Peter John Kay
(born 2 July 1973) is an English comedian, writer, producer, director and actor. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing
(2000), Phoenix Nights
(2001), Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
(2004), Britain's Got the Pop Factor...
(2008) and other independent productions.
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PETER KAY TICKETS
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Early career
Kay was born in
Farnworth near
Bolton,
Lancashire, and attended Mount St Joseph High School, leaving with one GCSE in Art. He took several menial jobs, including working in a toilet roll factory,
Netto supermarket, a
Cash and Carry, and a
Bingo Hall, which later inspired episodes or sequences in
That Peter Kay Thing
. He began a degree course at the
University of Liverpool but was unable to cope with the written work and dropped out. He then attended the
University of Salford where he studied for a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Media Performance, which he completed, this involved a stand-up course at which he excelled. His first stand-up was a competition in Manchester hosted by later co-star and co-writer of
Phoenix Nights,
Dave Spikey. Kay was last on the bill and won the competition, beating fellow stand-up comedian
Johnny Vegas. His earliest appearance was an interview with
Granada Television in which he listed the contents of his room, as well as detailing his experience meeting
Jimmy Savile. This would later be used in
That Peter Kay Thing
in the role of Leonard de Tomkinson Kay's experience working at the
Manchester Evening News Arena inspired him to wear the official yellow jacket of the MEN Arena for the final performance of his
Mum Wants a Bungalow
tour Kay has said that he sought a career in comedy During his time working as a cinema usher, he experimented with stand-up, participating in several local events, as well as others at the
Comedy Store in
Manchester. After losing his job at the cinema, Kay was presented with the choice between finding another menial job or moving into comedy.
After he entered and won
Channel 4's
So You Think You're Funny
contest in 1997, his first' semi-professional stand-up appearances were at the 1998
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he received, a prestigious
Perrier Award nomination. During this time, he also appeared at various other clubs, such as London's influential Comedy Store, and the Barracuda Club in
Lincoln. Although this led to a certain level of public recognition, it was only after his heavily-promoted show
Live at the Top of the Tower
in 2000 that Kay attained mainstream recognition. During this period, he appeared on several chat shows, such as
Parkinson
and
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
, where he had previously been a warm up man Production also began on
Phoenix Nights
, which was to see him achieve critical acclaim as. well as mainstream success. Subsequent advertisements, for
John Smith's Bitter, which
imitate the realistic style of
Phoenix Nights
, saw Kay develop his now much-repeated catchphrases "'ave it!" and "Two lamb bhunas".
In 2003, he was listed in
The Observer
as one of the 50 Funniest British Comedians and also directed one page of
Nuts magazine. In addition, he made an appearance in a 2005 poll of comedians and critics to find
The Comedians' Comedian
, a search for the 50 greatest funnymen of all time. In March 2005 he also came top in a survey sponsored by the
Jongleurs comedy club chain to find Britain's favourite comedian.
In 2004, Kay caused controversy with a joke about murdered television presenter
Jill Dando.
The Sun newspaper covered the story on its frontpage, labelling Kay as a "sick comic".
[1]
In 2006, a
Channel 4 television show
100 Greatest Funny Moments
voted him at the #1 spot, for his most notably stand-up act,
Mum Wants a Bungalow
tour at the Bolton Albert Halls, including his description of a family wedding and
Bullseye.
On 17 April, 2006, Channel 4 broadcast a "Peter Kay Night", showing out-takes from
Phoenix Nights
(previously featured on DVD), a behind-the-scenes documentary of the
Mum Wants a Bungalow
tour and also the whole
Peter Kay Live in Manchester
show. During this evening, Kay was seen in character as Max (from
Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
&
Phoenix Nights
) discussing the tribute with Paddy (
Patrick McGuinness). Max stated that he disliked Peter Kay and thought that Channel 4 was going downhill for dedicating an entire night to him. Paddy wondered why
ITV have not snapped up Kay. Max is shown to be ignorant of current events, failing to realise that
civil partnerships are now legal and that
Elton John has made use of it, to controversial news stories involving
Michael Barrymore,
Gary Glitter,
Diana, Princess of Wales and
Michael Jackson. Channel 4 repeated the "Peter Kay Night" on 25 March, 2007 and again on 12 October, 2008 which included Peter's new show
Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.
Productions
Kay's first TV project was in an episode of
New Voices
, a comedy series which showcased up and coming talent. His episode, "Two Minutes", written by Johanne McAndrew, saw him play a getaway driver as two of his mates attempted to rob a pub of its takings. This was broadcast in 1997. After appearing on
BBC2's
The Sunday Show
presenting his own slot entitled "Peter Kay's World of Entertainment", Kay made an episode of Channel 4's
The Comedy Lab
, "The Services", in 1998. This served as a pilot for the later
That Peter Kay Thing
. His idea for this series was to create a testbed for ideas and concepts that he could later use within other series. The idea of having several characters all played by himself was something with which Kay experimented.
