Peter Kay shares his tips for the top

'Get over rejection' he tells students

Peter Kay has been sharing his tips on comedy success at a ‘performance masterclass’ at Salford University.

The comic – who was today revealed to have £21million in the bank – told the undergraduates that they were ‘sitting on a goldmine’ at the university, which is based in the same MediaCityUK district as the BBC.

‘It’s a massive gift,’ he said, telling students to ‘just get in there and get on’.

And he added that modern technology meant would-be comics should always have an outlet for their work.

‘Nowadays, with HD recording on your iPhone and YouTube as a platform, there’s no excuse not to get your material out there,’ he said. ‘It’s really bridged the gap between aspiring performers and the TV industry.'

Kay was a student at Salford, but said he would have enjoyed the new 'comedy practices' course the university offers had it been around in his day. ‘I always preferred the practical work to theory during my course and I understand there’s a lot of practical skills teaching in the degree, which is great,’ he said.

Around 50 undergraduates quizzed the comic for two hours, during which time he stressed the importance of perseverance, hard work and the need to get over rejection.

He also revealed that he used stand-up as a stepping stone, as he was always looking towards ultimately becoming a comedy actor and writer.

Comedy writing and performance student Allyn Thomas said: ‘It was a brilliant opportunity and a privilege to have Peter Kay talk to us. He’s one of my comedy heroes.’

And the university’s comedy practices programme leader, Lisa Moore, added: ‘It's fantastic that Peter has spared the time to give our students the chance to talk to him and to learn so much from his masterclass. Peter is not just the very best in stand-up – he's also a genius comedy writer and actor, and he started here at Salford.’