Michael McIntyre awarded keys to The O2
Michael McIntyre has been presented with the keys to The O2 Arena, after reaching the milestone of 21 performances at the venue.
First established by music artist Prince in 2007, the run was equalled and subsequently smashed by the legendary comedian during his current seven-night run.
With his first arena tour in 2009 of four nights; a run of ten sell-out shows in 2012; seven shows in his most recent Happy & Glorious 2015 tour; and appearances at the annual Channel 4 Comedy Gala, Michael McIntyre has a record 27 O2 performances to his name.
This makes him the most performed artist at the world's number one music and entertainment venue, beating the likes of Take That and One Direction.
The key, designed by The O2 team and presented by Operations Director Steve Gotkine, was finished in gold and mounted on a red velvet backing, resembling the comedian's own iconic artwork. Housed on the walk to the stage at The O2, the award will be visible to everyone who performs in future.
Commenting on McIntyre's achievement, Steve Gotkine said: "No other artist has come close to Michael's success at our venue. He has performed a record 27 times, making hundreds of thousands of fans laugh, time and time again. Our team loves having Michael perform and nobody deserves this honour more. Congratulations to Michael and his team."
Michael McIntyre says: "This truly is an honour and I'm delighted to have this award. This is a great venue and I'll be reminded every time I look at this wonderful gold key."
He jokes: "As I'm now in The O2's twenty-one performances club, I'll be starting a super-group with the other members: Prince, Take That and One Direction. We'll be back to perform together next year."
Seating some 20,000 audience members, The O2 Arena has the UK's second-largest indoor capacity, behind only the Manchester Arena. In 2008 the venue overtook New York's Madison Square Garden as the world's foremost music arena.
Since then, Madison Square Garden has slipped to fourth place in global ticket sales rankings, with The O2 selling almost 3 times as many tickets in 2014, followed by Glasgow's SSE Hydro as the second busiest venue, and the Manchester Arena in third place.
Michael McIntyre is currently touring his Happy & Glorious tour. Last week newspapers reported about how a lady gave birth six weeks early after laughing at his show