Johnny Vegas

Kirsty Young's castaway is the entertainer Johnny Vegas. As a stand-up comic he made his name as one of the most brilliant and unpredictable acts on the circuit. His stage persona was a belligerent drunk who would heckle his own audience. But the more successful he became, the more the similarities between his own life and his stage character seemed to blur. "I found popularity through self-destruction" he says, "and that can be quite addictive". In recent years, he has cut down on his drinking, lost weight and now got engaged - all part of a plan to ensure he reached his 40th birthday and could be a proper father to his young son. "Life's actually turned around and been very good to me," he says. Producer: Leanne Buckle Record: Hurt - Johnny Cash Book: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Luxury: A Kiln.

You can listen to Johnny Vegas online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Johnny Vegas is an episode from Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2011 by BBC.

This episode is 34:39 long.

This episode was published on Oct 3, 2010.

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