Comedian Peter Kay has topped the UK DVD charts for 2012 with Peter Kay: Coming and Going, a collection of CCTV footage of the outside of his house.
The DVD, described by Kay’s management as ‘hilarious’ and ‘a comic treasure to treasure forever’, shows surveillance footage of Kay occasionally entering or leaving his £1.6m mansion. A series of bloopers and outtakes show the house with no-one entering or leaving.
Peter Kay's manager Roger Lilly says: "This DVD offers fans a unique behind-the-scenes opportunity to see another side of Peter, the side that isn't touring or doing much of anything. Sometimes he's bringing in shopping from the car, other times he's signing for a parcel. This is completely new footage of Peter, possibly going out or coming back from what he does best."
Baz Dalyrymple, who writes the TV Toss column of The Morning Star, argues that those who say Kay is exploiting his fans by padding out the same slender body of work, time and again, are merely jealous of his success.
Dalyrymple says: “What these people fail to grasp is that Peter Kay is Britain’s first post-modern existentialist comedian. He is the only comic to record on film every single moment of his performing career, no matter how tedious or inconsequential, and then release it as a piece of situationist art, for a RRP of £14.99.”
Tracey Wooton, a part time mortician and Peter Kay fan says: “Ooh, my nan loves Peter Kay. At least I think she does, cos I’ve been giving her the DVD’s every Christmas for the past eight years. Obviously being from the North myself I identify with his cheeky, observational humour, but what I think I like most about him is that I know he’ll have something out at Christmas that I can buy without putting any thought in whatsoever.”
Peter Toucher, currently hanging on by his fingernails as a store manager with HMV, admits: “Peter Kay is easily Britain’s best loved comedian. This latest release is up there with his previous DVD's as its mostly comprised of the same material he’s been doing for a decade, only now stretched to absolute breaking point.”
Bolton-born comedy legend Kay also looks set to make it another Christmas double by topping the book charts with the fourth volume of his autobiography entitled Bread, the follow-up to his acclaimed debut Garlic.
Toucher believes that Kay’s timeless appeal stems from his image as a family-friendly comedian: “There are very few comedians where you can buy their DVD knowing it’s unlikely they’ve used the word, fuck, much… if at all. Peter Kay might use the word fuck, for all I know, but probably not. I haven’t got time to go through all his stuff and check, life’s too short.”
Some of Peter Kay’s previous best selling DVD’s include Peter Kay Live, The Absolutely Complete Peter Kay Live, A Bit More of Peter Kay Live, Other Bits of Peter Kay, Mostly Peter Kay, Oh Look It’s Peter Kay, Peter Kay’s Got A DVD Out and Buy This It’s Got Peter Kay On It.
Peter Kay was approached for a comment on this story, and his management say they expect it to be released on 2-Disc DVD and Blu-Ray sometime in December 2013.
