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
anybody buried
I want to be buried with Monkey. The thought of anybody else working with him would be too much.
british-comedian obviously written
This autocue was obviously written for someone else and I've been brought in at the last minute.
I always say that the stand-up world is the arena of the unwell, and it is.
michael
My name is Michael Pennington, and I am not a comic character.
behind camera confident found great till
Being behind the camera is where I feel comfortable. I've found something that I feel I, as 'Michael,' can be as confident in as 'Johnny' was on the stage. It's great being part of the creative process. You're right at the start of an idea, and you get to see it all the way through till the end.
british-comedian comics drag
There's this idea that it has to be made in London. But we've got everything up here, and if you've got comics who are gifted because of where they're from, you shouldn't drag them away from that natural resource.
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 call focus somebody unless
If I see somebody visually challenged, I won't purposefully focus in on them unless they call me names, and then I'll call them back.
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.
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.