Peter Kay bidding to rescue favourite hometown venue from closure by playing secret gig 23 years after debut
COMEDIAN Peter Kay performed three secret charity gigs in his home town to save the theatre he worked at in the 1990s.
More than £80,000 was raised as the funnyman, 50, took a break from his arena tour to perform at the small venue.
Peter worked as an usher at the Octagon in Bolton in his youth and one of his biggest DVD hits was his Live at the Bolton Albert Halls recordings two decades ago.
He performed three “intimate” two-hour sets there on Sunday.
Tickets for the 390-capacity audiences sold out “within minutes” of going on sale to the theatre’s members, patrons and mailing list subscribers.
During the routine, he recalled his time working at the venue and the mischievous pranks he would pull — before he eventually got the boot.
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His recollections included telling a Coronation Street star they couldn’t come in because of their white jeans and falling asleep during a show.
Peter added: “It wasn’t a good advert.”
The star also told of working worked at a local video store called Rentertainment and budget supermarket Netto, both of which he was “let go” from.
He joked that doing stand-up turned out to be his best job and he was yet to get fired from it.
Peter also treated the audience to material from his sold-out arena tour.
Octagon chief Roddy Gauld praised the him for his “generosity” and “making a massive difference”.
