Here’s a treat for Elvis fans who really miss his Vegas gigs, sort of…
Comedian Johnny belts out a number with the King impersonator Raymond Godwin, a cousin he never knew he had.
Johnny, 52, meets Raymond during tomorrow night’s episode of ITV’s DNA Journey.
He says: “I thought I was the only professional performer in the family.”
Raymond adds: “In the 80s I did indie bands. Somebody said when you sing Elvis you can sound like him, will you do it? I’ll do an Elvis. But I’m not dressing up, there’s no dignity in that.”
But four decades on, Raymond has clearly changed his mind and happily slips on his gold lame suit to entertain pub goers in St Helens, Merseyside. Raymond is a social worker who specialises in learning disabilities and mental health.
He says: “You see discrimination. That’s what puts fire in my belly. When you become a social worker, you get the power to change things for people. I absolutely love that.”
Johnny later heads south to Bristol, then Liverpool, where he learns his great grandparents Edward and Mary Ryan changed the course of UK history.
They took a teacher to court in 1938 after their 10-year-old son Patrick was hit over the head several times and lost 60% of his hearing as a result.
Despite the odds being stacked against them and having little money, they won. It paved the way for corporal punishment to be banned in schools. Johnny, from St Helens, says: “That makes me proud.
“I don’t think their ambitions were lofty. I think they’ve just gone, ‘I don’t care what’s gone before. This is wrong.’
“I can get upset at injustices and my dad raised me to ask questions about things.”
Sadly, Johnny’s parents died in recent years.
Speaking of his grief on his Channel 4 show, Johnny Vegas: Carry on Glamping, he said: “It’s been hard. I thought I was ready for the worst life could throw at me.”
Johnny has been married twice. He wed Catherine “Kitty” Donnelly in August 2002. They divorced in 2008.
In April 2011, he tied the knot with comedy writer Maia Dunphy and they had one son before splitting in 2018.
* DNA Journey with Johnny Vegas and Alex Brooker is on ITV1 and ITVX tonight at 9pm. It continues next week.
