Pat Mooney (2)

Tributes paid to veteran comic By Maeve Connolly 21/11/08 TRIBUTES have been paid to veteran Irish stand-up comedian Pat Mooney who has died in England. Mr Mooney died in hospital after an illness and his ashes are to be brought back to Ireland for burial following his funeral on Tuesday. He was in his seventies. Mr Mooney, whose real name was Tom Smith, was from Stockman’s Lane in west Belfast and rose to fame in popular 1970s TV show The Comedians in which he made more than 50 appearances alongside acts such as Frank Carson, Roy Walker, Tom O’Connor and Bernard Manning. He also had his own show for a time on BBC Radio Two called Mooney’s Monday Magazine and in his trademark green suit cut a distinctive figure on the comedy circuit. The Belfast man made a dozen appearances on The Good Old Days, a BBC show which ran for three decades. In later years Mr Mooney entertained tens of thousands of people enjoying cruises and a spokesman from Parker Entertainments said he would be “sadly missed”. “He was the consummate professional and a true family entertainer,” Colin Parker said. “He never offended and always judged his audience to perfection leaving them in fits of laughter. “People loved talking to Pat and hearing his numerous stories of working around the world, his work on The Comedians television show and on the many cruise ships where he was always a favourite,” he added. Frank Carson who was both a friend and contemporary said Mr Mooney had many friends in showbusiness, including veterans such as Bruce Forsyth and Jimmy Tarbuck. “He was a very kind and generous man and there will be very many of us at his funeral. We will make it a good day, there won’t be any tears,” he said. Mr Carson, who turned 82 earlier this month said he was “a senior citizen of the teenage group” when he met Mr Mooney as he started his career at the age of 16 in Belfast. The pair would try out new material together at a sailor’s home near Albert Street in the city and ended up working together on numerous occasions in their professional life. “We had some wonderful times and worked in Hong Kong on two occasions for a week at a time,” Mr Carson said. “Pat could have held the record for going around the world because he worked on cruises for 30-odd years and told me he had gone around the world 25 times.” copyright Irish Times. http://www.irishnews.com