How Vegas loves his comic persona

Johnny Vegas says his stand-up creation has taken over his whole life - but he doesn't really mind.

The comic says that even his wife doesn't call him by his real name, Michael Pennington, and that everyone thinks of him as a doleful hard drinker.

"There's a real danger of trying to live up to who people think you are," he told The Times.

"If people love you because you love a drink they want to drag you into pubs and you're actually on your way to Marks & Spencer. You're going, 'I can't because I've really got to go and look at scatter cushions,' and your head's sinking as you say it.

"But I'm not desperate to be known as Michael Pennington. I'm not embarrassed about what I do."

Vegas also told the paper that he isn't the tortured soul many comedians are.

"I've never despised myself," he said. "I like who I am and I've nothing to run away from."

"Like anyone you go through periods of doubt - I wanted to be sexier as a teenager - but I was very accepting of what you can change and what you can't. I never spent hours in front of the mirror despising myself."

Published: 13 Jan 2003