Peter Kay addresses dramatic weight loss for first time amid health battle

He was brutally honest.

The legendary comedian is currently still on tour with his 'Better Late Than Never...Again!' show which has been such a hit it's been extended into next year.

Meanwhile, Kay also revealed that the profit from these 2026 shows would be going to multiple cancer charities.

Those who have seen the comic in recent appearances will have likely noticed his weight loss, something he has now opened up about in a new interview.

Speaking at a recent 'In Conversation With...' event at Salford's Lowry Theatre, recorded for the BBC, he told Sara Cox about his previous battles with weight loss.

Cox asked Kay if he had previously tried to lose weight, to which Kay replied rather characteristically with the quip, "Only for the first 48 years of my life."

He added: "Yeah, I had to eventually, because you start thinking about your health and things like that, don't you?"

The 52-year-old explained that he "tried everything" including trying his mum's fitness videos as well as other weight loss groups.

He said: "I used to do fitness. My mum had a fitness video once of Rosemary Connolly. Remember them?

"And I put it on once and I were in the back room, trying to get my breath. And I were wet through and sweaty. And she said ‘now that we've warmed up', I thought, warmed up?

"Then I joined a gym in Bolton, I joined David Lloyd. And you think, right, and then you do weights. And then I went to pool because it's easier. You know why I stopped going? Men just talking to you naked.

“And then I went to high energy aerobics on a Monday night. High energy and everyone would grab a mat. I used to be at the back with a two-litre bottle of Tizer.

"Then I joined an old school gym under some arches at central Manchester, and a lad ran this gym he had me pulling a tyre outside. Honestly, it were awful.

"I used to tell him I needed a wee and I'd go and sit in toilet and sob because it were like proper old school."

Speaking more about his experience with weight, he told Cox about the moment he realised he was eating too much, after watching 'Green Mile' with his wife.

Kay told how he fancied a hotdog so told his wife he was going to the loo, and left and grabbed a mid-film snack all while he'd been "doing really well on this diet".

The iconic comic described "shoving it in" because he had only said he was going for a wee.

He said he then saw a reflection of himself in a framed poster for the film 'Babe'.

At this point he threw the rest of the hotdog in the bin as he thought "look at you, you should be ashamed of yourself", although said before the food "hit the bin liner" he picked it back up and "had another bite".

It was all in vain as when he got back to his wife she could tell he'd had a hot dog as she could smell it on his breath.

The full conversation aired on BBC Radio 2 last night (1 December) is now available to listen to on the BBC's website.