walk.
Can guarantee you this – when members of the establishment start to pay the price with their lives they’ll soon be singing a different tune.
@Carl Ingalls: the psychological and morale battle is more important than military and security aspects in asymmetric conflict situations.
Members of the establishment, the privileged and the powerful, are never affected by armed conflict but that is a separate issue.
Mass carpet bombings by Western forces in the Middle East, $350 billion arms deals with Saudi Arabia and repetitive interference in the Middle East on top of the Iraqi second invasion have not helped and have contributed to terrorism.
Is not Allah’s name used in mitigation, every time, or am I missing something?
@Tony Daly: you’ll blame everything except Islam.
I don’t think people get it yet. Islam is just an ideology used for conquer and to
prevail. Islam is not a religion. You can not reason with brain washed people who believe they are right beyond all reason. There is billions of Muslims if only 0.1 percent of them are radicalised that means there is Millon’s of them willing to die in the name of Allah… There is little if any solution to this mess.
@Tony Daly: one of the terrorists was from morocco. What western intervention is going on in that country?
@Carl Ingalls: absolutely. The British establishment didn’t give a toss until the financial district was targeted with warning to clear out innocent civilians. There were talks the next week.
A huge cancer in mankind is that the killing. Industry (relabeled the Defense industry by their PR departments) have politicians and decision makers as their shareholders. Perpetual war enriches these policy makers. Is it in their interests to end war?
It’s morbidly routine at this point. Islamic terror attack occurs. People vent their outrage and disgust. The liberal media swoop in, putting ou an an article saying that Muslims are showing their solidarity, bla bla bla. Next week, they’ll be back to pumping out articles about terrible that think Trump and the right are. Rinse and repeat. Everyone go back burying their heads
@Alex: clearly the hash tags aren’t working!!! Rather than be proactive and come up with a solution. The liberal grief junkies and apologists are out in force
@Alex: moan, whinge, attack liberals and repeat ad nausea.
@cholly appleseed: what’s your solution?!
@Tony Daly: You have a problem with whinging about terror? You must be a liberal
@Chucky Arlaw: can you hear that? crickets
@Alex: I’m still waiting for your plan by the way
@Dave O Keeffe: they don’t have a plan just like Brexit it’s just built up hatred vented on the journal comments Section they don’t have any solutions.
@some random guy: nobody does. I hate terrorists too
Standing defiantly pretty much means sitting around doing nothing and waiting for the next slaughter at this stage.
@IrishInfidel: really though what can do done though ? .. how is anybody meant to stop a terrorist ploughing a van into a crowd ir someone stabbing innocent peopke
@Suzie Sunshine: Could start by having a serious discussion about Islamist extremism within the Muslim community, but politicians throughout Europe seem to afraid to call a spade a spade.
Nothing can be done if we’re not allowed talk about the problem
@IrishInfidel: Just like you?
@Chris Avison: this was meant in reply to your first comment!
@IrishInfidel: foiling most of the terrorist attacks, increasingly effective intelligence, fast responses within 8 minutes elimating the terrorists, detaining the support network and getting on with life in a resilient manner is far from doing nothing.
@Tony Daly: we need to find a cure for this disease , a plaster and a pat on the back just won’t cut it anymore . Time for action now , Ireland now being called a soft back door for Jihadis .
Problem will be here for a generation or more. The solution needs to be looking at the long term. Needs to be around integration and acceptance. So much progression on race and sexuality over the last 50 years that would have been laughable at the outset. Religion needs to be next on the agenda!
And it is perfectly natural and healthy for people to share in grief.
@Tony Daly: Tony look at the damage that was done even with a record 8 minutes response. . You’d never be able to eliminate them ..
It’s all been said before, the West has to take a stand for the values we have fought through the centuries for or our way of life will down the road be under threat, interesting how Assad is quoted as saying the terrorists are almost in retreat in the East, while here in the West it’s looking like a free for all with hardly any country untouched in some form or other by terror.
@Kate Flaherty: selling out Western values out of overreactive fear and hatred in the face of a very limited ISIS terrorist campaign is not helpful.
The English show fortitude, resilience and getting on with life in the face of adversity.
