Without Spikey and Fitzmaurice, he lost his editing team and roots and plunged into self indulgence. Max and Paddy was dire, the X Factor rubbish was plainly embarrassing.

It's like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

Peter's biscuit thing still makes me laugh a lot, but everything else I find pretty dull to be honest. It's fairly average stand up, and as for the other stuff he does, it just doesn't do it for me at all.

I love The Office and Extras (especially the Bowie song)but I find Gervais as a person in interviews and the like particularly annoying.

"dress up as a woman (which I think he enjoyed far too much - he looked way too comfortable)." Who cares?

The most depressingly unoriginal comedian ever to become massive. Even his so called zenith, Pheonix Nights, was stolen from Vic 'n Bob.

and I do find it funny. Not terribly sophisticated, but funny.

the Danny Baker show.

But then most "popular" comics I can't stand - ergo Gervais, Carr, Lee Evans, Kaye. Not funny, any of them.

Give me the Mock the Week types any day.

On Channel 4 anyway. I would like him, local lad done good but I'm bloody glad he is not a mate of Wossie, appearing on chat shows by the dozen or fronting iffy Hollywood B-movies.

I applaud his charity records for Children In Need and others, which he seems to do without caring if they are the "official" releases. I chuckled a great deal when reading his first book and I believe Santa is bringing the follow-up, Saturday Night Peter, down the chimney this Christmas.

I thought he was brilliant in 24-Hour Party People, for instance (the blowjob in the van sequence).

But he does seem a little bit too pleased with himself, though. And I can't help feeling that he's outclassed by other Greater Mancs - Les Dawson, Victoria Wood and Steve Coogan - when it comes to the observational stuff.

was great stuff, some truly hilarious stuff in there. But I agree that he kind of lost his way. His stand up is ok, nothing more nothing less, and the max and paddy/ geraldine stuff was dull. Still believe he is capable of pulling something excellent out of the bag.

The 'my mum wants a bungalow' tour

different to his private one'?

.

The public / private persona dichotomy examples (no Carter-Ruck food obviously)

that spotted a very petty side to him in his book? It seemed to be mostly about settling old scores with teachers / ex-bosses etc. It all reminded me a bit too much of Alan Partridge's "Bouncing Back" wherein each chapter ended "..needless to say I had the last laugh". If you listen to the commentary for the second series of PN he's pretty pissed at Daniel Kitson for not giving him the props he thinks he is owed. Very odd.
He MCed Squeeze at the Echo Arena in Liverpool in July, it sort of seemed quite apt as he played as safe as Squeeze did that night..I agree with the North / South thing that Illuminatus mentioned. That sentimentality ("Danny Boy" as part of his act- I mean, for flip's sake) is one of his least endearing traits that plays to a certain demographic.
Phoenix Nights had its moments as did his character thingy (even then, some of the gags were recycled) but Max and Paddy was dire and the Geraldine thing I just didn't get.

I've heard from someone really quite high up in the good old entertainment industry something which may chime with the comments above.

His book seemed to be full of stories from his act/TV shows.

Daniel Kitson - now there's a comic. A true original and the complete opposite to soulless Jimmy Carr/Michael McIntyre-types.

I have Liverrpool Irish/Manchester family roots, of which I'm proud but in a no big deal way. I can't stand the bugger. An unfunny walking cliche and from what I saw of his treatment of a Stagehand on one of the recent pointless Dianafricaearth fests, an obnoxious prat to boot.

Phoenix Nights was brilliant.
His first couple of standup DVDs - hilarious.

Max and Paddy - was alright. The other fella was good.

And then he's dropped off my radar. He was hailed as the future of comedy for a bit, wasn't he? Well, he wasn't. I think he found a very rich, but very short comedic seam and mined it for all that it was worth. As it turned out it wasn't worth all that much comedically. He's made a pile of cash and can do what he wants. I won't be watching it.

So ,is Peter Kaye is dickhead or what? He seems in nice chap to me but I read on a comedy website about a row he had with one of the co-creators of PN.He didnt coe out of it too well. So spill the beans,then. What sort of things has he done?

