Line #39 Creator/PeterKay


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_10_20_072358.png]]
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3	Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is a British stand-up comic from [[OopNorth Bolton in Lancashire]] who rose to prominence at the end of TheNineties. As well as performing stand-up, he has written and acted in shows such as ''That Peter Kay Thing'', ''Series/PhoenixNights'' and ''Series/BritainsGotThePopFactor'' (the latter being a parody of the talent shows of the late Noughties). His stand-up is based on observational humour, often centring around his family members and work colleagues. Despite its local focus, it proved to travel surprisingly well and he became popular across the UK.
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5	After one of his earliest stand-up jobs was doing warmup for the audience on ''Parkinson'', when he became a household name he was invited back on as a semi-regular guest, and was present for the show's final programme.
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7	He went into semi-retirement after 2004, but returned in 2010 with a new stand-up tour entitled ''The Tour That Doesn't Tour Tour, Now On Tour''. A brand new sitcom ''Series/CarShare'' began on [=BBC1=] in April 2015, about two ill-matched people forced to share a car to work every day.
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10	!!Tropes:
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12	* ArtisticLicenceGeography:
13	** In ''Car Share'', it has been observed that the journey across Manchester takes anything but the shortest line between two points.[[note]]Those familiar with Manchester will know that to be TruthInTelevision to a certain extent, but not ''this'' much.[[/note]] This is possibly due to the vagaries of shooting and re-shooting dialogue scenes, and a not unreasonable assumption that the vast majority of viewers will not have local knowledge of Greater Manchester streets and landmarks and will in any case be looking at the characters and not the backgrounds. The journey taken in Episode One was observed to go round in circles, double back on itself, meander miles to the north and miles to the south of the assumed destination, leap instantly between locations as if the car was a [[Series/DoctorWho Tardis]], and in one scene it appeared to visit a completely different town ''sixty miles away'' from Manchester. Although the show {{Lampshaded}} Peter's inability to use a [=SatNav=] and his lack of any maps in the car...
14	** It has been noticed that over the six episodes, John and Kayleigh never take the same route twice. Episode One touches on Stockport, in the south and east of the conurbation. Episode Three appears to have been shot in Bolton, Swinton and Salford, in the north and west; episode six sees them in Chorlton and Altrincham, to the south and west of Greater Manchester.
15	** Apparently Kay is well aware of this aspect having been noticed by observant fans. The new series will include driving scenes shot in ''Liverpool''. Fifty miles away from Manchester. To make it more obvious these will include the line of statues erected on the beach at Waterloo. On the Irish Sea coast.
16	* [[BadHumorTruck Bad Humour Truck]]: One of the grotesque characters devised for his mockumentary series ''That Peter Kay Thing'' was an ice-cream man in Chorley, [[OopNorth Lancashire]], who is clearly in the wrong job and clearly hates children. The show focused on his failing business, and his eventual desperate resort to using the ice-cream van as a front to sell untaxed, illegally imported, booze, cigarettes and video porn cassettes. This works until one day, the police turn up and raid the van.
17	* BasedOnATrueStory: Many of the ''more'' outlandish events in his sitcoms turned out to be this.
18	* CatchPhrase: Many.
19	* CrazyPrepared: His dad on holidays ("Always thinking!"), taking along anything from clothesline to teabags. Unfortunately, he also brought along Coffeemate powdered milk, which caused problems when 'trying to get through Spanish customs with lots of little bags of white powder'.
20	-->'''Dad:''' It's Coffeemate.
21	-->'''Customs Officer:''' I'm not your fucking mate - coffee's brown, dickhead!
22	* DoesNotLikeSpam:
23	** His hatred of [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct Rola Cola]].
24	** Variation with his dad and "GARLIC? BREAD?!" and "CHEESE? ''CAKE?!''" -- more a case of 'incredulous that anyone would combine those two things in one food' but did like them when he tried them by accident.
25	* DontExplainTheJoke: Tends to do this for early jokes in a set as part of a {{Lampshade Hanging}} gimmick.
26	* DumbassDJ: He mocks wedding [=DJs=] in his "Mum Wants A Bungalow" tour.
27	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: His Uncle Knobhead. Even other family members seem to call him that.
28	* ForeignQueasine: A routine about how British holidaymakers will go to Spain, completely avoid "any of that foreign muck" and gravitate to the nearest British expat pub for pie and chips. "It's just like home, but you've got the weather."
