Comedy now accounts for 15% of programming at London’s The O2, Europe’s busiest indoor arena.
The venue said 2023 will be its biggest year on record for comedy with headliners including Peter Kay, Micky Flanagan and Kevin Hart.
Following Kay’s monthly residency, which runs all the way through to April 2025, this month the stand-up star becomes the newest member of the venue’s ‘21 Club’, which was launched following Prince’s record-breaking 21 consecutive, sold-out run at The O2 in 2007. His residency has sold over 300,000 tickets to date.
The 20,000-capacity venue recently staged the inaugural Just For Laughs LONDON, which is a cross-campus comedy festival hosted at multiple venues at The O2, with headline performances from Graham Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Joe Lycett, Katharine Ryan and more.
Emma Bownes, vice-president of venue programming (Europe) at The O2, said: “From cross-campus festivals, to live podcast events and stand-up shows from some of the best in the business, it really feels like 2023 is the year of comedy at The O2.
“We’ve seen some incredible ticket sales for comedy this year – with Peter Kay’s monthly residency continuing to be in high-demand right through to 2025, and Micky Flanagan bringing nine out of this world shows to us in May and June of this year. We’re really thrilled to welcome so many of the best comedians in the world to The O2 and looking forward to shows still to come this year with Jack Whitehall, Trevor Noah and Gabriel Iglesias.”
Music stars scheduled to play the venue this year include Elton John, Madonna and The Who, with Disney, WWE and UFC shows also to feature.