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Kay Has His Say At Sellout Q&A

Today altB unleashes a couple of reviews that have been a little delayed (sorry, we are only human).  First up, Peter Kay’s one night only sellout Q&A at the Opera House.

A few weeks back Peter Kay announced a one-off charity Q&A on Sunday 4 June in aid of cancer sufferer Polly Haydock. Whilst there was always going to be a solemn undercurrent for a comedy night, this was heightened by events in Manchester and London since the date was set.

It was interesting to see how Bolton’s finest comic would approach that dichotomy. To be honest I think he made a bit of a hash of it, as he mentioned the Ariana Grande-led concert going on at the same time somebody on row A made a tasteless incendiary related joke. The decision to then put that front of centre, getting it repeated whilst saying ‘not me guvnor’ didn’t really cut it.

Thereafter we were in more familiar easy laughter territory. A milk tray box (seriously) filled with hand written audience questions and perched on a rather wonky table was the focal point for most of the evening. Many of the submitted queries related to the recently finished Car Share series. Peter Kay continues to assert that there will be no more episodes, but whilst he is shrewd enough to keep them wanting more the strong audience views in the Opera House make me think he may revisit this one in the future.

Other than the Q&A element there were a small number of clips played on the big screen. Some of these were simply short excerpts from the likes of Car Share and Phoenix Nights, rather like when the Car Share preview night earlier in the year started with a repeat episode from the first series I thought this was a bit of a short-changing of the audience. There were however some previously unaired outtakes from Car Share which gave some new material to an appreciative audience who clearly still can’t get enough of that particular Kay sitcom.

In response to one question Peter gave some of the tracks he would have had played if he had gone through with a planned appearance on Desert Island Discs. He went on to say that he didn’t appear on the programme because he felt the music wasn’t played for long enough and the questions were to intrusive. This of itself will tell you that the answers to many of the questions posed on the night were not particularly deep, but there was plenty of insight into the man, his work and above all his deep attachment to the seaside town he was performing in.

At the start of the evening Peter said how much he enjoyed doing these charity events in Blackpool, and he certainly seemed to thrive on the generous applause and the verbal sparring with hecklers. He seems to fit well with the town, loud and larger than life but also honest and down to earth with a big heart. As the night went on though he said he was tired and he had had enough, and I don’t think those comments were for show either. But in the intervening two hours he had provided loyal fans with exactly what they had come for, and another Blackpool sell-out Peter Kay crowd went home very happy.

Reclaim Blackpool - Mapping Sexual Harrasment
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