After eight whole years away, Peter Kay is finally returning to stand-up comedy, with the announcement of a UK tour in 2018.
Kay didn’t disappear during his time away from the stage - most recently we saw him on his BBC series Car Share - but you could say that in coming back to stand-up, the Max and Paddy star is returning to his roots, and going back to what he does best.
Kay still holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest-selling comedy tour of all time. He played to 1.2 million people on his 2010 tour, ‘The Tour That Doesn’t Tour Tour… Now On Tour’.
Why has Kay chosen now to make his comeback? He says: “I really miss it. I know how lucky I am to be making television series and have really loved these past few years working on Car Share but I miss doing stand-up.
“As terrifying as it is, when it works there’s nothing more fun and exciting. Plus, a lot has happened in the last eight years, with Trump, Twitter and my nan getting her front bush trimmed at the age of 96. I can’t wait to get back up on stage.”
Tickets for the tour go on sale very soon - Sunday 19 November, and can be purchased from gigsandtours.com or ticketmaster.co.uk from 10am.
The tour beings in April 2018 in Birmingham, and will visit all major UK and Ireland areas running through until March 2019.
Here’s the list of gig venues and dates:
2018:
Saturday 21 April, Birmingham, Genting Arena
Sunday 22 April, Birmingham, Genting Arena
Monday 14 May, Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
Tuesday 15 May, Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
Monday 4 June, Manchester Arena
Tuesday 5 June, Manchester Arena
Wednesday 6 June, Manchester Arena
Saturday 9 June, Manchester Arena
Thursday 13 September, London, The O2
Friday 14 September, London, The O2
Saturday 15 September, London, The O2
Thursday 20 September, London, The O2
Tuesday 2 October, Leeds, First Direct Arena
Wednesday 3 October, Leeds, First Direct Arena
2019
Sunday 13 January, Belfast, SSE Arena
Monday 14 January, Belfast, SSE Arena
Wednesday 23 January, Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
Thursday 24 January, Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
Friday 1 February, Dublin, 3 Arena
Saturday 2 February, Dublin, 3 Arena
Monday 11 February, Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
Tuesday 12 February, Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
Monday 4 March, Sheffield, FlyDSA Arena
Tuesday 5 March, Sheffield, FlyDSA Arena
Monday 18 March, Liverpool, Echo Arena
Tuesday 19 March, Liverpool, Echo Arena
Given Kay’s immense popularity and how long he’s been away from the stand-up scene, tickets are sure to sell out in minutes, so make sure you’ve got 15 tabs open across several computers to be in with a chance of snaring one.
Let’s end by remembering a few of Key’s classic one-liners:
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and asked him to forgive me.
A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston Bypass. Motorists are asked to be on the lookout for 16 hardened criminals.
So this bloke says to me, “Can I come in your house and talk about your carpets?” I thought, “That’s all I need, a Je-hoover’s witness”.
There was a man who entered a local paper’s pun contest.. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
(Image: Rex)
