That Peter Kay Thing

This guy is so funny.

The first time I ever saw Peter Kay was on one of those 100 best ever programs. Didn't have a clue who he was. Then I caught an episode of That Peter Kay Thing; the one where he played Mr Softy Top the ice cream man. I WAS IN FITS the whole time.

From that point onwards Peter Kay was the man for me. Even my mother likes him. She is not British born and can hardly understand the northern dialect but still manages to get the joke. He is a comic genius for our generation.

My mother also loves Phoenix Nights. But she can never remember Peter's name. She calls him MR SOFTY TOP!

A Beautifully filmed docu-series forming the basis of the everyday lives of 'characters' portrayed by comedy writer & actor Peter Kay. This series gives us a great chunk of modern northern comedy film-making at it's best.

From characters as diverse as a seedy Bingo Hall host to Ice-Cream seller Mr. Softy Top, from local would-be Popstar Marc Park to the heartwarming, but funny, tale of Leonard - the oldest paperboy in Bolton...this is all truly magical stuff that put Mr. Kay on the map forever. This series also gave us the first taste of the greatest collaboration between Peter, Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice - the characters of the future Phoenix Club.

Don't miss a chance to own a copy of the DVD which includes the pilot that launched 'That Peter Kay Thing' entitled 'The Services', and look out for a young long-haired Patrick McGuinness in this one! Priceless and Timeless.

* Winner of the Best New TV Comedy Award at the British Comedy Awards 2000.

The "docu-comedy"* style of comedy is one that has generally been done to death, but it has also produced some hilarious series that are very hard to forget. "That Peter Kay Thing" was one of the docu-comedy successes of the last decade, and launched the career of one of Britain's most successful comedians. And it deservedly did so. There was one great episode - "The Ice Cream Man Cometh" - that was absolute comedy gold. It was very silly (who would want a war over ice cream?) and hilarious, was made like a documentary but in a silly style, and the ending when Softy went nuts was absolute pant-wetting genius. This episode was like "Handyman for all Seasons" in Coogan's Run in the fact it was the best of the pack by far. But unfortunately, none of the other episodes managed to recapture The Ice Cream Man Cometh's hilarious heights. The first one was a bit boring, "Eyes Down" was OK and "Leonard" was great in parts, but no classic like The Ice Cream Man Cometh. I've not seen the two others, but I think I can guess how they went as well.

On the whole, this is not as good as "Phoenix Nights" - but not far off it either. This is a good start to Peter Kay's career - let's just hope he can continue to produce more great comedy. 7/10

*Pardon me - the proper term is "mockumentary".

"That Peter Kay Thing" was written and produced following the success of "Services" a pilot which was shown as part of The Comedy Lab on Channel 4.

Both "Services" and "That Peter Kay Thing" were parodies on the popular docu-soap format which by 2000 had been done to death by BBC and ITV. Each episode used a different backdrop which included a motorway service station, working mans club, bingo hall and Manchester Arena. Peter Kay usually played about four of the characters involved which formed the main backbone of each episodes interviews.

The show was very well written, Peter Kay used a lot of his own real life experiences to create larger than life characters which are synonymous with the locations. To cap it all, Andrew Sachs narrated "That Peter Kay Thing" which made me wonder if it was a comedy at first.

If you get a chance it is well worth watching as the characters, acting and jokes form one of the most refreshing comedies on television in recent years.

It's hard to find this anywhere, but if you do - give it's second viewing.

Some of the sketches are golden, some are quite raw and some you can see why PK didn't follow through (dirty minded swines) with.

Either way. I've always enjoyed learning about someone or something before it becomes mainstream.

The fact that not many know about this, just makes it the more enjoyable for me to view without relying on tens of thousands of reviews telling me what I should watch.

A bit like this one then 😂