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The show gets better – or worse, depending on your point of view – with a stage invasion of angry dwarves and a DJ set from mullet-haired Ray Von (played by co-writer Neil Fitzmaurice) that culminates in a musical mashup of Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter and the theme from Jim’ll Fix It. Phoenix Nights Series 1 sees legendary social club owner Brian Potter and his hapless band of staff and regulars determined to make the Phoenix Club a success, no matter what. Not even a racist folk band, an unforeseeable psychic or a drunken horse will get in the way of their dream that "club land will never die". Set in a northern social club, Peter Kay co-writes and stars as a range of characters in this unique comedy classic. Peter plays Brian Potter, the wheelchair-bound owner of the fire-blighted Phoenix Club in Bolton, who's determined to see it rise from the ashes. Aiding Brian at the Phoenix are his motley staff: the resident MC Jerry St Clair (Dave Spikey); the dangerously keen electrician/DJ Ray; the useless doormen Max and Paddy; the bar and cleaning staff Holy, Mary and Marion; the gormless handyman Kenny; and the musical twosome Alan and Les (Les Alanos).
Indeed, the whole show seems to have been presented as a satire on the self-serving nature of celebrity aid junkets: “We’re on a mission to bring people in Africa something they’ve never had before – five-star adult cabaret,” Kay smooches. “Thank you for making their dreams come true.”In the decade since Phoenix Nights aired it has become commonplace to appropriate a Roy “Chubby” Brown level of humour under the spurious guise of irony. As the arena-sized reunion has been mounted in support of Comic Relief, the off-colour imperatives of northern clubland have an inbuilt immunity to criticism. Kay – surely the only mainstream entertainer capable of getting away with the catchphrase “I don’t know whether you’ve noticed I’m disabled?” – scotches any suggestion that the show will be toned down by wheeling over to the British Sign Language interpreter and demanding that he demonstrate how to sign “buggered” and “shithole”.