Peter Kay's savage verdict on world of showbiz exposed: 'It's all b******s'

Peter Kay first graced the comedy circuit in 1996 and on his second-ever stand-up performance was named ‘North West Comedian of the Year’. He then rose to fame with shows including ‘Phoenix Nights’, ‘Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere’ and most recently ‘Car Share’ alongside Sian Gibson. The Bolton-born star has pulled away from the spotlight in recent years to spend more time with his family but made a brief appearance on BBC’s ‘The Big Night In’, during the coronavirus lockdown. While the notoriously private comedian hasn’t explained his reason for cancelling shows and making fewer public appearances, he has previously expressed his dislike for fame and the showbiz world.

Peter Kay revealed his thoughts about being a celebrity after he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Salford four years ago. 

The institution, which he graduated with a Higher National Diploma (HND) from in 1996, was where he met ‘Car Share’ co-writer Paul Coleman and leading lady Sian Gibson. 

He told graduating students that the most important thing about life was “family, love and friends” and that “everything else doesn’t matter”.

Peter said: “That’s what it’s all about, I’ve been somewhat lucky to go back to show business but it’s all b******s, I’ll tell you that now.

“It’s nice for two percent but 98 percent of the time, you’ve got to be sane, you’ve got to go back – friends and family are everything.”

He claimed that fame hung on a knife-edge and that you needed to be in the right place at the right time to success – but also to put in the hours.

Peter added: “I’ve been so lucky, I worked hard but I’ve been so lucky because I’ve done some amazing things.”

Earlier in his acceptance speech, he regaled the crowd with how he feared that he had missed his only chance to break into television. 

The star added: “I sat in Bolton Library writing letters ‘Dear, can I come and make tea and coffee, be a runner’… and things that never got nowhere.

“I got a job at Granada (now ITV) making tea for 58 hours a week for 90p an hour and I had to turn it down because I was working at Cash and Carry in Bolton and I was getting £3.60 an hour working there.

“I was gutted because I thought, ‘That’s my chance to get into television’ and I was devastated and then I got a job at Netto and I was properly devastated then.

“I thought, ‘This is it for me now, I’ve got to go into the world’… I knew that I could make people laugh but I was just frightened of doing it.

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“I thought, ‘What if I’m c***, what if I’m not good at it, what if I can’t make people laugh or what if it’s just something at work?’ 

“But I felt inside like I should have a go because I didn’t want to be sitting, wasting my life, watching television thinking ‘I could have done it’, so I decided to do it one day, a day like today.”

Peter gave the graduates some words of wisdom two decades since his first comedy performance.

He added: “They’ve asked me to say something inspirational, the only thing I can think of… and the most wonderful thing I’ve learned in the last 20 years is balance. 

“Trying to find the balance between working and playing or being yourself or having time for yourself, I think that’s the only advice I can give you.

“I think we all beat ourselves up a bit too much in life and we should all just make sure we have time for ourselves – but work and all, you know what I mean!”

source: express.co.uk