Johnny Vegas – Who's Ready For Ice Cream?

[peanutbutter]

This of any merit? I remember thinking the bonus features had some great bits of standup from him but I don't think I ever actually watched the film itself.

[Dewt]

Yep

[Mobius]

Yes it's great! I watched it after binging Ideal

[Jim Bob]

It's very good.  I also adore the outtakes on the DVD with Vegas unable to stop corpsing as he's repeatedly pummelled in the face with a comedy mechanical boxing glove.

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

The whole thing's here, if you fancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZbmCsWagks

And here's Stewart Lee talking about the making of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4vNHoxIDZk

[alan nagsworth]

Yeah it's fucking ace. I picked it up on DVD from Amazon for 59p brand new and still sealed. Tony Burgess is hilarious and terrifying.

I often feel Vegas is a sorely underrated comedy talent. If you dig this then there's a heck of a lot to be said for Ideal (the first four series especially) which is one of those BBC Three overlooked gems, not quite as good as 15 Storeys High but still excellent.

[Icehaven]

Yeah it's great, someone bought it for me on DVD years ago, and when I had a big DVD purge when I moved house I got rid of about 90% of what I had but that was one I kept.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Not the least bit funny. Classic Johnny!

Nice to be given the chance to see the genitalia of that bloke who played his brother in " Ideal" ( a very funny show, due mainly to being written by someone else), too.

[JumpAction]

The whole thing's here, if you fancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZbmCsWagks

And here's Stewart Lee talking about the making of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4vNHoxIDZk

Much appreciated! I haven't seen it before. Added it to my watch list. :D

[Jim Bob]

If you dig this then there's a heck of a lot to be said for Ideal (the first four series especially) which is one of those BBC Three overlooked gems, not quite as good as 15 Storeys High but still excellent.

Yep. Ideal is a fantastic show (though as you suggest, the last couple of series dropped in quality).

[alan nagsworth]

Am I right in recalling that Sean Lock's character of a transgender person was a bit ... a bit not okay? Or am I conflating this with his unpleasant standup joke about how when you shag a trans woman they still make big blokish noises when they orgasm?

I began to rewatch some of first couple series of Ideal a few months back and remember thinking a few of the jokes and attitudes were a wee bit iffy.

[Jim Bob]

Am I right in recalling that Sean Lock's character of a transgender person was a bit ... a bit not okay? Or am I conflating this with his unpleasant standup joke about how when you shag a trans woman they still make big blokish noises when they orgasm?

I began to rewatch some of first couple series of Ideal a few months back and remember thinking a few of the jokes and attitudes were a wee bit iffy.

I believe that you're correct.  It's been a while, but I seem to recall that it was the old tired trope of "transgender person is just a bloke in a wig lolz" type of thing.

[Shit Good Nose]

Yeah it's fucking ace. I picked it up on DVD from Amazon for 59p brand new and still sealed.

25p in a charity shop, literally a few weeks after it came out.



I think I'm right in saying I'm one of the few CaBbers that has been lucky enough to see Johnny live - tiny "theatre" in Bath (the Windows Art Centre, now called The Chapel Arts Centre for those that know).  The support guy was pretty poor and subject to a LOT of nasty heckling from the audience, and the first ten minutes of JV's set was ripping into the audience for being so horrible to a hard working comedian doing their best.

Karaoke, topless pottery with (voluntary) audience participation, vodka drinking challenge (although to this day I'm SURE it was actually just water) and loads of, what seemed to be, freewheeling standup.

[thenoise]

If I hadn't already been turned on to Johnny Vegas by his appearances on shooting Stars, I think '18 stone of idiot' would have put me off for good. Really crap 'crazy late night nineties' shit, ten years too late. The odd good idea lost in the general shitness.

...Icecream is great.

[alan nagsworth]

18 Stone was ace, I thought. Proper definitive of the best sort of Channel 4 mid-noughties fucking trash. Johnny sinking 8 Guinness, chain smoking, talking shit with Kathy Burke and getting a chap in the audience to belt him in the face. Loved it.

[Ringside]

I loved it and I remember the extras being fantastic.

Does anyone know if they're online too?

[Brundle-Fly]

18 Stone was ace, I thought. Proper definitive of the best sort of Channel 4 mid-noughties fucking trash. Johnny sinking 8 Guinness, chain smoking, talking shit with Kathy Burke and getting a chap in the audience to belt him in the face. Loved it.