29	* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Paddy [=McGuinness=], [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether since nursery]]. Their lifelong friendship is best reflected in ''Max and Paddy''.
30	%%* IAteWhat: In ''Car Share'', hapless supermarket manager Peter picks up his new car-pool buddy Kayleigh [[note]]The spelling can be seen on her name badge[[/note]] for the first time. She is carrying a sports bottle full of liquid he assumes is a soft drink. But it's only when it's accidentally squirted over him that she reveals it's a urine sample. %%What was his reaction?
31	* {{Malaproper}}: His nan.
32	** "Have you see that new 3D film, ''[[Film/{{Avatar}} Abattoir]]''?
33	** "You should get one of those Music/GeorgeFormby grills".
34	* ManOfAThousandVoices: Although he doesn't make a big thing about it, Kay is quite a talented impressionist.
35	* MondegreenGag: Invoked in one routine where he mishears various lyrics:
36	** In "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge, he mishears "Just let me state for the record" as "Just let me staple the vicar"
37	** "Mercy" by Duffy gets misheard as "Birdseed"
38	** "All souls" from KD Lang's "Constant Craving" is misheard as "arseholes"
39	** "I believe that the heart does go on" from "My Heart Will Go On" is misheard as, "And I know that the hot dogs go on"
40	* OldShame: "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters Love & Monsters]]", the tenth episode of the second Series of the revived ''Series/DoctorWho'' - he went as far as to say that being in that episode was the biggest regret in his career as of 2012.
41	---> I loved making it but when I saw it, I thought, "Oh my God. I'm a big green lizard running around Cardiff? Is that it?"
42	* OopNorth: Peter is from Bolton. After an abortive attempt to settle in Liverpool, he got homesick and chose to do his drama degree at the then-new [[UsefulNotes/BritishUnis University of Salford]] so he could commute from home.
43	* RapidFireNameGuessing: A routine about how alarmed he was when his mother went through ''female'' relatives' names before reaching his.
44	* RunningGag: In his book, he gives all the nuns from his school punny names includung Sister Sledge and Sister Mercy. When he gets to [[Music/ScissorSisters Sister Scissors]] he apologises for running out of good jokes.
45	* SmallReferencePools: Some chain emails have attributed jokes to him that are actually much older.
46	* SuperSpeed: Claims that wearing slippers give you this power. After he was knocked down by a car as a child, his mum put on the slippers, chased after the car and caught up to it!
47	* SuspectIsHatless: Parodied in his routine about how ''StarsInYourEyes'' would always try to find a tenuous connection between the contestant and the singer they were impersonating:
48	--> '''Matthew Kelly:''' Now, you've got a lot in common with the person you're going to be tonight, haven't you?
49	--> '''Contestant:''' That's right Matthew, because we have both ''got heads''.
50	* TakeThat: In the first episode of ''Car Share'', a Northern Rail Sprinter appears on screen just as the radio plays an advert for Lancashire Scrap Metal.
51	* ThreatenAllToFindOne: One of Peter's stand-up routines focuses on his childhood in a Catholic school run by humourless nuns. One such nun, an irascible Irishwoman called Sister Sledge (yes, really), called out the kids for a recent prank:
52	-->'''Peter:''' (''as Sister Sledge'') Somebody's thrown a shatter-proof ruler at [[RhymingName Carol Farrel]]! It hit her just there! (''points at a spot just above his eye'') If it had been an inch lower, it would have been ''instant death!'' When I find out who it is, I'll take them by the ear, and I'll [[CorporalPunishment bang them]] in front of everybody! (''as his childhood self'') [[AccidentalInnuendo I don't think you will]].
53	* TheUnintelligible: The wedding DJ who turns out to actually talk like that all the time, not just having his voice blurred by a bad microphone as everyone had assumed.
54	* WorryingForTheWrongReason: Peter Kay's standup act relates the story of a meal interrupted by a cellphone call from a child who's scared to go to sleep because of monsters in his cupboards. Our hero tells him he needn't worry about monsters in his cupboard - it's burglars breaking into the house he should be worried about. This ended up being made into [[https://youtu.be/DpHShPqF-uY?t=44s an advert for John Smiths beer]]

Context Creator / PeterKay