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Johnny Vaughan burst onto our screens back in 1997 on The Big Breakfast alongside Denise Van Outen.
Since those early days, Johnny, 58, has gone on to become a broadcasting legend.
He’s worked everywhere from the BBC to Capital Radio and TalkSport. Inbetween that he even found time to be a film critic.
In 2015, however, Johnny helped launch Radio X, joining the new national broadcaster to present the drivetime show.
With Radio X (formerly XFM) celebrating it’s 10th anniversary on September 21 Metro was lucky enough to sit down with Johnny and talk about him and his career.
We spoke about the station’s 10th anniversary, his historic fallout with Denise, and why the general public is better to chat to than celebs.
Happy anniversary! 10 years of Radio X – how does it feel?
Thank you very much! It doesn’t feel like ten years. Most anniversaries people celebrate, particularly wedding ones, really feel like it after ten.
People go, “it seems like yesterday”, but you know they’re lying. This has really gone fast.
It’s nice to hear someone take so much joy from their job
This is the best! Working breakfast shows for 14 years just takes over your whole life: what you can eat, when you’re going to go to bed.
You go to something in the evening, all the time you’re looking at your watch thinking, “I’ve got to get up at 4.30”.
Now, I’m lucky because every day, I sit in a room, ask for something from listeners, get entertained by their responses, then listen to the best music I could ask for. I’m just in a really lovely situation.
How do you feel music has evolved this past decade?
That’s the cool thing! Radio X is this amazing corridor in time where all songs are equal.
I think one of the nice things in rock and roll is that it’s not that nostalgic: It’s just all one era, even if it’s 40 years old.
We were playing The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, and I was listening to it thinking, “this never dates”, that’s how far advanced they were, and if music doesn’t date, then there’s no room for nostalgia, only for people to discover it.
2025 seems to have tapped into 90s nostalgia, particularly with Oasis’s comeback.
I get what you’re saying, I saw the Rolling Stones in 82/83, and back then I thought they were old.
I thought “this is my parents’ band”, but once you’re an adult with music, that’s it. They’re locked in. So Oasis, if I was born in the 90s and seeing them now, they’d feel like a retro band.
Is there anyone you haven’t interviewed yet that’s still on your to-do list?
As I go on, I like my regulars like Woody Harrelson. He was in 60 Seconds, actually, and was asked, “Four things he loves about London“. He said, parks, pubs, football and me, because his driver played the show at the end of every day. What an honour!
Once you’ve got one of your favourite actors as a friend to the show, it doesn’t really leave much, does it? I’ve pretty well interviewed them all… but sometimes never meet your heroes.
Is there a hero you shouldn’t have met?
No. Going live every day, you don’t get much time for reflection. It’s passed very quickly, so I’m just lucky to interview the people I’ve interviewed.
But on the show, I’ll get someone on the phone telling me a ridiculous story, and I’d take that any day over a celebrity hyping something, and coming out with an answer they’ve given 1000 times before.
Have you been caught out like that before in interviews?
I used to go around the world interviewing Hollywood A-listers, when there was A-list like that.
I’d interview someone and ask something, they’d go, “that’s a great question, let me think”, I’m thinking, “Boom!” – but then watch Good Morning Britain and see them giving the same story, and you’re thinking [growls].
Who was the worst for it?
Stallone by a country mile. Rob Brydon’s a shocker for it – the thing of ‘that’s a great question’ – he’s done it for years. Ricky Gervais is criminal for it… but it ties in with the gift of comedy.
A great stand-up comedian, like they are, goes on tour and night after night tells the same joke, but sells it as though it’s the first time they’ve done it. But I mean, it’s bad for an interviewer, because you’re hoping you’ll get something original.
You and Denise Van Outen famously fell out during the Big Breakfast years. Do you have any regrets about what happened between you both in hindsight?
I’ve only ever found her hilarious. She might have fallen out with me, but I never fell out with her. I just love Denise, won’t hear a word against her.
Sometimes you don’t spot things, which is me being maybe insensitive, and I really apologise to her for that. But we’ve done Gogglebox, I see her quite a bit, speak to her most weeks still.
No matter how we’ve fallen out, she’s always been there for me, and I hope she feels I’ve always been there for her.
You’ve recently moved into podcasts with Bloomin’ Legends. Who do you think would qualify as a Bloomin’ Legend of today?
Gazza’s [Paul Gascoigne] probably got it. He’s a bloomin’ legend, isn’t he? I mean, he turned up when there was that [Raoul Moat manhunt] with KFC and a four pack!
I went to see a play about it the other night, and whoever wrote it obviously thought, “this is the most extraordinary scene ever. I must write a play about this”. It was f**king amazing.
How do you switch off from work?
I don’t, but that’s the great thing about radio. I just listen to my favourite music. What I’d like to be is an ideal passenger in your car, who hopefully knows when to shut up more than I do.
I amuse you for a bit with a funny story, tell you what I heard the other day, and you go, “that’s funny, put a record on”. That’s what I hope to be.
What’s on your personal playlist right now? Any surprises?
At the moment, I’ve gone Oasis mad again, [Richard] Ashcroft, and also Cast. I’ve just been going back and enjoying that Madchester thing. Apart from that, I’ve been learning piano, so I’ve been listening to a lot more Chopin and Schubert. I’ve gotten quite good!
Listen to Radio X with Johnny Vaughan weekdays from 4-7pm and on The Kickabout from 11am-1pm on Sundays, across the UK and on Global Player.
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