Am I misremembering but was there a bit where Johnny was spitting on somebody's back in that show?

[buzby]

I think I'm right in saying I'm one of the few CaBbers that has been lucky enough to see Johnny live - tiny "theatre" in Bath (the Windows Art Centre, now called The Chapel Arts Centre for those that know).  The support guy was pretty poor and subject to a LOT of nasty heckling from the audience, and the first ten minutes of JV's set was ripping into the audience for being so horrible to a hard working comedian doing their best.

Karaoke, topless pottery with (voluntary) audience participation, vodka drinking challenge (although to this day I'm SURE it was actually just water) and loads of, what seemed to be, freewheeling standup.

Pretty similar to the couple of times I saw him - the last one being in the Liverpool SU's Mountford Hall, He had stopped the pottery by then, though, and was on vodka & blackcurrant. The highlight was a topless Johhny chasing a bloke from the audience round the hall, then out the door and then bringing him back in in a headlock while commanding him to 'SUCK MY NIPPLE!'. It also involved a fantastic story of going out to play as a kid and getting stuck trying to follow his mates through a gap in the park railings which ended with him sobbing 'YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE, BEING SENT OUT TO PLAY WITH YOUR OWN BLOCK OF BUTTER!'.

It almost certainly was real vodka, by the way - the alcohol was part of the release mechanism that allowed 'Johnny' to take over from Michael and air his inner demons. In interviews a few years back when he published his book 'Becoming Johnny Vegas' he talked how he had to pull back from standup and put 'Johnny' back in his box as is was ultimately going to kill him (Pennington even talks about Johnny in the third person, puch as SLee talks about 'the character Stewart Lee'). He also said that once he started doing TV it diluted his act as 'Michael' had to try and keep some semblance of control over 'Johnny', otherwise he wouldn't get asked back.

The 2008 hatchet-job in the Guardian over the alleged groping of an audience member at the Bloomsbury Theatre (which he sued them over) and the birth of his son was what began the beginning of the end for 'Johnny' as a character though.

[up_the_hampipe]

18 Stone was ace, I thought. Proper definitive of the best sort of Channel 4 mid-noughties fucking trash. Johnny sinking 8 Guinness, chain smoking, talking shit with Kathy Burke and getting a chap in the audience to belt him in the face. Loved it.

Apart from sexually assaulting audience members, it were proper fun.

[Mobius]

I like him in Benidorm

[Shit Good Nose]

Pretty similar to the couple of times I saw him - the last one being in the Liverpool SU's Mountford Hall, He had stopped the pottery by then, though, and was on vodka & blackcurrant. The highlight was a topless Johhny chasing a bloke from the audience round the hall, then out the door and then bringing him back in in a headlock while commanding him to 'SUCK MY NIPPLE!'. It also involved a fantastic story of going out to play as a kid and getting stuck trying to follow his mates through a gap in the park railings which ended with him sobbing 'YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE, BEING SENT OUT TO PLAY WITH YOUR OWN BLOCK OF BUTTER!'.

It almost certainly was real vodka, by the way - the alcohol was part of the release mechanism that allowed 'Johnny' to take over from Michael and air his inner demons. In interviews a few years back when he published his book 'Becoming Johnny Vegas' he talked how he had to pull back from standup and put 'Johnny' back in his box as is was ultimately going to kill him (Pennington even talks about Johnny in the third person, puch as SLee talks about 'the character Stewart Lee'). He also said that once he started doing TV it diluted his act as 'Michael' had to try and keep some semblance of control over 'Johnny', otherwise he wouldn't get asked back.

The 2008 hatchet-job in the Guardian over the alleged groping of an audience member at the Bloomsbury Theatre (which he sued them over) and the birth of his son was what began the beginning of the end for 'Johnny' as a character though.

Interesting, thanks.

Not having read his book, what were/are those inner demons?  I always got the impression he had a good upbringing and loved his parents and siblings, and he largely enjoyed his time at the seminary.  Did he just fall in with the wrong crowd, or was he abused at home and raped by priests? (logical assumptions, and that)



Also, RE 18 Stone - have to say I wasn't really a fan either and his (genuine) drunken antics grew tiresome quite quickly, which is why I though the vodka he was downing live was just water, as he was still absolutely on fire on stage, whilst on 18 Stone he was just a drunken bumbling idiot.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Apart from sexually assaulting audience members, it were proper fun.

