Johnny Vegas is renowned as one of the UK's most loved comedians.
The 51-year-old's real name is Michael Joseph Pennington and he hails from St Helens. He started out in stand-up in the 1990s and has since gone on to conquer the world of comedy.
Johnny starred in the BBC sitcom Ideal and he has also appeared in shows such as Benidorm as he amassed an estimated fortune of around £8 million. Johnny is set to venture into the world of gameshows today as he takes on one of Britain's finest quizzers on The Chase.
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The comedian will be pitting his wits against The Chaser alongside Jacqui Oatley, Dev Griffin and Fallon Sherrock as they aim to win thousands for their chosen charities. Johnny's legacy as a comedy legend is firmly secured, but he has previously revealed how his life nearly went in a completely different direction.
Johnny had a strong Catholic upbringing in Thatto Heath and this inspired him to consider a career as a priest. Johnny's mum was quizzed about his history with the church during a hilarious appearance on All Round to Mrs Browns.
She said: "Oh it was awful! No, I didn’t like it [him training to be a priest]. Even though he was only 11, he never drunk sugar in his tea, and they never once gave him a cuppa tea with no sugar in. They used to put the sugar in the teapot, on purpose. And he couldn’t have a drink."
"Then this other lad opposite, didn’t like him so kept pinching his food, so he [Johnny] got the knife one day and stabbed him!" Johnny suffered with homesickness and eventually returned home after four terms at the Catholic boarding school.
Johnny is proud of his St Helens' roots and was annoyed after Celebrity Gogglebox mistakenly said he was in Liverpool during an appearance in 2020. He told St Helens Star : "Who doesn’t know I’m from St Helens? I’m proud to be from here and we got on to them straight away.
“They explained they generalise it for safety, but I said, ‘Listen people know my local, don’t be worried about saying I’m from St Helens everyone knows I’m from there I’ve never hidden it’. So the next week they changed it which was good, got to keep the civic pride haven’t we?”
Away from the world of showbiz, Johnny is the proud dad of two children. He was married to Kitty Donnelly for six years before they split in 2008.
Johnny then enjoyed a long-term relationship with presenter, Maia Dunphy. The 46-year-old has hosted a number of shows for RTÉ and took part on season two of Dancing with the Stars.
The two married in 2011, but have since separated - and Maia described the split as "painful" - as Dublin Live reports. She said: "Johnny and I are not together now. It’s difficult and heartbreaking and a source of daily sadness for me.
“It’s something I am deliberately nebulous about because I don’t want it to define Tom [the couple’s son] or me, and I don’t want to talk publicly about it. Like many people in the same situation, I’m just doing my best to get on with life under painful circumstances.”
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