Peter Kay

Peter Kay

Date of birth: 02-07-1973

Peter Kay named Britain’s richest comedian

£34.6million fortune buys a lot of garlic bread

Peter Kay has been named Britain’s richest comedian, with a £34.6million fortune.

Records at Companies House show that in the year to March 2023, the value of the Car Share star’s two firms were down £1.2million on the previous year – but he still topped a table compiled by The Sun today.

And his coffers will be swelled by receipts for his ongoing arena tour, which extends to December next year.

The newspaper’s analysis apparently only considers the value of the companies through which stars do their business, and not other assets such as property.

Second in the rich list is Stephen Merchant, with £26.2million – up £2.5million in a year – followed by his Office co-creator Ricky Gervais with £25.8million.

Gervais recently bought a £14.75m home in London and also owns a £3million riverside mansion in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and two New York apartments.  

The Sun’s list is also likely to be incomplete, with the likes of Rowan Atkinson – who still rakes in a fortune from Mr Bean – and Jimmy Carr not making their cut.

But this is their top ten:

1 Peter Kay: £34.6m, down £1.2m in a year
2. Stephen Merchant £26.2m, up £2.5m
3. Ricky Gervais £25.8m, up  £600k
4. Russell Howard £10.1m, up £1m
5. Jack Whitehall £.9.9m, down £1.3m
Rob Beckett £6m, up £2m
7. Michael McIntyre £5m, up £1.9m
8 John Bishop £4.3m, down £155k
9. Sarah Millican £3.2m, down £200k
10. Hugh Dennis  £2.7m, up £40k.

Thanks for reading. If you find Chortle’s coverage of the comedy scene useful or interesting, please consider supporting us with a monthly or one-off ko-fi donation.
Any money you contribute will directly fund more reviews, interviews and features – the sort of in-depth coverage that is increasingly difficult to fund from ever-squeezed advertising income, but which we think the UK’s vibrant comedy scene deserves.
Read More

Published: 22 Jul 2024

A new chapter | Peter Kay starts podcasting

A new chapter

Peter Kay is jumping on the podcast bandwagon, by charging…
2/10/2006

 | Book review: That Peter Kay Book

This is the unauthorised biography that got Peter Kay…
23/09/2006

 | by Martin Kelner

As anyone who's ever glanced through the small ads…
22/09/2006

Funny how?

Loaded magazine has announced the shortlists for its…
22/09/2006

I'm spitting!

Peter Kay was dumped as the celebrity turning on the…
3/09/2006

Soap to stand-up

Coronation Street star Sally Lindsay is to appear in…
1/09/2006

First in lines

Peter Kay’s ‘garlic bread’ catchphrase…
13/08/2006

Stunted up

Peter Kay sidekick Paddy McGuinness is to star as washed-up…
20/07/2006

Vote of confidence

Peter Kay has topped yet another poll to find the funniest…
23/05/2006

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.