HE has performed 10 shows at the Edinburgh Festival and met his idols along the way including Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

But after more than 15 years in comedy, Ray Peacock has never performed a stand-up routine in his hometown of Warrington – until now.

Ray, who grew up in Burtonwood, will present his show Here Comes Trouble at the Pyramid next Thursday.

"I’ve avoided Warrington and it seems to have caught up with me on this tour," said the 41-year-old.

"I’ve not avoided it because I dislike the place but it’s pretty weird coming back to where you’re from.

"When I announced that date I suddenly started hearing from people I went to school with who I’ve not seen for 20 years.

"They said they’re going to come and see me do comedy but I don’t even know if they’ll like what I do! I’m trying not to think about.

"I remember Lee Mack once said to me he would not gig in Southport which is where he’s from.

He said it was too close to home and if you have a bad gig there that place could be potentially ruined for you and it’s your hometown."

The comedian whose real name is Ian Boldsworth added: "It’s only recently that I began thinking about all these things.

"There will be people there who knew me as a kid and have no knowledge of me as an adult or as a performer.

"It suddenly became something I could fail at rather than just being a gig. It feels like a test or something that could be emotionally damaging.

"I’m trying not to build it up in my head but it’s already taken on the shadow of something sinister."

Ray, who is best known for his Peacock and Gamble Podcast which topped the iTunes charts, was back in Warrington last weekend to visit his parents and was surprised by how much everything had changed.

The former Burtonwood Primary School pupil said: "The last time I was there Golden Square certainly didn’t look how it does now.

"It’s all changed and I got lost in Warrington town centre. It was the most bizarre thing in the world for me considering I grew up there.

"I went to Selwyn Jones High School which then became Newton-le-Willows High School and it’s Hope Academy now.

"It was really weird because I was there a few months ago and I drove past it with my girlfriend and we pulled in to where it was and it was just gone – it’s a new building.

"In Sankey Valley Park there also used to be this big climbing frame called the spider’s web. It was this huge monstrosity and as a kid I never got past the first or second tier of it

"It seems like all of my childhood has been demolished."

Ray, whose brother Gareth went to Great Sankey High, left Warrington to go to drama school in Wakefield when he was 16. Back then he did not think working in comedy could become a career.

He added: "I always thought it was something people did when they weren’t acting because my generation was Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and all the Young Ones lot.

"As far as I could see in my teenage years they were actors. I didn’t even know Rik Mayall did stand up and then I saw him live with Ben Elton and realised it was a thing."

So Ray went on to host a comedy night at the former Torrington Arms in Finchley in 1997.

He said: "That was the first time I approached it as something I could make a living from.

"For the first one Rob Browse was on. He’s an amazing comic who I went on to work with for a long time. "Micky Flanagan was also on. He did 10 minutes and got a fiver. He says he’s still got that fiver as it was the first time he was paid for comedy.

"The function room we used is now an Indian restaurant and the front of it is now a Starbucks. I’ve left a trail of destruction in my wake. Wherever I’ve been hasn’t survived."

The venue may have gone but that is where Ray learnt his tricks of the trade. So what is the secret to live comedy?

"Treat the audience with disdain. Don’t pander to their whims," added Ray, who now lives in Derbyshire.

"I honestly think one of the biggest lessons you learn as a comic is just to do what you do.

"So that means not second guessing what an audience wants and give them what you can do. If they like you then great if not then you’re not for them."

Since then Ray has built up a reputation as a warm-up act for live studio audiences for TV shows like Red Dwarf, Not Going Out, The IT Crowd and Russell Howard's Good News.

He said: "My favourite warm up was French and Saunders’ last show for the BBC.

"I’d been such a fan of them and I was so nervous about working for them even though I was doing well as a warm up at that point as they were my idols.

"I spoke to Dawn and Jennifer before it and they were both lovely and put me at ease.

"I had a really good show and right in the middle of it I noticed Ade Edmondson and Lenny Henry both laughing on the back row.

"It was a defining moment for me because it felt like I was part of this professional comedy gang."

- Ray Peacock presents Here Comes Trouble at the Pyramid next Thursday. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345 for tickets.

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