Late D'Unbelievables star had ‘a whole life’ in band before comedy

JON KENNY will be remembered for developing the powerhouse comedy duo D'Unbelievables in the late 1980s and '90s, creating characters which could be seen on every street corner in Ireland, but he also had a career playing music.

Speaking with Brendan O'Connor on RTÉ Radio 1, Pat Shortt said he was “quite numb” following Jon's death. “You'd always hear Jon wasn't well and then you'd hear 'gosh, he's flying it’.”

Despite Jon's comedic flair, Pat explained that he had a “whole life” before they ever worked together referring to his time spent in the band Gimik. Jon played with the band from the age of 15 and toured all over the world.

Pat continued: “He had played support to Mud and at one stage I think Suzi Quatro wanted him to join the band.

“I remember doing a gig in the Tricycle Theatre and one or two of the guys from Mud came to see us and it was amazing because he was telling me all these stories and you're kind of like 'ah go away out of that' and then they turned up at the gig.”

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Pat recalled working on the film The Banshees of Inisherin when Jon confided in him some of the things he'd gone through.

Pat also remembered the early days of rehearsing with Jon saying: “I think I always go back to the rehearsal room with Jon you know and two of us creating the characters of D'Unbelievables... We used to always kind of say we never wrote anything, we just made it up.”

The Killinaskully actor described Jon as a “manic character” who was full of energy and said their workshop process was “so much fun.” D'Unbelievables made their debut on the Late Late Show in the 1990s in the comedy sketch Crimebusters as Garda Tom Walsh and Garda PJ Moloney. Jon and Pat went on to release shows on video and DVD.

They released One Hell of a Video, D'Unbelievables, D'Video, a live random sketch show, D'Telly featuring them playing various characters, primarily two brothers who run a shop together and D'Mother in which Kenny's character oversaw the running of a public house alongside his 'mother' – who was later revealed to be his father.

“Those two characters, D'Unbelievables, they became larger than life and everyone used to call us D'Unbelievables. It wasn't Jon Kenny and Pat Shortt... so we decided to hold onto the name and just use it for ourselves from there on.

“I can't imagine anyone has lived life as good as Jon Kenny.”