Jon Kenny funeral: tears as mourners hear Irish comedy legend sprinkled 'laughing dust' everywhere
The Father Ted star died on Friday at the age of 66
RTE star John Creedon has told mourners at the funeral Mass of late comedian Jon Kenny that he was always reaching for “unmanifested magic” and sprinkled “laughing dust” everywhere he went.
Hundreds of mourners arrived at St Patrick’s Church in Bruff for the funeral of the D’Unbelieveables star who died at a Galway clinic last Friday after suffering from a heart attack on November 10.
John told mourners: “To say he was a remarkable man, I think, would be a massive understatement.
READ MORE: 'Devastated' Pat Shortt pays tribute to comedy partner Jon Kenny after passing
READ MORE: Jon Kenny remembered by RTE stars as 'one of the funniest' ahead of funeral
“The Irish word laoch, meaning warrior, crossed my mind a few times over the past few days. He came into life charging and he battled through, I suppose, 20 years and more now of illness, good days as well as bad days but he battled on gamely.
“He was always Jon. He was never anything other than Jon. And the show always went on.”
Mr Creedon continued on saying that Jon “loved dogs and horses and plants and stones. He loved ordinary people, and he loved ordinary towns.
“And if any man anywhere ever loved his wife and children, it was Jon Kenny.
“Jon's life was well lived. It was overflowing with heart and humour and the ancient Celtic tradition of the Cead Mile Failte.
“Everyone was welcome, and there was always room for just one more,” he said jokingly.
He recalled meeting Mr Kenny years ago when he was “going through his Rastafarian phase on a private radio station”.
He said he met up with him one time when he was “having the craic at a funeral.”
“But he introduced me to the mourners and to the family, and a grand day was had by all. That's the truth of it, and that's the way he was, like, there was no problem.
“He invited me around to the house on a few occasions, and really, I had no business there.
“He was like that. And he was just that kind of man. There was always room for one more.”
Mr Creedon told mourners another story about when Jon wanted to fly on an already overbooked charter flight of Cork City fans going to Czech Republic to see Cork City play Slavia Prague in a Champions League qualifier game.
“Sure enough, he did arrive at the very last minute. He screeched into the car park, and I said to him, 'where's your bag?' He said, my bag? I said, 'Yeah, we're going for four days'.
“He said, 'I've no bag'. And I said, 'What about clothes?' And I said, 'have a look in the boot. There must be something in there, you know.'
“And so he looked in the boot. He did find something, actually, he found a horse-riding helmet - a jockey’s helmet. Fortunately, it was in the same colours as the Cork City away strip. So he put it on, and he wore the helmet on the flight and that was going grand until the Czech Airways air hostess came down and was about to remonstrate with him, but I managed to intercede and explain that John only wore the helmet for take-offs and landings. It all be grand in the end.
“So it was all grand in the end. And we did find a pound shop or something in Prague, and he was suitably attired for the four days.”
Mr Creedon said Jon “sprinkled that laughing dust wherever he went in front of him”.
“I was thinking back over the last few days of how children just loved Jon. Absolutely adored him. All my own crowd, they've been hysterics when Jon was hunting them up to bed and threats of nettles and thorns and putting the dog on them and everything else.”
Mr Creedon said that “for all the laughs” he gave people, Mr Kenny had “remarkable pathos and his compassion for his characters”. That was the true hallmark of his work.
“It's often said that the clown is the most sensitive person in the circus, and I think that'd be true. John had sensitivity in spades. He had compassion for the loneliness of the Bachelor Hill farmer.
“He had compassion for the returned immigrant, and we saw that and for the immigrant, compassion for the nuisance and for the town's busy body.
“In truth, Jon Kenny had compassion for all of us. And you know, it was that genuine depth of love and compassion for people that informed those remarkable performances and that remarkable life.”
Mr Creedon said he ran into Mr Kenny three weeks ago while he was collaborating with his daughter Laya on their own project.
“I ran into them both in Abbeyfield recently when he was workshopping his latest opus and he was absolutely majestic. He had been having treatment at the time, but he was majestic. You've no idea how brilliant the man was.
“People fell out the door, crying laughing, and hugely moved by the poetry as well. But it just struck me at the end that Laya had attended to every single technical detail for Jon, and then when it was all over, and maybe I didn't notice it at the time, but more than that, she was watching for her dad as well.
“So when he was subsumed by the crowd, I could see Laya keeping one eye at all times on Jon and a brilliant collaborator as well as a brilliant daughter, no doubt.
“But his most recent work, that most recent work, clearly, it's unfinished, but I think it must be published,” he insisted.
Mr Creedon read out his last text message from Mr Kenny, which read: “’Hi John, back in ‘Franceland’, after that week that was. Thanks for the message. I'm definitely on the road to summer with these poems and the other stuff the pros.
“’I want to make a world that the audience can enter into with me. It's not stand up and it's not a play. I don't know myself what it is, but I will when I find it.’
“And I'm thinking, ‘when you find it? Jonny, you never lost it. You know, never lost it. He always had it, but he was always reaching for that, that unmanifested magic. And so often he found it, he brought it back, and he showed us and enlightened all our lives with it. “
Mr Creedon thanked Mr Kenny’s family for “sharing” Jon, adding: “I know it couldn’t have been easy at times.”
Mr Kenny’s daughter Laya also stood up at the altar to read a poem by her father, while Mr Kenny’s wife Margy thanked everyone for their support.
Margy said: “It's just kind of just overwhelmed us, the outpouring of love for Jon that we've felt everywhere. And actually today, I just feel it here, so strong.
“I know tomorrow we will collapse, but today, we feel joy and love, and you've made all that possible.
“I just want to add one little idea that I keep playing in my head that your people loved John, but that feeling was totally reciprocated. John just loved people. He adored people. And I think all those years ago, I think we met, fell in love in 1983 and I think it was the thing that I really loved about him, and was really amazed by him, because he'd often come home late at night after doing his show, playing music, and he keep me up half the night telling me about some gorgeous people he had just met, the fantastic conversations he had.
“He loved you all, and thanks for showing your love to him. Of course, he gave Aaron and Leah and myself pockets of love down through the years, and for that, we feel really privileged to have shared that love. And thank you so much, John and rest in peace.”
President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Simon Harris were represented at the funeral by their aides-de-camp.
Many musicians who were friends of Jon, including members of the group Gimik that he joined in his teenage years, as well as Sharon Shannon and the Mary Wallopers and an ensemble of musicians performed at the funeral.
His long-time comedy companion Pat Shortt was also there along with a wide circle of Jon’s family and friends. Their family dog was also brought to the funeral.
Parish priest Father Edward Cleary described Jon as a man who was larger than life.
Funeral goers heard that of all the great roles Mr Kenny had played, his greatest role of all was “being a husband and a father”.
Mr Kenny’s family adorned the wicker coffin with a framed photograph of the comic.
Symbols of his life brought to the altar included a guitar and a book of poetry to mark his great passion for music and his creative imagination.
The Munster and Limerick flags were also brought up to symbolise his lifelong support for the Munster rugby team and his pride in the achievements of the Limerick hurling team.
A wig, which symbolised his many comedic performances was also presented, which brought a light moment of laughter among mourners.
The song 'The Owl’ was performed and was accompanied by a display of an owl puppet moving through the church and shown to the mourners.
He was buried in the adjoining cemetery.
Mr Kenny is survived by his wife Margy and his devoted children Aran and Laya.
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