Mr Flibble Talks To... Danny John-Jules | Features

The Penguin & The Cat
The best-dressed character on television he may be, right down to the cat's pyjamas - but what does the feisty feline do when the fur comes off? Mr Flibble tracked down Danny John-Jules for tales of pussy galore...

20 November, 2000

What prompted you to get into performing in the first place?

Hunger. (Laughs.) Hunger - I was hungry and destitute! Someone said that I could earn money dancing. So I did. It was just fate, I never really thought about it. I never wanted to be in show business. But if you're earning £18 a week, and then someone says, 'If you come and dance for me I'll give you £45', then there's absolutely no question. It was nothing to do with wanting to be a star, but everything to do with getting paid three of four times as much!

You must have shown an aptitude for dancing, though...

Yes. I was going to work and doing my 9 to 5, and coming home in the evening and going to a cold church hall, doing my dancing and acting. No pain no gain.

What do you remember about your training?

I didn't 'train' train - I went to a local youth workshop, basically; and I went to Anna Scher's which is a children's theatre. A lot of famous children have come out of [there]. Birds of a Feather-esque. It was all fun. Anna Scher came to see the last show I was in, actually; brought me flowers.

Do you still use what you were taught there?

I don't believe in using technique, I'm a method man. Excuse the pun - Method Man's a rapper for those who didn't know, from the Wu Tang Klan.

Danny John-Jules