Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas
Michael Joseph Pennington, Sr., better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English actor and comedian, known for his angry rants, surreal humour, portly figure and high husky voice...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth11 September 1971
johnny michael people
People are always asking, 'Where does Michael Pennington end and Johnny Vegas begin,' and you're going, 'It's not like that: it's blurred right across.'
flights great possibly saw writer
There was always that thing with 'Johnny' - I always saw myself as his writer and PR. But when he got out there, I had no control. His whole thing was going off on those flights of fancy. Going, 'Let's see what we can possibly do that hasn't been done before up here.' And when it works, it's lovely; it's a great night.
british-comedian obviously written
This autocue was obviously written for someone else and I've been brought in at the last minute.
genuine good staged tendency trace
I wanted to try and trace the genuine origins of 'Johnny' and how he so successfully staged this takeover of 'Michael Pennington.' 'Johnny' is a contradiction to who I am as a person. I'm not very good at confrontation, I have a tendency to internalise and to carry things around.
anybody buried
I want to be buried with Monkey. The thought of anybody else working with him would be too much.
bring possibly quite strengths trading within
I don't want to demonise 'Johnny.' I was really proud of what he achieved. Especially within stand-up. He was quite a unique voice. I will always possibly be trading off 'Johnny's name, but there's a lot more things that I'm able to do now - the strengths that 'Michael' can bring to it.
massive nerves shock stage stress waking
I'd never experienced stress before I did stand-up, and it was a massive shock to my system, this thing of waking up, and the nerves of, 'You're on stage tonight.'
dad enriched experience explore faith life lost tainted
I do need to explore my faith, because it has got lost over the years and it has been kind of tainted through experience. But I also know it's enriched my life, my dad being a Catholic.
watches comedy fine
Comedy's so subjective, and if someone comes to watch, doesn't get it, doesn't find it funny, then fine.
awards want bigs
You don't want to be flattered and become big-headed by getting awards. But, well, I am.
giving temptation interviews
You know, there's that temptation in interviews to make yourself sound - well, to give yourself a bit of mystery.
las-vegas needs want
I also want to return to doing stand-up. I've become frightened of live audiences. This is a really telling sign that I need to go back on the comedy circuit again.
dad real sleep
I came back from university thinking I knew all about politics and racism, not knowing my dad had been one of the youngest-serving Labour councillors in the town and had refused to work in South Africa years ago because of the situation there. And he's never mentioned it - you just find out. That's a real man to me. A sleeping lion.
thinking media editors
I think it sort of dawns on you that if you're not gigging constantly you're not actually relevant. You may be relevant to a different part of the media now, to television commissioners and editors, but to a young live-comedy audience you're not, really.