{"id":600599,"date":"2026-08-21T22:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/600599\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T22:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:18:16","slug":"not-the-first-time-ive-see-him-die-jimmy-crickets-son-jokes-at-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/600599\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not the first time I\u2019ve see him die\u2019 \u2013 Jimmy Cricket\u2019s son jokes at funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comedian Jimmy Cricket\u2019s son has joked it \u201cisn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen him die\u201d as he led his funeral service.<\/p>\n

The joke came as his funeral requiem mass began at Salford Cathedral on Friday, following the Northern Irish comic, born James Mulgrew\u2019s death on August 3RD at the age of 80 following his battle with a short illness.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was attended by comedy veterans such as Syd Little, Tommy Cannon, and Roy Walker and led by Cricket\u2019s youngest son, Father Frankie Mulgrew, who once worked as his road manager but is now a Catholic priest.<\/p>\n

During the service, Father Frankie said: \u201cI just want to say this, this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen him die, and rise again, comedy metaphor, it\u2019s a comedy metaphor.<\/p>\n

\"JimmyRoy Walker arrives for the funeral of stand-up comedian Jimmy Cricket (Peter Byrne\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cFriends, about 20 years ago, my dad said, \u2018I will sacrifice grandchildren, you go into the priesthood\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cricket, who was known for his signature bowler hat and catchphrase \u201cAnd there\u2019s more\u201d, became a TV staple in the 80s, appearing in programmes such as The Good Old Days as well as the Royal Variety Performance.<\/p>\n

\"JimmyTommy Cannon arrives for the funeral of stand-up comedian Jimmy Cricket (Peter Byrne\/PA)<\/p>\n

The star left school at 16 and spent his summers working as Redcoat camp host at Butlins holiday camps.<\/p>\n

He went on to work the comedy club scene throughout the 1970s and 1980s, going on to win LWT\u2019s Search For A Star talent contest before getting his own ITV show, And There\u2019s More, which ran for four seasons.<\/p>\n

He later fronted his own programme on BBC Radio 2 before appearing on the Royal Variety Show in the 80s and performing in a number of pantomimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedian Jimmy Cricket\u2019s son has joked it \u201cisn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen him die\u201d as he led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-600599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}