Peter Kay announces monthly residency at London's O2 Arena

Comedian Peter Kay has revealed he will perform a monthly residency at London's O2 arena, starting on 16 December until 18 November 2023.

It follows this week's announcement of his first UK tour in 12 years, which was lacking any dates in the capital.

Kay has been absent from the spotlight since cancelling his 2017 tour due to "unforeseen family circumstances".

"I thought we should've called this tour Peter Who?" he told BBC Radio 2's Zoe Ball breakfast show on Wednesday.

The 49-year-old Boltonian added that he couldn't believe the original tour announcement - made during the commercial break of the first episode of the new series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on Sunday - had made headline news.

"I should only be on the news if I'm dead, not if I'm on tour," he joked.

He thanked fans and said he had been "overwhelmed" by the reaction.

'Me and Prince'

Kay will become the first comedian to be given his own residency at the O2 in Greenwich, which has a capacity of 20,000. He will perform there once a month for almost a year.

"There's basically been me and Prince who have done it and look what happened to him," joked Kay, referencing the US musician's death in 2016.

Prince completed a record 21 consecutive concerts run at the same venue in 2007.

Prince holds the record for the longest residency at London's O2, with 21 consecutive gigs in 2007

"Michael Jackson, he was another, he was supposed to do 50 nights," noted Kay, about the singer who died in 2009 before the start of his planned This Is It residency. "I got his shows," he quipped.

The Phoenix Nights star told Ball he had performed several low key warm-up gigs ahead of the tour already and had a few more coming up.

"No matter who you are, if you're not funny they won't laugh," he said. "I over-analyse it all… but anyway, they've been going well.

"I've done a few - people keep calling them secret gigs but they're not secret. It's first come first served."

Kay said he felt the interest in the new UK and Ireland arena dates, which begin on 2 December at the Manchester AO Arena, was down to the fact ticket prices start at £35 [not including booking fees] - the same price as they were during his 2010 tour.

"You've got to meet people half-way, it's bad times, plus that's why people need a laugh," he said.

"I think that's why it was on the news because it was something happy for once and not doom and gloom.

"I thought it was a nice thing, a bit like when they used to have panda at the end of Newsround with John Craven."

The dates will mark Kay's first live tour since 2010, when he scored the Guinness World Record for the biggest selling stand-up tour of all time, playing to more than 1.2 million people.

The entertainer has kept a low profile in recent years. He notably 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 for a conversation with 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.

In Sunday's surprise advert for his new tour, Kay was seen carrying a rolled-up carpet into a house while confirming to nearby fans he will return to stand-up comedy next month.

The advert concluded with the fans asking Kay whether he had finally bought his mother a bungalow - a reference to the comic's previous Mum Wants A Bungalow tour. Kay replied that he had, explaining that his mother now wanted a new carpet to go in it.

Tickets for his tour go on sale at 10:00 GMT on Saturday 12 November with priority tickets going on sale via two mobile phone companies from Thursday.