In a well-publicised speech to a London seminar in 1999, Prime Minister Tony Blair proselytised about asking those “who traditionally may see themselves as working class” to join a “new, larger, more meritocratic middle class”. During those early New Labour years, however, the Bolton comic Peter Kay – born in 1973 – became a national phenomenon through sitcom and stand-up work that was almost exclusively a nostalgic reflection on traditional working-class culture. Comfort food for a changing nation, Kay was rewarded by becoming the UK’s highest-grossing stand-up comedian by 2010. His catchphrases and routines have endured in popular memory.
This month, when Peter Kay announced his return to live performance following a 11-year hiatus, it was a headline bulletin on the BBC News at Ten. Kay had previously withdrawn from all planned stand-up and television projects in 2017 for “unforeseen family reasons” that remain undisclosed. For most of the past half decade, he has been sighted only sporadically and briefly at charity fundraising appearances. When tickets went on sale on Saturday 12 November, up to two million people reportedly joined the digital queue for tickets in Manchester alone, and the O2 Priority app crashed. The arena tour’s scheduled August 2023 end date has now been extended to at least July 2025.
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