Father Ted star Jon Kenny dies aged 66 after cancer battle

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Father Ted star Jon Kenny has died at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer.

The Limerick native, who was one half of D'Unbelievables alongside Pat Shortt, passed away at Galway Clinic yesterday evening, his wife Margy confirmed. The much-loved Irish comedian had suffered from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was in his 40s, but had made a recovery.

But last March Jon announced that his cancer had returned in 2020.

At the time, he said: "I've been very lucky. I'm sure some people would say I've had bad luck, but I think when you come out the other end of anything, I think I’ve had a lot of good luck as well, everything has worked for me. I had a double bypass which kind of brilliantly mended me, fixed me up and got me back on the road and then, my cancer came back again about three years ago. I was diagnosed with lung cancer and they removed the lower part of my left lung. That kept me going again for another while, but it came back again now last year, so, I'm just on treatment for that at the moment.

"But it's good the treatment is working. It's all going well, I'm very lucky. Some shows I'm doing is just to see how my body is going to hold up doing some travel, some work and some live performances."

Jon was scheduled to perform at The Schoolyard Theatre in Charleville this evening. The venue announced the event had been cancelled News of Jon's passing was confirmed to Limerick Live this morning.

Tributes started pouring in for the legendary comedian, with Bruff solicitor and former Fine Gael councillor Bill O'Donnell saying: "This is a great tragedy. I am very sad for his family. I am particularly saddened because mine and Jon's family have a long history together."

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