Early Career
Peter Kay was born in Farnsworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, to an English father, Michael John Kay (1948–1999), and a Northern Irish mother, Margaret Deirdre O'Neill, who comes from County Tyrone. He attended Mount St Joseph High School, leaving with one GCSE in art. He took several menial jobs, including working in a toilet roll factory, a Netto supermarket, a cash and carry and a bingo hall, which later inspired episodes or sequences in That Peter Kay Thing. He began a degree course at Liverpool Hope University but was unable to cope with the written work and dropped out. He then attended the University of Salfords school of media, music and performance where he studied for a Higher National Diploma in Media Performance, which he completed; this involved a stand-up course at which he excelled. His first stand-up was a competition in Manchester hosted by later co-star and co-writer of Phoenix Nights, Dave Spikey. Kay was last on the bill and won the competition, beating Johnny Vegas. His earliest television appearance was an interview with Granada Television in which he listed the contents of his room, as well as detailing his experience meeting Jimmy Savile. This would later be used in That Peter Kay Thing in the role of Leonard de Tomkinson. Kay's experience working at the Manchester Arena inspired him to wear the official yellow jacket of the MEN Arena for the final performance of his Mum Wants a Bungalow tour. Kay has said that he sought a career in comedy. During time working as a cinema usher, he experimented with stand-up, participating in several local events as well as others at the Comedy Store in Manchester. After losing his job at the cinema, Kay was presented with the choice between finding another menial job or moving into comedy.
After he entered and won Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny? contest in 1997, his first semi-professional stand-up appearances were at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he received a prestigious Perrier Award nomination. During this time, he also appeared at various other clubs such as London's influential Comedy Store and the Barracuda Club in Lincoln. Although this led to a certain level of public recognition, it was only after his heavily-promoted show Live at the Top of the Tower in 2000 that Kay attained mainstream recognition. During this period, he appeared on several chat shows, such as Parkinson and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, where he had previously been a warm up man. Production also began on Phoenix Nights, which was to see him achieve critical acclaim as well as mainstream success. Subsequent advertisements, for John Smith's bitter, which imitate the realistic style of Phoenix Nights, saw Kay develop his catchphrases "'ave it!" and "two lamb bhunas".
Kay is a supporter of Bolton Wanderers F.C..
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