Peter Kay's has reportedly been slammed for a mean joke directed at Lisa Riley after two hecklers were thrown out of his Manchester homecoming gig on Saturday night. One audience member who left the long-awaited comedy show early has claimed that the comedian, 51, was "nasty and bitter" and that "his performance was poor". Peter, who is doing the last leg of his money-spinning Better Late Than Never Again! tour this month, was left frustrated during the show in Manchester when two rowdy audience members continued to heckle him.
Peter reportedly became more frustrated as time went on as one man in the audience continued to shout out his iconic catchphrase of "garlic bread". Meanwhile, a female audience member was also asked to leave the show when she screamed "we love you". When she was being escorted out by security, she was reportedly met with a mean joke about her weight when Peter compared her to Emmerdale star Lisa Riley.
The woman was reportedly asked to leave the audience after she shouted out: "We love you Peter Kay". The comedian then reportedly shouted back at her from stage: "Go on, off you go Lisa Riley.". Lisa, 48, is best known for portraying Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap Emmerdale and has been open about her own battle with weight. The actress has shed an incredible 12 stone in recent years after overhauling her lifestyle and diet.
Following the chaotic comedy show where two audience members were kicked out, other left early after claiming they were disappointed by the show - despite waiting years to see the comedian perform live. One audience member told Mail Online: "The whole thing just feels very nasty and bitter. His performance was poor but the way he dealt with one heckler and someone shouting “we love you” was ridiculous. My friend and I left the show after that, half an hour early. Others left the show early too.".
Another audience member told the publication: "I’ve lost a lot of respect for Peter Kay after the way he treated the heckler at the end of his Manchester Feb 8 show. Having him removed by force by his entourage and cracking jokes about it over the three or four minutes it took. No manners. Huge waste of money.". The audience member added: "He did a blind person impression which was really offensive, made a lot of jokes about how he hasn’t had an erection for years after “sertraline 40mg” and made other very rude jokes which isn’t what you’d expect.
"He also said Paddy McGuinness will do anything for a bit of money, called him deaf and then pulled apart his show about factories. I understand humour is subjective so it may just be a few people who didn’t appreciate the jokes last night.". It comes after it was revealed that Peter's tour raked in a whopping £27million last year. His Better Late Than Never string of dates has been named one of the most globally successful tours of 2024.
The comedian amassed a total of £26,992,507 from his 35 performances, according to official tour revenue data from US analytics company Pollstar. Only fellow comedian Michael McIntyre, 48, came close to matching the Bolton-born star among UK comics, earning £10,284,888. With tickets priced at an average of £59.70, each show last year generated around £771k. The Phoenix Nights star's success on tour surpassed revenues of many big names including Billie Eilish (£14.3m), Robbie Williams (£10.1m) and Lady Gaga (£10.4m).
He also outperformed international comedians Trevor Noah (£20.8m) and Kevin Hart (£17.2m) in terms of annual revenues. The Pollstar figures, highlighted in a special Year End 2024 Report for the music industry, disclose the box office earnings of the world's top live entertainers. Last year, Peter was crowned Britain's highest-earning comedian, with his staggering £34.6million fortune unveiled. He outstripped the likes of The Office stars Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to secure the top spot on the stand-up rich list.
