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Born into a showbiz family, with Grandmother and mother being part of John Tiller’s famous dance group the famous Tiller Girls, a Grandfather being a popular comedian, six sisters being professional dancers, and a famous actor cousin in the family called Archie Leach, more commonly known as the legendary Hollywood star Cary Grant, it was no wonder that Johnny wanted to follow in the footsteps of his relatives and join the entertainment world.
Developing his own comedy act whilst still at school he combined s string of comedy patter with a few comic songs, a few catchy tunes and parodies on his ukulele, and a fast moving comedy mime act to recordings, with lots of visual content. Being influenced by movie star, madcap comedian Jerry Lewis, he soon worked on hilarious rubber-
At 17 years of age he even tried his hand as a concert promoter by hiring a back room in a Bristol pub, starting a regular weekly club called the Kool Kats Klub, hiring local Rock’N’Roll bands to play there on a Saturday night, charging at the door and making many pennies which he then put back into his act by investing in a Vesta motorised scooter on which he could travel to his gigs!
The holiday camps followed when he joined Butlin’s as a Redcoat, followed by a stint at Pontin’s as an Entertainment Manager, then training with the Rank Organisation as a Theatre Manager in London before embarking back on the road again as a comedian.
TV appearances also came along with a stint on TWW’s New Airs and Faces, and also on the famous Carrol Levis Talent Show where he became one of their ‘Discoveries’, of which he is still proud of to this day!
Then came summer season production shows in towns such as Teignmouth, Ayr, Margate, Brighton, Malta, Jersey and Guernsey, followed by numerous pantomimes in subjects such as Cinderella, Jack & The Beanstalk, Snow White, Babes in The Wood, Aladdin and many others.
In the late 60’s he also worked as an entertainer and producer on a cruise liner named the Queen Frederica, travelling around the Med and visiting places like France, Tunisia, Malta, Italy, Sicily and Majorca, and in between did a few TV and radio shows.
In the 70’s he was booked to appear for a month long engagement in Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) and was such a great success in their posh nightclubs that he was immediately engaged to appear on the South African hotel cabaret circuit. That 4 week season suddenly turned into him staying in Africa for fourteen months, performing in places like Cape Town, Durban, Jo’burg, Plettenburg Bay, East London and Port Elizabeth. He even did three seasons in Kenya and the New Stanley Hotel in Nairobi (where he got engaged to his wife Becky) and the Nyali Beach Hotel in Mombasa.
When the 80’s came along he decided that although he’d achieved may of his goals as a comedian, appearing at many of the UK’s top nightspots, touring abroad, working on cruises etc, as well as performing at London’s famous Dominion Theatre and The London Palladium, maybe it was time to try something different? He’d worked with so many star names. Perhaps it was now time to start producing shows for them? Exciting times were ahead. He seemed to know showbiz inside out, and knew what theatres and touring was all about…. so decided to move full time into producing, promoting, management and agency. The future looked bright!
Duggie’s regards
Comedian Duggie Brown, who has really hit the top of the showbiz tree since his season at the Sunshine Hotel a couple of years ago, sends his regards from Great Yarmouth, where he is headlining ‘The Comedians’ show to all his many friends in the island. He says that he hopes to pop over to Jersey sometime soon.
Zany comedian Johnny Mans who always reminds me of a cross between Jerry Lewis and Stan Freberg, deserves plenty of applause for the way
JOHNNY MANS
he warms up a totally cold audience at Behan’s each night. In most shows there are dancers to get the show under way, but that responsibility is solely Johnny’s in the Rockin’ Berries Show.
Early Career