My wife comes first, says Johnny

Johnny Vegas has announced that he's quitting stand-up.

The comic says he's abandoning the slog of life on the road to spend more time with new wife Kitty Donnelly.

He told the Liverpool Daily Post: "I've done with life on the road and now I don't want to be away. I want to spend more time at home with my wife.

"She's not a hobby to be fitted in between jobs. She's my life now.

"Stand up is an all-consuming lifestyle and it isn't that healthy. Now I realise there's something bigger."

Vegas married 26-year-old Donnelly, an interior designer, in San Francisco last August.

His only major gig scheduled this year is a sold-out performance at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, on March 22 as part of the city's comedy festival. But he is also playing the Just The Tonic club in Nottingham this weekend.

Vegas, 31, has recently finished work on three films, and is enjoying TV success in Shooting Stars and Happiness.

Published: 20 Jan 2003