I loved Phoenix Nights.Brilliantly observed as my dad worked behind the bar in one of those type clubs and they got it spot on.
Loved The Office and Extras but not enough of the credit goes to Stephen Merchant.The guy is incredibly funny and by from i've heard, a thoroughly good bloke.I get the impression that Ricky Gervais is basically playing Ricky Gervais. Which is probably the joke.
Used to listen to Stephen Merchant on a kids show on BBC World Service and the boyband members who came on got ripped a new one in such an inoffensive way.takes a special mind to get away with that.

He's funny. He's not always as funny as when he did Phoenix Nights. But he's still funny. Plenty of people seem to find him funny. Where's the problem. If you don't think he's funny, watch something else.

had moments of genius.

but I can't forgive Peter Kay for the amount of times I've heard people call the internet "Tinternet" thinking it is still amusing.

to him if he wants to stay at home and watch the kiddies grow up, but in Bargepole's humble opinion he desperately needs to get back on the road with a full set of all new material to reconnect with his core audience.

...to find that I wasn't the only one who found the talent show a comedy-free zone. I loved PN and also Max and Paddy - even as a soft Southerner. Then, unfortunately, I read his book. It was embarrassing and Pooterish - way too much light let in on what I had previously thought was magic.

There was a comment earlier about him looking a bit 'comfortable' or something in drag in the talent show thing. My take is that he just looked a bit pleased with himself in that persona - as if he thought the set-up funny by definition. Maybe that was why he didn't feel the need to write any jokes. I had thought the program proved that talent shows are beyond parody, but reading this thread, I wonder if he's just lost his comedy mojo - see John Cleese et al.

Has rather passed me by. I've seen a bit of his stand-up stuff. OK. Phoenix Nights made me smile a bit. What has made me laugh in recent times? Extras. Genius. I didn't get The Office and felt that all the Ricky G hoop-la was a bit extreme. Extras made me change my mind. Proper wiping-away-tears belly-laughs.

has made me laugh till my sides hurt and reach for the off button. Like most performers he is never going to get it right every time. I don't think Amarillo did him any favours, death by airplay again, we don't like our artists rammed down our throats. Todays cutting edge is tomorrows national treasure and the next weeks Ben Elton. Peter Kay isn't Ben Elton and that will do for me.

who loved The Office but thought Extras was woeful?

And Gervais' "stand-up"? Oh dear oh dear.

Peter Kaye, OTOH, I do seem to be in alignment with the majority here, as I liked Phoenix Nights, but not much else.

his problem is he's mined all his life experience for his comedy and it wasn't that extensive to start with. Phoenix Nights was funny as were his early pilot shows but he's run out of material hence the dire X-factor parody and endless cameos. I don't think he's that inquisitive so unlikely to do something outside the box.

I think Peter Kay may be able to keep catering to his core audience but he'll need to refresh things to keep his widespread reputation intact (he probably doesn't the cash).

Here's a fag packet theory is all top notch comedy based on the writers experience? I can only think of Porridge and the odd scfi show but al the other top shows are based on the writers peformers experience life/army service etc.

Saw him live in a very small pub, in a gig which was a warm-up for his Blackpool Tower DVD. Kay stood on a table so we could see him, and then realising it wasn't high enough got a rickety wooden chair and stood on that as well and delivered the whole gig perched on it, leaping off occasionally to play Axel-F on the pub Piano. I laughed so much it hurt, and that subsequent DVD (Live at the Top of the Tower) was pure genius. Very very Funny, but in a warm and inclusive way which meant that it was one of the few things you could genuinely watch with all generations of a family and everyone would find it funny. There is a lot to be said for that. If he'd carried on like that he could have had the sort of universal appeal and impact that Morecambe and Wise had. Indeed I always thought it was a shame Kay didn't have a bash at doing a Christmas TV special.

Sadly the TV shows got ever more self-indulgent and the X Factor/Pop Idol parody was such a soft target and such a pointless exercise when the actual programme is funnier and weirder than anything Kay could dream up.

For the last few years he's been content to churn out merchandise and stretch his reputation as far as it can go. Cue endless cash-in DVDs where the same material has been re-packaged over and over..same material in front of a different venue.

Its nearly Xmas...and of course there is a new ropey book from Peter Kay, which as Andrew Collins has pointed out the title of which should be enough to put you off since it is the weakest pun ever. I won't even repeat it here.

Maybe he'll come back with a cracking new live show or a brilliant new TV series and all will be forgiven but don't hold your breath.