Johnny Vegas

Johnny Vegas (real name Michael Joseph Pennington) born on September 11, 1971, is an English comedian from the Lancashire town of St. Helens. He is known for his random rants, his husky voice, his support of rugby league (St Helens RFC in particular, who he has played for in a guest appearance) and his drinking of Guinness. More recently he has made a successful move into dramatic acting.

File:Idealbbc.jpg

Vegas' DVD cover for his sitcom Ideal

Early life

He was born the youngest of four siblings (having two older brothers, Robert and Mark and an older sister Catharine) in St. Helens to Laurence and Patricia Pennington, strict Roman Catholics and parents he describes as loving.

He joined the seminary St Joseph's College, Upholland at the age of 11 but left after four terms and joined West Park Grammar School an all boys' comprehensive where he sacrificed his natural academic ability to the desire to fit in with his peers.

Life before fame

Vegas joined a seminary once again at the age of 24 after a bout of depression, but left, deciding that a career in the priesthood was not for him. For a time he was a Redcoat (Butlins). He studied art and ceramic design at Middlesex University for three years and attempted to forge a career in pottery but became disillusioned when he received a third class degree. His passion for pottery continues to this day. He returned to St Helens and became a live-in barman and drank heavily.

In the mid-nineties he spent some time living in London and Glasgow with the declared intention of becoming a stand up comedian but, in fact, spent most of the time drinking.

Vegas made his TV debut as a contestant on Win, Lose or Draw in the UK under his real name of Michael, but made references to the fact he wanted to be a comedian and that his stage name was "Johnny Vegas". His appearence was briefly shown during Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

Fame

Early performances

Before his success in the late 90s, Vegas was a compère of many comedy nights at the Citadel Arts Centre[1] in St Helens where he developed his character's stage performance.

His career took off when he won the Festival Critics' Award at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival, and was the first newcomer to be nominated for the Perrier Award. Vegas also won the 'Leicester Mercury's Comedian of The Year' Competition in 1998.

His early shows The Johnny Vegas Gameshow and The Johnny Vegas Show contained elements such as Butlins style sing-a-longs, onstage pottery, verbal abuse of the audience, and drunkenness. He was accused of sexism. Audience members report great variation in the quality of the shows - on occasion the talent for ad-libbing seems to desert him to be replaced by a shambolic, fragmentary performance.

The pathos in these shows is often remarked upon as it is often hard to identify how much of the apparent disintegration of Vegas is performance and how much is a genuine, guileless display of personal pain.

Major projects

He appeared as "Al" in a series of adverts for ITV Digital around 2001/2002 with a monkey made out of wool, whose name was simply Monkey. The ubiquity of these adverts made Vegas a household name, though Vegas now has to fend off (and does so with good humour) remarks about the failure of ITV Digital as an enterprise.

Vegas gave an award-winning performance as Charlie in 2001's Happiness, marking his transition from stand-up comedian to actor.

In 2003 Vegas wrote and starred in a DVD-only film, Who's Ready For Ice Cream? in which he played himself. The plot centred around Vegas's fame and success having resulted in the decline of his stand-up ability and the resulting efforts to regain it. The film was directed by Stewart Lee.

He starred in the 2004 film Sex Lives of the Potato Men. He has displayed unshaking pride in the venture, despite very poor reviews, some going so far as to label it the worst film ever.

He wrote and starred in a BBC Radio 4 sitcom called Night Class, seemingly heavily autobiographical, about an ex red coat, pottery teacher called Johnny Vegas.

In 2004, he co-starred in Dead Man Weds written by and co-starring of this series is Dave Spikey.

He appeared in the 2005 comedy-drama Ideal, playing a drug dealer. Vegas also started presenting an unconventional Friday night chat/comedy show on Channel 4 titled 18 Stone of Idiot.

Later in 2005, he appeared in straight acting roles on BBC One, first in their high-profile adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House (as Krook), and then as Bottom in an updated, modern-language version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In 2005, he appeared in a supporting role as 'Sackville', a poet and member of Charles II court in the film The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp.

In January 2007 PG Tips, a popular brand of tea in the UK, have reunited Johnny Vegas and the Monkey ('Monkeh') character (voiced by Ben Miller in a new advertising campaign. They're emotionally reunited over the product, with Johnny notably cleaner and soberer than his characteristic appearance, presumably as PG Tips has always promoted a wholesome image and for many years used chimpanzees as humorous characters. Johnny and the Monkey had been mentioned in a show over the 2006 holiday period documenting really bad decisions (ITV Digital's moribund launch, particularly buying the lesser league UK soccer rights), possibly sparking PG Tips' advertisers to bring them back together.

Appearances

Vegas is well-known for his impromptu rants at awards ceremonies, notably addressing Dustin Hoffman from the stage at the Empire Magazine movie awards in 2003.

He was given his own segment on The Big Breakfast shortly before the show came to an end in 2002.

In the same year, he was seen as a regular panelist on team B on Shooting Stars, with pint of Guinness perched by his buzzer.

He enjoyed a memorable guest appearance on Room 101, revealing an unhealthy obsession with an internet chat room called Beauty's Castle.

He managed to break the icy exterior of hostess Anne Robinson on The Weakest Link in 2000.

In March 2006 Vegas was a guest on the Channel 4 show TV Heaven, Telly Hell hosted by Sean Lock. In the show Vegas voiced his opinions on various television programmes, including Sex and the City, shopping channels such as QVC, (Vegas has also previously parodied QVC and shopping channels in general in a sketch from Shooting Stars).On May 2nd Johnny appeared in the Irish talk show The Podge and Rodge Show along with Jodie Marsh.

In early 2006, Vegas and his family were filmed for the returning series Family Fortunes against Coronation Street's Jenny McAlpine and her family.

On September 15, he appeared on The Charlotte Church Show upsetting the host so much that she slapped him, and shouted "Shut the fuck up".

Vegas has also appeared as the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car" on the BBC Two television series Top Gear. He was the only guest without a driving license to appear, and rounded the track in just under two minutes.

Ceramics

Having achieved fame in entertainment Vegas received belated plaudits for his ceramic work. Ceramic Review praised him, leading to a role in Pot Shots (collaborating with Roger Law), a film made for an international gathering of potters ^[2]. This led to his work being acquired for a collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a commission from Old Spice to design a bottle for their aftershave.

In 2005 he participated in the celebrity special edition of The Generation Game demonstrating how to make a pot, before judging the participants' attempts.

Personal life

He is married to Kitty Donnelly. He famously sold pictures of the wedding to Viz magazine for £1. Their son, Michael Junior, was born shortly before the couple separated. Fourteen months after the separation, the couple reunited.

External links

• Johnny Vegas at IMDb
• Sitting pretty by Miranda Sawyer - The Guardian, May 15, 2005.
  • Interview and profile from which many of the 29th August 2005 additions to this page were sourced.