It's nice that people are willing to let him off for this ( and for his generally unfunny Poundland Andy Kaufman comedy schtick).

[buzby]

Interesting, thanks.

Not having read his book, what were/are those inner demons?  I always got the impression he had a good upbringing and loved his parents and siblings, and he largely enjoyed his time at the seminary.  Did he just fall in with the wrong crowd, or was he abused at home and raped by priests? (logical assumptions, and that)

The seminary school seems to have played a big part in it - he has said he wasn't abused there himself (though he was propositioned by one of the older boys), but that there were things going on that made him feel very guilty after he left as he couldn't take the others with him. The main issue seems to have been that after 4 years in there, when he came back to a normal school aged 15 he was academically very far behind his classmates, had no friends and did very badly in exams. He was also overweight and getting bullied, and at that time 'Johnny' started as an imaginary friend who would come up with retorts to his bullies' taunts (though he never voiced them, usually just saying he woudl pray for them).

The main catalyst for 'Johnny' becoming his alter ego was a year he spent unemployed in Glasgow (the job offer he had at a comedy club was rescinded a week after he moved up there), trying and failing to get gigs, being constantly rejected by women and drinking heavily. It was the alcohol-induced moroseness that unlocked the well of loneliness, failure, bitterness and self-pity that allowed 'Johnny' to come out.

The normal routine for him to get 'into character' prior to a gig was to lock himself away in a room on his own for an hour and get just drunk enough for the moroseness to surface, but not too much that he couldn't function - "Too pissed, no nerves; no nerves, no energy to keep him on his feet out there.". He did try going on sober once in a comedy contest in 1995 but it was a disaster.

[alan nagsworth]

Apart from sexually assaulting audience members, it were proper fun.

Okay? I mean aside from the fact that I wasn't aware of that (my only knowledge of the show is from the long highlights compilation of it on YouTube) I still actually do think the show was enjoyable.

[up_the_hampipe]

Okay? I mean aside from the fact that I wasn't aware of that (my only knowledge of the show is from the long highlights compilation of it on YouTube) I still actually do think the show was enjoyable.

It's in that compilation, like in the first 10 minutes. Only mentioned it because I saw that recently and it was all mad and brilliant but that part was surprising.

[Shit Good Nose]

The seminary school seems to have played a big part in it - he has said he wasn't abused there himself (though he was propositioned by one of the older boys), but that there were things going on that made him feel very guilty after he left as he couldn't take the others with him. The main issue seems to have been that after 4 years in there, when he came back to a normal school aged 15 he was academically very far behind his classmates, had no friends and did very badly in exams. He was also overweight and getting bullied, and at that time 'Johnny' started as an imaginary friend who would come up with retorts to his bullies' taunts (though he never voiced them, usually just saying he woudl pray for them).

The main catalyst for 'Johnny' becoming his alter ego was a year he spent unemployed in Glasgow (the job offer he had at a comedy club was rescinded a week after he moved up there), trying and failing to get gigs, being constantly rejected by women and drinking heavily. It was the alcohol-induced moroseness that unlocked the well of loneliness, failure, bitterness and self-pity that allowed 'Johnny' to come out.

The normal routine for him to get 'into character' prior to a gig was to lock himself away in a room on his own for an hour and get just drunk enough for the moroseness to surface, but not too much that he couldn't function - "Too pissed, no nerves; no nerves, no energy to keep him on his feet out there.". He did try going on sober once in a comedy contest in 1995 but it was a disaster.

Thanks for that.

A sad little story, but is it safe to say he's now come out the other end?

[alan nagsworth]

It's in that compilation, like in the first 10 minutes. Only mentioned it because I saw that recently and it was all mad and brilliant but that part was surprising.

Fair fucks. My apologies, I thought you were being sarcastic before!

[Sebastian Cobb]

What's he up to these days now he's hung up his guinnesses?

[buzby]

What's he up to these days now he's hung up his guinnesses?

He never fully stopped drinking, just drinking to excess. He moved into acting n comedy films and TV (his most high profile gig being one of the regular cast of Still Open All Hours) and also some voice work as the title character in The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud. a film version of Ideal is also apparently in the works. He has recently announced that he is returning to standup too, doing a tour as guest compere at Just The Tonic venues over the next two months.