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Peter Kay

Comedian and Actor

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Peter Kay

Comedian and Actor

Biography

Peter’s rise in the world of comedy and television has been phenomenal. He had been performing stand-up comedy for less than a year when he won the Channel 4 So You Think You’re Funny? competition in 1997. In 1998, he was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and for Top Stand Up and Top TV Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards. In the same year Peter presented The Big Breakfast (Channel 4) and The Sunday Show (BBC2). Also in 1998, Peter performed at the Royal Variety Performance.

Peter’s first big break as writer /performer was a one off entitled The Services, a mock - documentary style comedy, set in a service station, commissioned and broadcast as part of Channel 4’s Comedy Lab - a series which nurtures new comedy talent.
 
It was this inimitable style and format that Peter employed for his first series That Peter Kay Thing transmitted on Channel 4, January/February 2000 to great critical acclaim set in and around Bolton.  Peter co wrote, co produced and starred in several roles in That Peter Kay Thing; A collection of 6 individual comedies shot mockumentary style, complete with a voiceover from Andrew Sachs. It is a unique hybrid of comedy, drama and documentary, and won Peter Best New Comedy Series at the prestigious British Comedy Awards 2000.   

Peter has taken several acting roles including: playing a carpenter in one of his favourite programmes Coronation Street (Granada), appearing alongside Keith Allen and Billie Whitelaw in the BBC series Born To Run and in Butterfly Collectors (Granada Film) with Pete Postlethwaite. More recently he played alongside Steve Coogan in 24 Hour Party People directed by Michael Winterbottom. 

As well as Peter’s television career he thrives on live performance. Peter’s anecdotal style wells from a truly natural talent, and in the tradition of the greats has a broad, cross-section appeal. In 1999, Peter went on a sell-out tour of the North West of England, which included 3,000 seat venues.  Peter’s first live stand-up video – Peter Kay Live At The Top Of The Tower, which was filmed at Blackpool tower, has recently been released by VVL.

He then applied the same treatment his next TV series co writing, co-producing and starring as 3 characters Phoenix Nights (Channel 4), a 6 part comedy drama set in a northern social club which was a direct spin-off from The Club Episode One of That Peter Kay Thing.  

Phoenix Nights transmitted in 2001 and 2002 and gained a cult following. A further spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere - ran for six episodes in 2004.

In 2003, he was listed in the Observer as one of the 50 Funniest British Comedians. 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 2006, a Channel 4 television show 100 Greatest Funny Moments voted him at the Number 1 spot, most notably for his stand-up act, Mum Wants a Bungalow tour at the Bolton Albert Halls, including his description of a family wedding and Bullseye.
Peter Kay was included in the Independent on Sunday's "Happy List" in 2009 as "simply Britain's best comedian", and – as an exception to their general rule – was included again in 2010 for also raising funds for Children in Need.

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