I am eternally confused by the character that is Jack -- I mean, Danny

So of course Danny is first introduced as the nameless silver robot street performer in S4E4, at which point he is not played by Cheyenne Jackson. Then the real Danny shows up the next episode and another five episodes in the season.

At first it feels like he's a fish out of water character meant to highlight the weirdness of everything going on around him. Then he does a couple plotlines with Jenna, he sings off-key, he sensually touches the back of Liz's knees . . . then basically disappears. Four episodes in Season 5, one episode each in Season 6 and 7, one of which is just singing in one of the live episodes.

So this is what I don't get: Was Danny just supposed to be a joke about adding a new character? Poochie style? This is what it feels like in the casting call episode with Jaden Michael Tyler. But then why does he actually become a new character? In the same season, i.e. it was written at the same time.

And then why do they do basically nothing with him, and drop him almost immediately?

Does anyone have any background info here? Any interviews with Jackson or whoever? I have been so confused about this character for such a long time.

I will be asking about Josh in the next post.