Peter Kay was driven to tears as he received a tremendous standing ovation at Manchester’s AO Arena on Friday night as he made his return to stand-up comedy.
The funnyman, 49, has undertaken a mammoth 110-date tour and played to a sell-out crowd in Manchester, 16 miles from his hometown of Bolton as he was met with joyful applause, and chants of his name were heard ringing out across the venue, prompting him to brush away a tear as his fans continued to cheer.
‘Aw you’ll have me in bits,’ he said. ‘Lovely Manchester you made me cry. I can’t believe I cried, where did it come from all that emotion?’
Comedian Peter Kay has been largely missing from the public eye for the last four years and the aptly named Peter Kay Live Tour is his first live tour since 2010, when he scored the Guinness World Record for the biggest-selling run of all time, playing to more than 1.2 million people.
Peter Kay’s comeback was announced during an advertisement break in the series launch of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! on ITV last month.
He said that it was good to get back to what he loved doing best, stand-up comedy and that if there was ever a time people needed a laugh it was now, and that with the cost of living at an all-time high, ticket prices were starting from £35, the same price they were on his previous tour in 2010.
After Manchester, Peter will perform in locations including Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Belfast, Newcastle, Glasgow and Dublin. His run will conclude on August 11 2023 at the Sheffield Utilita Arena.
Following the announcement, the star’s official website appeared to crash briefly under increased online traffic.
A poster for the event featured Peter Kay holding a sign reading, ‘Better late than never’ and described a ticket to his performances as an ‘ideal Christmas gift’.
After being mostly out of the limelight for the last four years, Peter Kay returned to the stage in August 2021 for two special charity events to raise money for Laura Nuttal, a then 20-year-old with an aggressive type of brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme.
There was also a brief return in January 2021 when he appeared on BBC Radio 2 to chat to Cat Deeley, who was filling in after Graham Norton left the station, about his passion for music, mixtapes and the musical Mamma Mia.
Whatever Peter Kay’s reason for stepping back for a bit is his business, but I truly hope his return means he’s back for good and that he’s happy because he’s a comedy genius who’s been sorely missed.
There’s no doubt why this happened and respect to Peter Kay because he’s a really genuine guy, and he kept his ticket prices low for his fans, that is worth high praise in itself, and he’s a natural talent that is back.
To be honest, I don’t know any other comedian who is so universally adored as Peter Kay, with his sharp humour, and his kindness out of the public eye, bravo!
Once in a while, a man arrives who understands, entertains and identifies with his audience to an uncanny degree, but Peter Kay is in a class of his own, and he will always be an original and a genuinely hilarious comedian at the top of his game, and his ‘Miss heard lyrics’ is one of the funniest things I’ve ever watched, and I’ve watched it so many times and it always makes me laugh.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 