Peter Kay

Maz and Paddy... 'n Terry!

Peter Kay wants Terry Wogan to play a villain in a Max and Paddy TV special.

Peter Kay continues Gallagher fued

Peter Kay has again criticised Liam Gallagher for his behaviour at the Brit Awards.

Video: Peter Kay calls Liam Gallagher a knobhead

Peter Kay branded Liam Gallagher a 'knobhead' at last night's Brit Awards.

Peter Kay's Liam Gallagher 'knobhead' insult wins fans

A Facebook group has been set up hailing Peter Kay as "legendary" for calling Liam Gallagher a "knobhead" at last night's Brits.

What's wrong with Michael McIntyre?

Michael McIntyre came out of nowhere and is phenomenally successful. Not since Peter Kay has a comedian landed mainstream success so quickly. That's largely why a lot of his peers loathe him. It's not so much hostility towards his abilities, more straight jealousy.

The novelty of tribute comedy

Can't get tickets for Peter Kay? Why not see a Peter Kay-style show? But should we be celebrating the age of the copycat comic?

The kings of British comedy

While Peter Kay is currently comedy's undisputed king of commerce, there's no shortage of pretenders to his throne.

There are some editions of Ross's chat show when you half wish that instead of watching the host bounce one-liners off his guests, we could eavesdrop on the chit-chat in the green room. Tonight, for instance, I'd love to hear what Jeremy Clarkson, Peter Kay and Laurence Fishburne find to talk about as they loll in the chairs waiting to go on. Surely there's scope for a BBC3 spin-off show that would let us in on the behind-the-scenes fun and celebrity banter, possibly entitled Woss Going On? What we'll actually get is some alpha-male sparring in the studio between Ross and Clarkson, whose attempts to best each other have in the past made them sound like cocky teens trying to out-brag each other on the school bus. Still, it'll be worth seeing. Kay should lighten things up nicely while Fishburne, now heading up the all-conquering CSI franchise, brings genuine Hollywood star power.

Charlie Brooker has a rival (um, sort of) to his You Have Been Watching - Steve Jones with his own celeb game show chewing over recent telly. The fact that his team captains are Fern Britton and Jason Manford, the cut-price Peter Kay, will give you an idea of the level this is pitched at.

Of course, were Peter Kay to do anything as good as Phoenix Nights again we'd be happy. Sadly it was almost impossible to judge Britain's Got the Pop Factor... with an open mind as the man hasn't done anything for four years except mime to other people's records and release the same DVD over and over again. The sheer scale of this one-off Channel 4 comedy spectacular was a big problem. Running for two hours may have been accurate, but it meant jokes were stretched to breaking point. Once you've seen one inappropriate musical segue, you've seen them all. Plus, surely we have now bled dry that seam of comedy that sees celebrities sending themselves up? Here it was like one prolonged back slap, and while it may make sense of the plot to record a generic song for the winner, singing it three times on the programme and then releasing it is not comedy, it's advertising.