That Peter Kay Thing
After a favourable reception to the pilot,
That Peter Kay Thing
was devised. It was based solely on the experiences of Kay's earlier life working in several menial jobs. The range of characters included Brian Potter, who would go on to become the primary character in Phoenix Nights, and who Kay said was a combination of all his bosses' personalities along with the voice of a man he knows.
The eccentric Leonard de Tomkinson, is reputedly based on a real man named Leonard who used to visit Peter during his working time at the local Majestic Garage.
Following the series' success, Kay and his co-writers,
Neil Fitzmaurice and
Dave Spikey, used the episode "In The Club" as the basis for
Phoenix Nights.
Criticism of Kay followed his depiction in both
That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights (series one) of a fire safety officer called
Keith Lard; the character seemed to have some resemblance to Keith Laird, a fire safety officer by profession. Although the similarity was dismissed as coincidental, Channel 4 were forced to offer an apology and financial compensation to Mr Laird.
[2]
Phoenix Nights
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
was his notable TV programme, written by him,
Dave Spikey and
Neil Fitzmaurice and set in a newly refurbished social club run by wheelchair-bound
Brian Potter. The club was based on an episode of
That Peter Kay Thing
entitled "In The Club". The cast of
Phoenix Nights
was made up almost entirely of stand-up comics whom the writers had met on 'the circuit'. The show was an immediate hit. It followed the story of the club and the various events that happened there. Expertly written, much of the humour was somewhat implicit - relying on subtle background clues and hints or paradoxes. The first series was partly filmed at St. Gregory's Social Club in
Farnworth [3], Greater Manchester - where the exterior, hallways and function suite were all used. Other sets, such as the
Jocky Wilson suite, were built at
Granada Studios. For the second series, all filming took place at St. Gregory's.
Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere
Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere
was a spin-off of
Phoenix Nights
. Featuring the bouncer characters from the show played by Peter Kay and
Patrick McGuinness and even featured at times characters from Phoenix Nights. Notably this did not include the characters portrayed by his former co-writers Neil Fitzmaurice or Dave Spikey, the latter's character instead being represented by a body double in brief scenes.
Made for Channel 4 to be shown on a Friday, 6 episodes were made and broadcast from November to December 2004. The DVD of the series was released in October 2005, but unlike previous DVDs does not feature commentary from either Kay or McGuinness, instead opting for "surprise" commentators. In December 2005, a spoof workout DVD was also released, starring McGuinness and Kay, entitled
Max and Paddy's: The Power Of Two
. All the music was once again written (or co-written with Peter Kay) by Toni Baker who did all the music for Phoenix Nights & Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
Other work
Advertising
Since 2002, Kay has featured in television advertisements for
John Smith's beer (despite being
teetotal [4]), through which the catchphrase — "'Ave it!" — gained popularity for an unceremonious hoof upfield in a football-themed advert.
He later claimed in his autobiography that he never meant to use "ave-it", he just said it after kicking the ball successfully.
Stage shows
He has also released several
DVDs of live performances, including
Live at the Top of the Tower
,
Live at the Bolton Albert Halls
,
Peter Kay: The Live Collections
(the previous two combined) and
Peter Kay: Live At Manchester Arena
.
Kay appeared on stage at the
Queen + Paul Rodgers
concert at Manchester's MEN Arena (with Patrick McGuinness) and in
Hyde Park in 2005 both as himself and in the persona of Brian Potter.
Kay also appeared at the
BBC's televised charity event
Comic Relief in 2003 and 2005, sharing the stage with
Alan Partridge (actor
Steve Coogan) in 2003. As part of the 2005 event, on 14 March Kay promoted a re-release of
Tony Christie's 1971 hit "
(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?". The song had earlier featured in
Phoenix Nights
, and Kay performed in the accompanying
music video. On Sunday, 20 March 2005, the single reached number one in the
UK Singles Charts, and stayed there for seven consecutive weeks. In 2007 he released "
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", originally by
The Proclaimers, with
Matt Lucas for Comic Relief.
[5]
Kay introduced British band
James at
V2007 and again the next year in Liverpool on their 2008 spring tour. He performed a short set and even wrote a request on the setlist, which the band performed as an encore. A recording of this is available on the limited edition
Live in 2008 CD sold on the subsequent tour (listed as "a couple of extra bits").
[6]
Guest appearances
In 2000, Kay guest appeared in one episode of the popular 1960's police drama
Heartbeat
playing a thief. He also sang at the end of the episode.
He has had two cameo roles in
Coronation Street
. The first, in the late 1990s, was a brief appearance as a shopfitter, but in January 2004 he co-wrote his own scenes, appearing alongside real-life good friend,
Sally Lindsay, who played
Shelley Unwin.
On 17 June 2006, Kay appeared in a
Doctor Who
episode titled "
Love & Monsters". His character, the sinister Victor Kennedy, proved to be an alien called the
Abzorbaloff in disguise.
[7] Although the episode itself was quite comedic, Kay's role was more serious than those he normally plays.
Kay's
film appearances have included minor roles in,
Going Off Big Time
(1999) With Neil Fitzmaurice,
24 Hour Party People
(2002),
Roddy Smythe Investigates
(2003) and
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
(2005). He also provided a voice to the character PC McIntosh for the film
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
(2005). Kay also does the voice for the character "Big Chris" in the children's TV show
Roary the Racing Car.