@Tony Daly: overreactive fear? Get a grip. People have every right to be fearful. This from the man who lives in a dangerous fire hazard of an apt but choses not to inform the relevant authorities but give out instead. You are a plonker mate
@Tony Daly: I’m hardly encouraging the “selling out of western values” as you put it, radicals seek to destroy, freedom, democracy, choice, all these things we have are now coming under threat, their holy men are telling them to go to Europe, have bigger families, buy bigger cars, live in bigger houses, western women are looked on with disdain by these fundamentalists, recent tests done in Sweden using dental examinations, X-ray and by checking bone density proved that 70% of those claiming to be minors are not in fact minors, the incidents of rape and sexual assault attacks are also on the rise, kebab shops and other shops in this country are being used for money laundering to fund ISIS, I could go on but I have a feeling it wouldn’t make much of an impact on you Tony……
@cholly appleseed: certainly not. You are losing control. Sad. You are a victim of ISIS and playing the tune of ISIS.
@Tony Daly: you are apologies and refusing point blank to blame the Islamic ideology. It’s grand having no fear when you sit I’m all day long and comment on every article 50 times never venturing out. No wonder your biggest complaint and worry is the tinderbox you live in
@Tony Daly: we don’t need to run around thinking the sky is falling , but we can tighten border controls and immigration , why should we not stop people coming into the country , if we don’t know who they are . The Irish government owes a duty of care to its people first and foremost .
@Ken Hayden: that absolutely should be happening. If it’s not then shame on them. After that though what next? Most attackers have been in the country they attack for years. Some even born there. How do we weed out the extremists in a way that doesn’t feed into the rhetoric of ISIS and create more?
@Dave O Keeffe: To be honest, I don’t really care if the action taken creates more of them , once it eradicates the disease . If we don’t allow more in , then we’ll solve the problem .
Like I said , the majority of Muslim’s here are not radicalised , but the islamic ideology needs to be tackled . We cannot , I repeat cannot allow the situation to develop like it has in other countries .
England is now facing an uphill struggle because it buried it’s head in the sand .
@Ken Hayden: When have the Irish Government or any Irish Government for that matter given a stuff about its people. I certainly won’t hold my breath !!
@Ken Hayden: are you reading these before posting? You don’t care if your plan creates more terrorists and kills more innocent people once eventually they run out of people willing to die.
The law has got to be changed so that expressing sympathy for terrorism or ISIS is enough to put you away for a long time. They have tens of thousands of these guys under surveillance without enough evidence to actually do anything. They have to make it easier. Build detention centres if necessary. As for the lads who actually travel to Syria, should be immediate arrest upon return.
@Fred Jensen: so please list or identify those who are expressing sympathy for terrorism. I know of no one doing that.
Detention is just another name for internment without trial. Preventative justice does not work. It will alienate modern Muslims.
@Tony Daly:
They can have a trial where they are accused of expressing sympathy for radical Islam, and if convicted they are put away.
@Fred Jensen: so who is expressing sympathy for radical Islam, where, when, on what occasion ? Be specific.
Effective intelligence is far more important, of course. Prevention is the right approach.
@Tony Daly: f..k u and ur so called modern muslims …where are they …and what does modern muslims mean ?
@Rachel Alan Stafford: they’re the over 1 billion Muslims that have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.
Why is there not mass protests against Islamic terror and for the government to act? People will have rally’s and mass protests about Trump becoming president but not when there is something to really protest about like radical Islam . It’s a joke .
@Mumpsimus: there is no point in divisiveness and polarisation.
Londoners and Mancunians showed calm dignity and quiet composure.
What else are they meant to do though ??
Standing in defiance after the event isn’t a whole lot of use tbh. A lot of blood shed and lives lost prior to that point.
London stands not just in defiance but in effective opposition to terrorism by eliminating the 3 terrorists within 8 minutes.
Contain, control and eliminate the terrorists.
Londoners are strong, resilient, calm and determined.
We should not play to the agenda of ISIS by magnifying the risk.
@Tony Daly: kumbaya Tony
@KingBen: there is a religious and dogmatic quality to that mindless chant.
32 men, women and children, mostly members of the same few famillies killed in a U.S airstrike on a school yesterday in Syria. Death toll expected to rise much higher. 44 killed in an airstrike the day before. This is not an excuse for these crazies in london or wherever but it certainly doesnt help. Of course the western media ignore it.
@Seamus Og:
So how did you get to hear about it? Any links?
It’s summer not spring
@Teegan Maguire: Hi Teegan. Yep it’s Summer but you wouldn’t think it would you? (K.Mc)
A documentary last year profiled some of these guys. https://youtu.be/VNGRpKwIAwE
rip to those poor folks just going about their lives, until those disgusting savages put an end to that in the name of mohamad whatever they call him lol
Very sad
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