One of the many films I’ve downloaded to my iPad is Peter Kay’s brand new “Tour That Didn’t Tour – Tour”. Admittedly, I didn’t really have high hopes. It’s been a while since he’s been on top form and I’d thought the days of Blackpool Tower and Bolton Hall were long gone, but his time at the O2 arena was a pleasant surprise.
“Britain’s Got The Pop Factor” wasn’t a big hit with us, and I found it more cringeworthy than anything. It was a shame to see such a hilarious, well-respected comedian resort to dressing up in drag for a couple of cheap laughs. Strangely enough, his “Winner’s Song” did reach Number 2 in the charts in 2008, so there must be some people who found it appealing. I remember watching Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere when I was younger… and you could say Peter Kay was quite an iconic figure during my childhood. I must have watched all of them over just a few weeks. It was genius.
I remember going to bed some nights and hearing my parents howling with laughter downstairs when they first watched it. Then I saw them [his first tours on DVD] and simply being in fits of laughter, quoting him in normal conversations for absolutely months afterwards. The recurring problem with his work seemed to be that he repeated a lot of old material and I feared that this would happen yet again at the O2 arena. Luckily (and thankfully), this wasn’t the case in the slightest. Kay managed to come out with oceans of hilarious new lines and stories, mixing in the famous old gags from before. I think it was quite fitting to mention some of the older jokes and it was probably quite a nice salute to those who’ve followed him since the beginning.
One thing which made me laugh is the fact that he gets free garlic bread whenever he goes out to an Italian restaurant. Oh the high life of being a famous, British icon!
Now the question is – can he match it with yet another sell-out success?
