Peter Kay has financially dominated the UK comedy scene in 2024 (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/Shutterstock)
Peter Kay has blown the rest of the UK comedy scene out of the water after earning millions upon millions for his 2024 tour.
The veteran British comic, 51, continued his record-breaking Better Late Than Never residency tour last year.
And his smashing sales (one ticket cost an average of £59.70) secured him one of the most globally successful tours, eclipsed only by a handful of US comedians.
Now it’s come to light that Peter earned an eye-watering £27million comfortably making him the highest-earning touring UK comedian in 2024 and an impressive fourth place on this ranking, provided by Pollstar.
The only other Brit that came close was Michael McIntyre who rolled in at 15th place with £10m from his tour.
Meanwhile, ahead of him was Nate Bargatze at £56m, Sebastian Maniscalco at £38m and Jerry Seinfeld at £31.16m.
Peter Kay’s live arena tour has proved a smash success
Pollstar’s JR Lind said, per The Sun: ‘The mainstreaming of stand-up comedy continued in 2024, shoving its way into the serious sides of the discourse.
‘The proliferation of streaming, social media and podcasting has accelerated the career velocity of a working comic and changed the calculus.
‘The new math gives comics the ability to reach an audience anytime, anywhere, building a fanbase as rabid and dedicated as a pop star, they no longer can be pigeonholed as the court jesters skewering the powerful and humorously noting their shortcomings.’
And the whopping earnings from Peter’s tour are only just beginning. In November, he announced 21 further dates– including Aberdeen, Brighton and Isle of Man – throughout 2025 kicking off in Manchester later this month.
As such his UK-wide tour currently comes to an end in May 2026.
He has broken plenty of venue records along the way including playing 100 shows at the AO Arena in Manchester and becoming the only artist to have a residency at the O2 (selling out an unheard of 45 shows).
He said in a statement: ‘It’s been wonderful doing what I love most, stand-up comedy.
He earned over £27million from tour sales and made an impressive TV comeback in 2025 (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/REX/Shutterstock)
‘Laughter is more important than ever in these challenging times and with the cost of living still at an all-time high, ticket prices for the new dates will start from £35.’
The tour has also faced some turbulence after various Manchester dates were forced to be rescheduled last minute because ‘Co-op live wasn’t ready’ for a ‘large-scale audience’.
It isn’t the only success Peter has been a part of in 2024. He also made his TV comeback after six years, reprising his role as PC Mackintosh in Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
The highly-anticipated Christmas Day special surpassed a splendid 16.2m viewers in total, making it the most-watched film broadcast on UK TV making it one of the most popular film broadcasts ever.
And it is also finally arriving on Netflix, although not without some bumps along the way.
Peter apparently left US Netflix bosses confused with his typical humour, however, after his character exclaims ‘flippin’ Nora’ when the villain Feathers McGraw escapes.
Oscar-winning creator Nick Park told The Sun that Peter’s ‘ad-libbing’ had a hilarious effect.
‘At one point he’s astonished at something and shouts “Flippin Nora”.
‘One day we did get a note back to ask “Who is Nora and why is she being flipped?’”
Creative director Merlin Crossingham added that he explained: ‘It’s not rude, it’s not an expletive, it’s an innocent turn of phrase.’
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