Kay has also appeared twice alongside British band
Take That, in
An Audience with Take That
and as
Geraldine McQueen in
Take That Come To Town
. He also co-wrote
The Winner's Song
and
Once Upon A Christmas Song
with Take That member,
Gary Barlow.
Theatre work
From February 2007 Kay played flamboyant gay director
Roger DeBris in the
Mel Brooks musical,
The Producers
for the Manchester leg of the UK Tour, at the
Manchester Palace Theatre until 12 May 2007. He reprised his role later in the year at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
He also appeared in the
Royal Variety Performance 2008, which was staged at the
London Palladium on Thursday 11 December.
[8]
Talk shows
He has appeared on numerous chat shows, including
Parkinson
and
The Paul O'Grady Show
. When he appeared on
The Paul O'Grady Show (
ITV1) at
Christmas 2005, he came on in a Christmas tree costume. For his second appearance with Paul on
The New Paul O'Grady Show
(
Channel 4) he was dressed as a Catholic Nun wearing a large mask of himself, mimicking the front cover of his new book,
The Sound of Laughter. At
Christmas 2006 he made a third appearance, this time dressed up as a snowman. On his fourth appearance, on 5 June 2007, he came onto the set dressed as a chicken. He also co-hosted
Top of the Pops
in character as Brian Potter alongside
Fearne Cotton in January 2006.
In September 2006 he co-presented the
Edith Bowman afternoon show on
BBC Radio 1 where he revealed that he had written a third series of
Phoenix Nights
. In addition two specials of
Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
have been penned.
On 15 March 2007, he was the first guest of the inaugural recording of
Danny Baker's
All Day Breakfast Show
.
He appeared as a guest on the last ever
Parkinson show on
ITV on 16 December 2007, making a return to the programme on which he'd been a warm-up act years before. He hugged everyone on the show. He also brought with him a bag of 'goodies' including party hats and also a
lollipop man's outfit as a joke for Parkinson's use during his retirement.
Criticism
Despite having co-written
Phoenix Nights with
Dave Spikey &
Neil Fitzmaurice, Fitzmaurice spoke of his dissatisfaction with Kay taking sole credit when he left their names off the script book. “I can only presume they took out all the bits Neil (sic) and I wrote,” Fitzmaurice said. Kay was also nominated for a book prize alone. Fitzmaurice added
"ref">[9]
Spikey also criticised
Max and Paddy
saying "Hate to say it but pretty obvious, blatant, unsophisticated comedy for me. But, hey what do I know? It did very well and got nominated for a National TV award so I must be in the minority."
[10].
In 2001, there was criticism of Kay following his depiction in both
That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights (series one) of a fire safety officer called
Keith Lard. The character seemed to have resemblances to a real-life fire safety officer called Keith Laird. Although the similarity was dismissed as coincidental, Channel 4 were forced to offer an apology and financial compensation to Mr Laird.
Singles
Year
| Song
| UK Singles Chart
| UK Download Chart
| Irish Singles Chart
|
2005
| "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (Tony Christie feat. Peter Kay) [11]
| 1
| 1
| 1
|
2006
| "Sleep" (With Texas)
| 6
| —
| —
|
2007
| "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (as Brian Potter, with The Proclaimers and Andy Pipkin) [12]
| 1
| 1
| —
|
2008
| "The Winner's Song"1
| 2
| 5
| —
|
"Once Upon A Christmas Song" 1
| 2
| 4
| 35
|
1 As Geraldine McQueen
Filmography
- New Voices
[episode "Two Minutes"] (1997)
- Coronation Street
(Shopfitter) (1997) [13]
- Comedy Lab
[episode "The Services"] (1998)
- Live at the Top of the Tower
(2000)
- That Peter Kay Thing
(2000)
- ''Blow Dry [Cyril The Bar Man] (2001)
- Phoenix Nights
(2001-2002)
- 24 Hour Party People
[Don Tonay - Club owner] (2002)
- Live at the Bolton Albert Halls
(2003)
- Roddy Smythe Investigates...
(2003)
- Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
(2004)
- Coronation Street
(Eric Gartside) (2004)
- Live at the Manchester Arena
(2005)
- The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
(2005)
- Peter Kay: Driven to Distraction
(2005)
- Max and Paddy's Power of Two
(2005)
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
[PC MacIntosh] (2005) [14]
- The Catherine Tate Show
(Guest Star) (2005)
- Doctor Who - Love & Monsters
(Aired 17 June 2006) [14]
- Little Britain Abroad
(Christmas 2006 Specials)
- Comic Relief Does Little Britain Live
(DVD) (2007)
- Peter Kay - Stand Up UKay
(DVD) (2007)
- Roary the Racing Car
(Voice Over (Big Chris)) (2007-present) [16]
- Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice
(2008) [17]
- ''Geraldine - The Winners Story (2008)
- ''Special Kay (DVD) (2008)
- Take That Come To Town
as Geraldine McQueen (2008)