PURR-FECT GENTLEMAN

GRIFF RHYS JONES IS LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG ABOUT HIS LIFE AS HE HEADS BACK OUT ON TOUR. MARION McMULLEN LEARNS MORE

- BY SARA WALLIS

Griff, right, with fellow Not The 9 O'Clock News stars Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson

“OK, all you b******* out there, I'm paying my dues now, aren't I? I may have been plucked unworthily to huge fame at the age of 26 but look at me now”.

Why is the tour called The Cat's Pyjamas?

I just like the sound of it. Funnily enough my daughter said, “You can’t call it that,’ and when I asked her why not she said, “Because it means you have to be good!” As I say, I like how it sounds.

Also “the cat’s pyjamas” is a very interesting phrase and I might talk about how it started in the 1920s in New York. Apparently there was a famous society hostess who used to take her cats for a walk along Fifth Avenue and she would wear pyjamas when doing so.

But really what I’m saying at the start of the show is that it’s you the audience who are the cat's pyjamas. I start with egregious flattery of my audience.

What can audiences expect?