All I can assume is that Peter Kay has a gifted publicity team. I can think of no other reason why a man with modest comedy skills and an act that, as far as I can stand watching him, dates back to the early 1970s, is hitting the front page of UK papers on a daily basis. I knew very little about him until Rendle's posts a few years back, although he never struck me as especially funny or talented.

That's a harsh thing to say about Rendle.

I did pause, briefly, over that sentence, before pressing "post". But sometimes it just has to be said.

IMHO the hype surrounding him is not so much about his return to the stage but is concerned more with his return in and of itself and to that end, the man's appearance. 

The red tops and other dubious news outlets were on the verge of taunting some time ago about candid photos of Kay, feigning concern over his appearance (can't remember if it was because he appeared emaciated and was too skinny, or appeared obese, so was labelled as too fat), but all are rushing to show the chap as 'he really is' now he's emerged which, because he's been out of the public eye is piquing interest and shifting papers. :C

It does spark an interest in people, something is hidden or tacit, so immediately it's something people want to know about.

It's a similar situation with what is happening or would happen for Michael Schumacher should a photo emerge of him in his post-accident state. I've read stories that the first picture that could be obtained of what he looks like (nevermind his physical ability or mental state), could well be worth millions to the tabloid press. 

A sad state of affairs. 

I was/am genuinely curious about what's going on. Not because I'm especially interested in Peter Kay. If there was a splash across the pages about his new tour I wouldn't think anything of it. Or a bit of celebrity gossip isn't out of the ordinary. Maybe it's me, but I thought I was seeing something a bit odd with a series of articles across various "papers" about his wonderful work with charities and children, including tales of helping individual kids. Close on the heels of this came all kinds of stuff praising him for how he organised his tour, such as dates and venues that he didn't need to include, and keeping the prices down for his devoted fans. He's being set up as some kind of suffering saint and the generous people's comedian. 

I mean he's always been popular with the right-wing press (ie 95% of it in the UK) but at the same time there were whispers and rumours, in print I mean, of less than kindly interactions with the public at large and with staff and fellow comedians. This includes a reputation for meanness, diva behaviour, and a somewhat relaxed approach to the comedy material of others. Now all that's fogotten, it seems.

Talking of which, or whom, I watched a couple of versions of his 'worst programming language ever' presentation on YouTube the other day. Several years old now. Quite fun, if grossly unfair on just about every language he discusses (especially COBOL).