Comedian Peter Kay has today cancelled his hotly-anticipated stand-up comedy tour
Peter Kay said he was ‘very sorry’ today after cancelling every date on his hotly-anticipated stand-up comedy tour due to ‘unforeseen family circumstances’.
The surprise announcement will shock hundreds of thousands of fans across Britain and Ireland who were excited to see the 44-year-old comedian.
Kay was due to host more than 100 nights from next April until March 2019 in the likes of Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Dublin.
He said today: ‘Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I deeply regret that I am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects. This unfortunately includes my upcoming stand-up tour, Dance for Life shows and any outstanding live work commitments.
‘My sincerest apologies. This decision has not been taken lightly and I’m sure you’ll understand my family must always come first.’
Kay was due to host more than 100 nights in Britain and Ireland from April 2018 to March 2019
Kay issued this statement through Twitter today, which said he ‘deeply regrets’ the decision
Kay revealed last month in an interview with Jonathan Ross on ITV that he did not like performing live and that this would likely have been his last tour
Tickets have been selling on resale websites for more than £2,000 with fans desperate to see the much-loved comedian’s first tour in eight years.
Kay revealed last month in an interview with Jonathan Ross on ITV that he did not like performing live and that this would likely have been his last tour.
He said: ‘I don’t like it! I do like it, but it’s terrifying standing on a stage in front of 14,000 people trying to make them laugh. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.
‘I like it, but once in a blue moon. I should have called the tour that, Once In a Blue Moon. I don’t think I’ll do another after this, I’m getting on now.’
Kay’s fans took to Twitter to share their disappointment at the news of the cancellations
Kay, whose new tour was called Have Gags, Will Travel, added: ‘It’s ideal for the old mum and dad, nan and grandad, very clean. I do a family show.
‘If my mum or my wife says that something isn’t funny, I know I’ve struck gold. They said the monkey wasn’t funny in Car Share, they said ‘You can’t do that’…
‘They just said it was stupid and would never happen. They had to train this monkey for three weeks to wear sunglasses and eat Werther’s Originals.’
He was also due to host nights in Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool – with the first date listed for Birmingham on April 21 next year.
Peter Kay’s Car Share, in which he stars with Sian Gibson, will return next year with two more episodes after the series two finale in May, which fans thought was the end of it
Peter Kay has written, produced and acted in several award-winning television and film projects (including Phoenix Nights, pictured) and authored three books
His 2010/11 stand-up comedy tour, The Tour That Didn’t Tour, was officially inaugurated into the Guinness World Records as the most successful of all time.
More than 1.2 million people watched the tour, which came after the comedian – who is also known for Phoenix Nights – had taken a seven-year break from stand-up.
Kay, who is from Bolton, Greater Manchester, has written, produced and acted in several award-winning television and film projects and authored three books.
In 2016 he won Bafta TV awards for best male comedy performance and best scripted comedy and the National Television Award for best comedy for Car Share.
Queen Elizabeth II meets Kay backstage at The Diamond Jubilee Concert in London in 2012
Car Share, in which he stars with Sian Gibson, will return next year with two more episodes after the series two finale in May, which fans thought was the end of it.
Speaking to Jonathan Ross last month, he also talked about his famous phrases, and admitted: ‘I still get that, people shouting ‘garlic bread’ at me.
‘Who’d have thought that a food would be a catchphrase? It wasn’t even a catchphrase, it’s a food! I couldn’t get it in the supermarket the other week.
‘I couldn’t find it and I couldn’t ask for it because I was mortified to say garlic bread because they all would have (shouted it back at me).’
Kay was also due to host nights in the likes of Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle and Sheffield
Reports over the weekend suggested Kay is now worth £29.6million, with two of his companies making £1.9million profit – working out at £5,200 every day.
Announcing the tour to great fanfare last month, Kay had said: ‘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.’
Peter Kay: From stand-up comic to TV club owner and Car Share
Comedian Peter Kay became best known by the nation following his early 2000s TV creation, Phoenix Nights.
As well as writing both seasons of the hit Manchester-based comedy show, his alter ego, the beleaguered club owner Brian Potter, earned him legions of fans across the country.
He later made his television comeback with 2015 series Car Share, where, again, he took on the role of both penning the script and playing lead character, John.
Kay appears with Paddy McGuinness in Max And Paddy: The Power Of Two in 2005
The show, which pulled on viewer’s heartstrings as they watched his ‘will they, won’t they’ friendship with Sian Gibson’s Kayleigh develop over two series, and won him two Bafta awards last year.
Fans were distraught when he announced that he would not be creating a third run of the show, but were delighted when he later promised two extra one-off episodes – including an improvised show and a finale.
Breaking the news during this year’s BBC One Children In Need 2017 appeal show, the 44-year-old said: ‘We knew we couldn’t end the story there.’
He also pledged his support to the charity by auctioning off tickets to a one-off intimate performance in Blackpool next summer, raising a total of £633,225.
An acclaimed stand-up comic, Kay’s 2018 live tour was to be his first in eight years following his record-breaking string of gigs in 2010.
Kay in his famous Live at the Top of the Tower stand up performance in Blackpool in 2000
Due to huge demand as the tickets went on sale last month, he announced an extension of the tour with extra performances in all cities.
Kay initially announced 26 dates across 2018 and 2019, kicking off in Birmingham in April 2018, but soon tripled the line-up to more than 80 shows, including 16 nights in Manchester.
Speaking of the prospect of returning to the stage, he said: ‘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.’
Kay, who is now worth nearly £30million, appears in That Peter Kay Thing in 2000
A Mancunian born and bred, he also took to the stage for the We Are Manchester concert in September, following the terror atrocity at Manchester Arena, where he worked as a steward when the venue opened in 1995.
He delivered an emotional speech before introducing singer Noel Gallagher, telling the crowd: ‘The victims will never, ever, be forgotten, but we’ve got to move forward with love and not hate, and that’s how we win.’
Among his earliest writing credits are That Peter Kay Thing in 2000 and Max & Paddy’s Road To Nowhere, featuring an appearance from Brian Potter.
Throughout his career, boosted by his 1996 North West Comedian of the Year prize, he has made special appearances in shows such as Doctor Who, ITV soap Coronation Street, Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Inside No 9.
He is to married Susan Gargan and has a son, Charlie Michael Kay.