Peter Kay - Live At The Bolton Albert Halls [2003]

Kay is an inspired mimic and observer of social interactions: in a tour-de-force segment he takes us to a typical wedding reception where we meet incoherent DJs, bitchy female friends of the bride, uncles embarrassing themselves on the dancefloor and little boys sliding on their knees. References to "the big light", Mum's preferred "Rola Cola" and garlic bread are thematic strands from his earlier show, developed here in Dad's horrified discovery of "cheese cake".

Although Kay's observations play on his northern upbringing he generally avoids stereotypical north-south jokes; but here on home turf he can't resist mentioning the vexed issue of southern fish-and-chip shops with their lack of mushy peas, curry sauce and gravy ("have you got owt moist?"), and can even risk a little dig at Mancunians--which always goes down well with a Bolton crowd. Genial, nostalgic and unapologetically rooted in a Coronation Street worldview, Kay's comedy is both specific to time and place, and universal in its celebration of the everyday. --Mark Walker