If so, what on earth was the joke?
Also Vegas is not well known, for subtle Andy Kaufmanesque trickery.
Johnny Vegas Page 2
There are many things one can do for publicity. I personally would not choose to make everyone think I was a disgusting sex pest.
But then Johnny Vegas is an enigma.
I would guess that, if that was his motive, he would have assumed that people would "get" it as just part of his stage persona, albeit a little further on than what he may have done previously.
I suppose so.
Backfired a bit then!
I very rarely go to stand-up, but I did go to this. I was in the front row of the circle rather than the stalls, so possibly didn't see everthing as clearly as some at the front.
Nobody knew Johnny Vegas was coming on, as they'd just billed the third act as a mystery guest. When he did come on, he made a very dramatic start, throwing himself into the audience, but he also seemed quite nervous and hyped-up. He was obviously trying to be a weird mixture of funny and poignant.
Then he started focussing on this young woman in the front row, who was clearly not, in my opinion, planted there. She seemed very nervous, but it was very hard to tell how much she was happy to go along with what followed. He was supposedly re-enacting Sleeping Beauty and he was going to wake her up. She was carried on stage and Vegas sat astride her and kissed and fondled her. It was really hard to tell how much he was doing it for real and how much he was playing it up.
At the end I felt uneasy about what I had seen, and worried that the woman had felt pressured into going along with it. Someone on a blog said she ran off looking very happy at the end, but I certainly didn't see that. If she was o.k. about what happened, then it can hardly be called sexual assault, but it certainly left an unpleasant taste in the mouth, excuse the pun. It's fair to say that a huge number of media trendy types were in the audience, the sort who you would expect to scream blue murder if they felt something was politically incorrect, and I didn't hear anyone say or do anything, but the uncertainty about the compliance or otherwise of the woman made it very difficult to judge. Indeed, a very politically correct comedian like Stewart Lee was compering the show and certainly didn't feel the need to intervene, and seems to have stayed completely silent about it since. However, I did feel Vegas was exploiting his position as a celebrity.
It's been very interesting since to see how different parts of the media reinterpret it to their own agendas.
As I say, I very rarely go to stand-up, so I haven't got much to compare it with. I came away thinking, God, that's a very cynical take on the world a lot of comedians have nowadays. It was a relief in a way afterwards to see that it did make an impression, and that there has been a debate about it in the media, although many of the reactions seems to have exaggerated on both sides.
Innnnteresting.
Kids, don't get on stage with a comedian who has just split up with his wife and hasn't had a shag for some time.
Especially if he's got a few hundred pounds on you.
One has to wander what the reaction, would have been if it was Russell Brand, or oither supposed sex symbol....
That said, it's hard to be a party pooper, or kill joy infront of hundreds of people. The pressure not to speak up is strong, shame is the key for how most people get away with sexual assaults.
I have a strong suspicion that the girl just wants a low profile and to forget all about it.
It's also legendary the crap that entertainers of all stripes get away with.
If I going to be honest as a standup, I've picked on hecklers a couple of times, and it's a thrill.
Russell Brand's nice to people. Not cruel or humiliating.
But I get your point!
Hey I can tink of worse things than being groped by Johnny V. Like set alight & stabbed through the thorax.
Quote: Charley @ May 7 2008, 6:41 PM BSTHey I can tink of worse things than being groped by Johnny V. Like set alight & stabbed through the thorax.
I'd go to that gig. 
Quote: zooo @ May 7 2008, 6:07 PM BSTKids, don't get on stage with a comedian who has just split up with his wife and hasn't had a shag for some time.
Especially if he's got a few hundred pounds on you.
I hope that was said with a cheesy smile and thumbs-up?
Of course!
Quote: M Lewis @ May 7 2008, 7:12 PM BSTI'd go to that gig.
So it seems that the f**king holier than thou Grauniad made it all up.
Sounds about right to me with their Eltonesque right-on political correct attitude.
Oh?