![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LRHUHZ7ZH232JGUSWCBHXN7GQA.jpg\")
Jimmy Cricket brought much laughter and happiness to audiences, his family said. Photograph: PA <\/p>\nComedian Jimmy Cricket asked for the last rites twice, \u201calmost like he asked for an encore\u201d, before his death at the age of 80, his son, Fr Frankie Mulgrew, has said.<\/p>\n
The Northern Irish stand-up comedian died on Monday morning following a short illness, a statement from his family said.<\/p>\n
His youngest son, a former comedian who became a priest, Fr Mulgrew described his father as being \u201clike a light\u201d and said he loved making people laugh.<\/p>\n
Known for his catchphrase \u201cAnd there\u2019s more!\u201d, Cricket fronted his own British television series of the same name on which he wore his signature look of tailcoat, short trousers and wellington boots marked clearly with \u201cL\u201d and \u201cR\u201d on the wrong feet. <\/p>\n
In a post on X, the comedian Ted Robbins paid tribute, saying: \u201cI worked with him many times & he was one of the last great comics a unique style, never blue just funny.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he and all his family have a great Christian faith so maybe The Angels will be saying \u2018Come here Jimmy \u2013 there\u2019s more\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement on social media, Cricket\u2019s family said: \u201cOur beloved Jimmy has passed away this morning after a short illness. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe spent his last few days surrounded by his family, love, laughter and songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cJimmy brought so much laughter and happiness to countless audiences in his career over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether on stage, screen or radio, or if you met him in person as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut that was nothing to the happiness he gave to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jimmy Cricket brought much laughter and happiness to audiences, his family said. Photograph: PA <\/p>\n
Born James Joseph Mulgrew in Cookstown, Cricket left school aged 16 and began working as a \u201credcoat\u201d entertainer at Butlin\u2019s holiday camps. <\/p>\n
After moving first to Stockport, northwest England, and then Rochdale, Cricket worked the northern comedy circuits in England throughout the 1970s, gaining his big break when he reached the semi-finals of TV talent show Search for a Star in 1980.<\/p>\n
He spent the 1980s as a household name, with numerous appearances in The Krankies Klub and The Good Old Days. In 1987 he was the featured celebrity on an episode of This Is Your Life. <\/p>\n
By the mid 1990s he had moved towards radio, starring in four series of the acclaimed BBC Radio 2 show Jimmy\u2019s Cricket Team alongside other comedy talent.<\/p>\n
Cricket was married to his wife May for 52 years and they had four children together. He was described as being a \u201cvery silly grandad\u201d to four grandchildren.<\/p>\n
In his family\u2019s statement, they praised him for being their \u201cgreatest champion\u201d, saying he \u201cloved us all loudly\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also just loved people and he absolutely loved being a stand-up comedian. What a life he lived,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cForever our clown, he was cracking jokes to the wonderful NHS staff and to us all, right until the end. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis courage, dignity and positivity through all he endured was inspirational. <\/p>\n
\u201cA force for joy. We are just all very sad that the world is a far less sillier place today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were going to end by using his famous catchphrase and say, \u2018There\u2019s no more\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut Jimmy was a man of great faith and a Papal Knight of the Catholic Church. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed that death is not the end and was looking forward to eternity, so really \u2026 and there\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2015, Cricket was awarded a papal knighthood, the Catholic Church\u2019s highest honour, by Pope Francis, in recognition of his charity work. <\/p>\n
Commenting on the award at the time, Cricket said: \u201cThe parish priest arrived and took out this certificate \u2013 it was a papal knighthood and it was in Latin. I thought, \u2018He\u2019s got the wrong fella here, is he sure it\u2019s not the neighbour?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI do what I love. If I can raise money by entertaining people, sure it\u2019s not hard work. To get an honour for doing something that you love is quite a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The entertainer previously posted on his website that he was taking a \u201clittle sabbatical for health reasons\u201d and had started treatment. <\/p>\n
It said, however, that he would \u201ccatch up\u201d with fans at string of shows in autumn 2026. \u2013 Press Association and Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedian Jimmy Cricket asked for the last rites twice, \u201calmost like he asked for an encore\u201d, before his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,261220,32],"class_list":["post-618576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ken-dodd","tag-tyrone"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117033032744101295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}