Granddad gets last laugh when he 'wakes up' at his own funeral

Dubliner Shay Bradley's final wish was for tears of laughter not sadness at his funeral. [Image: DublinLive/ WS]

A Dublin man got his dying wish to make his loved ones laugh as much at him in death as they did in life.

Irishman Shay Bradley planned an elaborate prank before he passed away in a bid to give his mourners something to chuckle about at his funeral.

The granddad-of-eight has gone viral from beyond the grave after footage of his final journey in a south Dublin graveyard began whipping around the world.

The clip shows mourners gathered around Shay's open grave applauding as bagpipe music begins when suddenly the tunes stop and a man can be heard saying "hello" and knocking on what sounds like the inside of the coffin, reports Dublin Live .

Shocked family and friends are filmed looking around in disbelief as Shay begins to roar "let me out" from a pre-recorded message being played through a speaker.

The jokester granddad wasn't having a sombre tone at his own funeral. [Image: DublinLive/ WS]

Their tears soon turn to laughter when Shay can be heard saying "it's dark in here".

Shay continues: "Let me out. I can hear you! Is that the priest I can hear? I'm in the box, can you hear that?"

The south Dublin native finishes the prank by serenading the crowd shortly before the video ends.

His daughter, Andrea posted the video on Facebook saying: "My dad's dying wish, always the pranksters, you got them good Poppabear and gave us all a laugh just when we needed it!! I will love you forever #shayslastlaugh."

She added on Twitter : "It was his dying wish that we played this at his funeral. What a man, to make us all laugh when we were incredibly sad. He was some man for one man. Love you forever Poppabear."

Shay was farewelled residence on Friday before being removed on Saturday to St. Kevin’s Church, Kilnamanagh and afterwards to Bohernabreena Cemetery.

He is survived by his loving wife Anne and children Jonathan, Susanne, James and Andrea, along with eight children.