Peter Kay has announced his highly anticipated return to stand-up comedy with his first live tour in over a decade.
The comedian, 49, who has been taking time away from the public eye over the last four years, will embark on a huge arena tour across the UK from December until August 2023. This will be the comic's first live tour since 2010, where he scored the Guinness World Record for the biggest selling run of all time, playing to more than 1.2 million people.
His comeback was announced during an advertisement break in the series launch of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! on ITV. Peter will be performing two dates in Scotland on May 5 and May 6, 2023 at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow.
He said: "It's good to get back to what I love doing best, stand-up comedy, and if there's ever a time people need a laugh it's now. And with the cost of living at an all-time high, ticket prices are starting from £35 - the same price they were on my previous tour in 2010."
Kay will begin his tour on December 2 at the Manchester AO Arena before visiting locations including Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Belfast, Newcastle, Glasgow and Dublin. His run will end on August 11 2023 at the Sheffield Utilita Arena.
Following the announcement, Kay's official website appeared to crash briefly under increased online traffic. A poster for the event featured Kay holding a sign reading, "Better late than never" and described a ticket to his shows as an "ideal Christmas gift".
Kay, from Bolton, has been largely out of the spotlight in recent years. This is great news for fans after the star previously cancelled his tour in December 2017, citing "unforeseen family circumstances".
Since then he has kept a relatively low profile, although had returned to the spotlight earlier this year for a series of Dance for Life charity gigs. He returned to the stage in August 2021 for two special charity events to raise money for Laura Nuttall, a then 20-year-old with an aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme.
There was also a brief return in January 2021 when he appeared on BBC Radio 2 to chat to Cat Deeley - who was filling in after Graham Norton left the station - about his love of music, mixtapes and the musical Mamma Mia.
He also made a surprise appearance at a charity screening of his series Car Share in 2018. Over the last few years, Kay has delighted fans with his hit Bafta-winning TV series Car Share and stand-up routines.
Tickets go on sale November 12 at 10am.
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Showbiz newsletter here .
