Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8416 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-11-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
For his first video Live at the Top of the Tower, Bolton comedian, actor and Channel 4 star Peter Kay returns to his roots--both as a stand up and by performing live in Blackpool, his childhood haunt. Bolstered by the acclaim heaped on his two television series (That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights), Kay is very much at the top of his game. Odd then that his live routine suffers from something of a false start, relying on characters from and references to his TV show and an awkward batch of jokes. Once settled though, Kay happily emerges as one of the funniest men in the country. His humour is fairly traditional in its sources but succeeds by its very universality. Much is made both of his family life and growing up in the 1980s, the reasons why he makes such a great guest on the rash of television shows dissecting the decade. His style will be very familiar to fans of Phoenix Nights (his words on the Northern club circuit: "tomorrow's acts at yesterday's prices, today"--are straight from his Brian Potter character) and his acting and writing have obviously been hugely influenced by his life as a stand up. He emerges from the video as a great visual comic, a brilliant mimic and an inspired observationalist--his piece on the perils of Teletext is one of the highlights. Those who have taken to the likes of Mark Park, Cheryl Avenue, Jerry Sinclair and Kay's countless other creations should not hesitate when it comes to Live at the Top of the Tower, nor should anyone else with a sense of humour. --Phil Udell

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Comedian and actor Peter Kay is captured live in Blackpool, presenting the stand-up show which first made his name.

Customer Reviews

Top class northern culture.
After the brilliance of 'Phoenix Nights', Peter Kay delights with his childhood memories of dodgy foreign holidays, day trips to Blackpool and his Bolton childhood. Brilliant observation and comic timing on idiosyncrasies from schooldays
( playground supervisors dresssed in pink tabards obsessed with rain), old people and the weather( I like it hot but not this hot !)and his father's dislike of foreign food(Garlic................and
Bread ).
Also has a well merited dig at the
appalling 'Stars in your eyes'and northern 'chicken in the basket style' entertainers.
Buy it and settle down for the evening with a six pack. The guy is class.

Peter Kay Live is the funniest thing you'll ever see.
I watched Peter Kay Live at the Top of the Tower on a cable channel and found it to be hilarious. I had seen Peter Kay before shows like 'That Peter Kay Thing', 'Phoenix Nights' and recently the 'John Smith's' adverts. After seeing this show I came onto Amazon to locate the Video and instead found this DVD. I ordered it and recieved it two days later. I played it straight away and was even more impressed then when I first watch the show. The DVD contains the full show, where as the version shown on TV was edited down, missing out some very good stories.
I watched it from start to finish several times, before I even looked at the extras. Yes I did say "Extras" on this DVD there is an Interview with Peter Kay and also a bonus footage section showing jokes from the show which didn't make the final cut, plus out-takes where he messed up and had to try again to get the joke right. The Las Vegas mess up was particularly funny as he made it clear to the audience they'd be there all night until he got is right so he didn't look daft on the DVD by not being able to speak or do his own act. Even better when during the re-takes he told audience to go quiet at points so they could edit it right for the final version so no one would suspect he messed up.
What makes Peter Kay so funny is how he picks up on things that happen in everyday life that are very funny when he points them out. For example when Peter Kay brings to our attention what children know for years, "Why do mums buy c**p pop?". Other things like getting Holidays off Teletext are funny, talking about his families Holiday's abroad where his dad would always find an English-Themed Pub on the first day to get some 'Proper Food' not that foreign muck like 'Garlic-Bread'. How everyone would be so excited finding something English in supermarkets like Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers (Les Cadbury's Fingrez) and you buy them to see if they taste the same even though they are £1 more expensive.
The way Peter Kay touches on small things like why people won't get out of bed on an odd number instead waiting for 8:05 or 8:10 etc is hilarious and provides filler between the longer stories and joke sets.
I recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to have a laugh and even better this DVD can be watched by the whole family as Peter Kay is a comedian who doesn't cause offense and isn't rude or crude. I only wish Peter Kay would do more stand-up and release more videos and DVD's like this show.

Magnificent sums it up...
Peter Kay: Live from the Top of the Tower is possibly the greatest stand up show ever. Peter Kay's observational humour is so spot on that your sides will hurt from laughing. Everything from dinner ladies that can smell rain, thus preventing the children from playing out, to finding a holiday on teletext (368 pages to go through until your page comes back around). The stories usually focus around Kay's childhood, growing up in Bolton in the 1980's. His mother, who cleans the house BEFORE going on holiday to the father who won't touch foreign foods when abroad ('Garlic...And bread? Garlic bread?'). Peter Kay explains exactly why people talk with their hands, even the old woman who complains about the heat is there, 'I like it hot but not this hot'.

The characters are familiar to everyone and that's what makes the stand up show so special. We've all met the people Kay talks about. What Peter Kay has done here is present life as we know it, but in such a way that you'll no doubt be crying with laughter with the jokes and characters featured in the show. This show is absolutely spectactular that I would reccomend it to everyone. It is funny without being rude or offensive and that's something which isn't very common in the wacky world of MTV. And remember, as the dinner lady always says; 'It's the fine rain that gets you wet.'