Peter Kay has announced that he is making a donation of £14,000 to a children’s charity, representing £1 for every ticket sold for the debut of his London O2 Arena show.
The comedian and Car Share star, who is on his first tour for 12 years, kicked off his first London show on Friday night (16 December) and, dressed in a full Father Christmas costume, told the crowd: “I think Christmas is about doing good things for other people so we’re gonna take a pound off each of you.
“I’m going to put it in a children’s charity and I was looking at my phone on the way down and I found one called Action for Children.”
He added: “They do a secret Santa and it seems really lovely. There’s 14,000 people here, so if I take a pound that’s £14,000 for children on your behalf. So thanks!”
A spokesperson for the charity told The Mirror that the “amazing donation” would help them “support our frontline workers who are helping struggling families”.
Kay was originally set to go on tour in 2017, but cancelled for reasons he has never divulged.
At his first gig of the tour, in Manchester, he was met with a standing ovation, and he told the crowd through tears: “How am I supposed to do comedy now? I can’t believe you made me cry.”
When tickets went on sale last month, fans faced huge online queues as they attempted to secure tickets.
Many reported seeing messages on the Ticketmaster website telling them there were more than 200,000 people ahead of them in the virtual line.
Tickets are currently sold out until 2025.
