Matty Johns reveals the real reason he created Reg Reagan

Matty Johns is one of rugby league’s most loveable larrikins but there’s a deeply sad reason behind his iconic comedy creation.

Matty Johns wasn’t feeling so great when he created Reg Reagan.

Reg Reagan became a cult hero in rugby league but the fictional funnyman comes from some dark roots.

Newcastle Knights great Matty Johns made the obnoxious character with his trademark mullet and “Bring Back the Biff” T-shirt famous during his time on the Channel 9 Footy Show and the trash-talking loudmouth quickly became a fan favourite.

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But Johns has revealed his alter ego was born out of insecurity as part of a desperate attempt to save his footy career.

Speaking on The Matty Johns Podcast, the 1997 premiership winner recalls Reagan being inspired by a Jim Carrey film, Man on the Moon, which focused on the life of American entertainer Andy Kauffman, who had alter egos of his own.

“The lines between reality and fiction were always blurred with Kauffman,” Johns said. “He was a man who had many personas.

“His most famous alter ego or persona was Tony Clifton, and Tony Clifton was probably everything Andy wasn’t: insensitive, obnoxious, loud. And people would often confuse Tony and Andy.

“There was often a debate going on — is Tony Clifton the real guy or is Andy Kauffman, is he the alter ego? They couldn’t work it out.”

At a low point in his career, Johns found himself in a hotel room killing time before a game against the North Queensland Cowboys when Man on the Moon came on — and so too did a light bulb.

“At that point of my career, I was at a real low point. I was playing ordinary, on top of that, personally, I was going through a difficult period,” Johns said.

“(There were) Rumours going around in the paper the Knights were going to flick me … that was in the papers, a lot of the Newcastle news reports. I knew it was coming.

“Just generally I felt the walls starting to close in and I’m looking for a way to escape the pressure. Yoga? No. Reading? No, not really. Alcohol? Yes.

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Johns needed something to snap him out of his funk.

Reg Reagan became a rugby league cult hero.

“So I’m watching the film and I watch how Kauffman invents different personas to escape from himself. At that point, I think I need a holiday away from myself. So I sit there and go, ‘I’m going to invent myself a new persona’. And I come up with a fella called Reg Reagan.

“Reg Reagan, I think to myself, he’s going to be everything I’m not. He’s going to be totally obnoxious … I decide that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to give it a crack.”

Johns didn’t waste any time, going into character that same day against the Cowboys. Captaining the Knights in the absence of an injured Paul Harragon, the five-eighth addressed his teammates before kick-off and at halftime as Reagan.

They were baffled, but the rev-ups worked. The Knights won and Johns bounced out of his form slump to be named man of the match.

“I come off after the game … and I said, ‘Well this is working, I’m going to keep at it’.”

So committed was he to the bit that when a journalist approached Johns in the dressing room and referred to him as Matty, he set the reporter straight. “Matty is back in Newcastle, I’m Reg Reagan,” he said.

Johns kept up the identity change at training and while Newcastle coach Warren Ryan liked the charade at first, it quickly wore thin.

Johns refused to answer to “Matthew”, telling people: “No, it’s Reg”.

Journalist Paul Kent told the Matty Johns Podcast Ryan “hated it” as the alter ego became part of the furniture.

Eventually Johns came back to reality but as we all know, Reagan’s legacy lived on with the Footy Show.