23 October 2006
A couple of months ago, I read That Peter Kay Book, the unofficial biography of Bolton’s very own Peter Kay. Having spent a few nights staying away from home on a training course last week (without any Internet access in the evenings, if you can imagine that) I managed to finish reading yet another book – The Sound of Laughter: The Autobiography of Peter Kay.
If you’ve ever seen Peter Kay’s stand-up shows, watched his TV series and / or listened to his director’s commentaries on his DVDs, you’ll already be aware of how much crossover there is between all of his material; many of the jokes he tells on stage also appear in Phoenix Nights and stories told during his DVD director’s commentaries also often appear in his TV series. What you realise when you read this book is that practically all his comedy sketches, and particularly those found in That Peter Kay Thing, are based on actual events he’s experienced throughout his life. Does this make him less funny? Not at all!
Now, I realise this probably slows down my reading speed but whenever I read books, I tend to read them aloud in my head. (I know that’s a bit of a contradiction, but I’m sure you know what I mean!) As I was reading Peter Kay’s autobiography, I could imagine him speaking every word to me, especially because he writes very much like he speaks. I actually think reading it that way made the book much funnier – it’s often the way he tells them after all! Downloading his first chapter as an audio book a few weeks ago probably helped me to read it like this too.
Whilst reading the book, I felt as though I’d got quite a bit in common with Peter Kay. For a start, we’re both Bolton boys, so I know many of the places he talks about in his book. We were also both altar boys at church when we were younger. Neither of us are really football fans. We both hated P.E. at school. But we both loved drama and we’ve both been in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. As Peter says:
“I’ve always believed drama to be an important subject. It’s not just about play-acting, it’s about giving children confidence and ironing out their inhibitions. [...] I guarantee that they’ll exude charisma and confidence for the rest of their lives as a result of being taught drama.”
And I agree... of course! ;-)
Fortunately, I had more success with musical instruments than him; he ruined his saxophone by cleaning it with Jif in the kitchen sink and subsequently gave up learning how to play it. I managed to get ten more GCSEs than him, although we both passed our GCSE in Art. I didn’t have as many part-time jobs as him; I can count all of mine on one hand, whereas he might even struggle to remember all his. I found learning to drive much easier than him; I took one test and passed, he took and failed several...
So maybe we don’t have that much in common after all! I guess it’s a bit odd, but even though our lives were so different growing up, I can still relate to much of what he’s written. Is it just because we grew up in Bolton during a similar era (he’s just a few years older than me) or is his comedy so wide-reaching and clever that he can make everyone feel like they can relate to his experiences? Maybe we’re all just like Peter Kay, with hundreds of funny, sad, interesting and just plain boring anecdotes to tell about our lives.
Anyway, if you’re a Peter Kay fan, I think it’s worth reading both of these biographies as they really complement each other. Of course, just as you’d expect, there are a few parts of Peter’s life that appear in both books, but it’s always good to get two sides of the story.
Labels: books, peterkay, tv
14 September 2006
Whilst at the airport before going on holiday recently, I noticed WHSmith had That Peter Kay Book by Johnny Dee on display. Being a Peter Kay fan, I picked up the book and had a quick flick through. To my amazement, I immediately spotted that the list of Internet Sources towards the back of the book included the following:
<ruscoe.net/maxandpaddy>
“That’s my website,” I shouted to Suzy (despite her being stood right next to me). The author must have found my Max & Paddy’s Road To Nowhere Location Guide website whilst researching material for the book. Anyway, I called my mum and got her to order a copy from Play.com (just because it was £4 cheaper than WHSmith) so that I could read it when I got back.
I remember seeing Peter Kay on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross saying how he didn’t like the idea of someone else writing his biography, which is why he’s written his own (due to be released on 5 October 2006). I seem to remember him implying that all these people do is dig for dirt on a celebrity and publish it, making money off the back of their fame.
Having read Johnny Dee’s book, it’s obvious that he admires practically everything Peter Kay’s ever done. Of course, there are things in the book that Peter Kay won’t have included in his autobiography, but not because he wouldn’t necessarily want them to be published – more because he wouldn’t even know some of those things about himself! Contained in this book are some honest opinions from Peter’s school friends, teachers, other comedians, co-workers and various other people he’s come into contact with over the years, many of whom would never have divulged this information directly to him.
I thought I knew quite a lot about Peter Kay, especially coming from Bolton and reading many of the stories and articles that the Bolton Evening News printed about him, but reading this book made me realise that I knew practically nothing about him at all. Starting with his childhood, then the numerous part-time jobs he had before becoming a stand-up comedian, and eventually his slow rise to fame as a star of TV and film, Johnny Dee’s experience as a journalist has allowed him to speak to many of the key people in Peter Kay’s life – including Peter Kay himself – with each one providing amusing tales and anecdotes about his journey so far.
So where does my guide to locations used in Max and Paddy fit in? After reading the entire book, I’m pretty sure that content from my website was only used for a couple of items in the “The Little Book o Mis-Kay-Lany” at the back of the book:
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TRACKLISTING TO JERRY ST CLAIR’S SOLO ALBUM YOUNG AT HEART – this was possibly obtained from this photo of the fake album (as featured in Series 2, Episode 2 of Phoenix Nights) that I found whilst visiting the motorhome used in the series
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MAX AND PADDY’S ROAD TO NOWHERE LOCATIONS: ALL ROADS LEAD TO BOLTON – undoubtedly taken from my Max & Paddy’s Road To Nowhere Location Guide website
I thoroughly recommend this book to all fans of Peter Kay. Even when his autobiography is released next month, I’m sure it will be worth reading both of these books.
(For a more detailed review of That Peter Kay Book – or The Story of How Peter Kay Became Bolton’s Biggest Export – see Chortle.co.uk.)
For any of my readers that have never even heard of Peter Kay – you’ve either been living under a rock or don’t live in the UK – you can catch some of his work on Google Video, although it’s mainly just his John Smith’s adverts and short TV appearances.
Labels: books, personal, peterkay, ruscoe.net, tv
3 December 2004
Since I’m originally from the Bolton area, I know quite a few of the locations used in Peter Kay’s latest TV series on Channel 4. For any die-hard Peter Kay fans out there, surfing t’Internet trying to find out where those locations are, I’m proud to present "Max & Paddy’s Road To Nowhere Location Guide"...
Labels: links, personal, peterkay, tv
