Johnny’s back and he’s a lean, mean wise-cracking machine (From St Helens Star)

Johnny’s back and he’s a lean, mean wise-cracking machine

10:05am Thursday 25th June 2009

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JOHNNY Vegas will be a changed man when he steps out before audiences in St Helens this weekend.

But although he’s shed some eight inches from his waistline, don’t expect any shortage of heavyweight comedy.

Over the past decade Vegas’ character has been built on his reputation as a Guinness swilling northern motormouth, while phrases like ‘roly poly’ have been commonly used to describe his hefty frame.

Suggestions he’s now ditched the black stuff in favour of a more Saintly lifestyle are well wide of the mark.

But he will arrive at the Citadel for two shows a somewhat tamer and slimmer figure these days.

Speaking to the Star, ahead of this week’s gigs he said: “No I couldn’t give up the Guinness, no way.

“I had started getting gout on and off so it was just a case of eating better – I prayed it wasn’t the Guinness that was causing it.

“The weight has come off quite slowly really it’s just that perhaps people don’t see you on TV really for three months and then you notice the difference “I’m not really one for going the gym and I had a go of one of those Nintendo Wiis and ended up injuring my elbow.

“So yes it has been about eating a healthier diet, I don’t really weigh myself so I couldn’t tell you how much I’ve lost (some reports say its six stone) but I do it through M&S waistlines – and I’ve gone from a 46-inch to a 38.

“Of course people will be talking about me doing a fitness DVD now or leading classes down at the YMCA.”

Saturday and Sunday’s gigs are part of a build up to a big stand-up show in Benidorm, Spain, that the 37-year-old will be recording for a DVD later this summer.

However, much of Johnny’s work in recent years has been in TV, with Ideal now in its fifth series and Benidorm its third.

The success of the shows (the Spanish comedy draws audiences of six million plus) underline his longevity.

He’s not everyone’s cup of tea and there were those that reckoned he would be a flash in the pan who would disappear after a couple of years of fame.

So the fact he remains a household name and succeeds in many guises – from stand-up, to comic actor, serious actor, scriptwriter and documentary producer – is perhaps one in the eye for those snipers who wrote him off.

Maybe his undimmed profile is the result of a drive borne out of anxieties that he will one day fall by the wayside.

“You never know what is around the corner in this game,” adds the man whose Woolyback productions outfit is exploring taking his successful adaptation of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist to the screen and making a kids TV programme with the team behind Zig and Zag.

Vegas keeps plenty of plates spinning then, but when it comes to a run of stand-up shows, he needs tunnel vision.

He adds: “When I’m doing stand-up it is all consuming, so that’s all I want to be doing.

“When I started out a lot of my material was about growing up, but when you have been so busy with other things, it’s hard to be picking up on things, you are not soaking up popular culture, I guess.

“But when I am my brain starts working in a different way. I also get that familiar sick feeling in the pit of my stomach though!”

Vegas’s appreciation of the stand-up comic’s art has been deepened by a documentary for Radio 4 about the stand-up in Benidorm.

Whereas the club circuit is on its knees in the UK, comedy acts thrive in the Spanish resort, with Vegas likening the scene as a throwback to the 70s with bare-knuckled material that he simply “couldn’t get away with over here”.

He adds: “It’s so cutthroat over there, you daren’t have a night off sick or you’ll lose the slot. It makes me feel like I had a really cosseted upbringing in stand-up.”

The Citadel’s crowd can be quite unforgiving…after all Michael Pennington’s career as Johnny Vegas was born after he heckled a performer and took to the stage himself.

So this weekend should provide ideal preparation for that Benidorm mob.

Johnny Vegas and Friends takes place on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, at the Citadel, Waterloo Street, St Helens. Doors open 8pm.

Support act on Saturday will be Mick Sergeant, while Sunday will Dan Nightingale in support and Tony Burgess as headline.

Tickets for Johnny and Friends are on sale priced £10 each, from the Citadel box office on 01744 735436.

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