[Tom_UK]

I seem to recall he had to cancel dates this past winter, and also was knocked back by a venue. He claims it was because of their PC Concerns, they reckon it was because he's a right cunt.

I know which explanation I favour.

He wrote a play based on his own life that was meant to prove he had an epiphany and is no longer a racist. It was cancelled after four venues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12784399" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Andy McDandy]

Ah yes, I remember this. It featured several caricatures of more modern comedians (right-on posho, camp gay etc) who - quelle surprise - turn out to be actually more backstabby and nasty than Jim Racist.

He says it was seen by over 8000 people. Yes, but looking at the poster in the lobby doesn't count.

He also says he had problems 'making the numbers work'. Yes, because any number, multiplied by 0, equals 0.

[Ade]

I wonder if his hatred of Jimmy Carr has anything to do with this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3539246.stm

[ponce on the heath]

"He didn't deliberately steal that joke thinking 'I'm going to sit on that for 18 months, and then use it in a TV show'.

Bet he did.

"We wrote back and apologised. We are both fans of Jimmy Carr, we are sorry if it has offended him."

Obviously...

[shyamz]

It's always sad when someone who used to be a big star is on the way down. Well, maybe not always.

And if you don't think he's Cunt of the Century material, here's a line from last month's blogging:

Let’s hope that our black people beat all the other black people!

Sounds like he's trying to do some "edgy" Frankie Boyle stuff (Boyle did a simmilar joke about the Olympics in his Reach Through Your TV tour).

He says historicaly the Olympics is essentialy a bunch of countries getting together to see who has the fastest black people.
His joke was about rich white rulers of nations strutting around pitting their slaves against eachother in a big cock comparing contest.
Simplistic and innacurate or not, if taken in context it is clear that his joke is more complex and that he himself is not been racist.

Jim on the other hand...well, let's hope ours beat theirs is about as clever as he gets. You don't need any proof to know that he is a lazy non-comic who does the bare minimum to get by in a job that requires skill thought and hard work, but if you did that line would provide it.

I would genuinely love to know how rancid old unfunny cunts like him can continue to claim that PC madness is the only reason they can't get work these days, along with you not been able to say anything because you'll offend someone - while acts like Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr can be so popular.

And given his previous when it comes to joke theft (as I believe Ade pointed out - great profile pic by the way) it seems even more likely.
I love his agent's defence of his use of Carr's fattist joke - "it's been around for years". Well yes fat jokes have, but not that one. What kind of depressive hag would enjoy been his agent anyway? It's not as if she can weigh it up against all the money he's making for her.

How sad, even when he tries to copy the edgy ones nobody listens.

[Abernathy]

I would genuinely love to know how rancid old unfunny cunts like him can continue to claim that PC madness is the only reason they can't get work these days, along with you not been able to say anything because you'll offend someone - while acts like Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr can be so popular.

Indeed. You only need to look at the resurgence of popularity that genuinely talented old comics like Bob Monkhouse and Frankie Howerd enjoyed in the autumns of their careers to see that putting the blame on PC is a massive red herring.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Those people though can claim irony more easily than Davidson, because everyone thinks he's a cunt. Like Bernard Manning (though without the talent).

[Andy McDandy]

Yup. It's a massive red herring that all those old comics were instantly put out to grass the moment Alexei Sayle opened his gob. Plenty (Monkhouse, Howerd) were good enough to adapt to a new audience (hell, Howerd had pulled that one off before - relaunching himself at the Establishment club in the 1960s - his original heyday had been in the 1950s, and was invited to the Establishment at least in part as a 'let's laugh at this old fart' thing. Which he turned on it's head). Others went back to Blackpool and clubland. Even Roy Chubby Brown gained a veneer of cool thanks to his association with the League of Gentlemen.

But also, very few of those comedians were realy associated with racist or otherwise offensive material in the way Davidson is. Perhaps Manning. Chubby Brown's scatalogical and offensive to everyone, just like Viz magazine. He doesn't pick on anyone in particular.

Davidson was always hackneyed though. Look at his 1970s contemporaries - Lenny Henry, Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott. All of them either played up on their backgrounds for laughs, or stuck to general pisstaking of everything. Davidson was always the heir to Manning. But he's always seemed to me to have a real 'I'm better than this shit' attitude, as if presenting an early evening snooker-based game show was beneath him. As if somehow he deserved the bright lights and glitz.

Onto Jim and the forces. Because as we all know, Jim loves his soldiers. And not in a 'freezing night in Hyde Park' way either! Thing is, he was always a bit of a joke among the lads. They used to say that the worst thing about a posting to (fill in unpleasant place of choice) wasn't the bombs, the bullets, or the cold, or the lack of willing women. It was that only Jim Davidson would come out to entertain you. So there was for a while a sort of grudging respect - "hey, he's come 8,000 miles for us, give him a go". But these days the average squaddie going out to Afghanistan is lugging a portable DVD player and a bag of Jimmy Carr or whatever floats his boat.

So in summary, it wasn't PC that shut them down. It was audiences drying up and realising that there was an alternative to the lazy, hackneyed crap they were peddling.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Davidson turned up as a prospective parent at my old school. His ex-wife virtually stopped the traffic. He himself was uncharacteristically quiet and polite.

[crabcakes_windermere]

I think the "real" Jim Davidson was the one turfed off of Hell's Kitchen for being repeatedly homophobic in the most boneheaded, clumsy, clearly trying to offend way possible.

His target (Brian Dowling) may well be a talentless, smarmy, egotistical twat who's inexplicably still on TV despite having all the charm of a 1970s car park, but that's exactly the point - a half-decent comedian would have taken the piss and dismantled him on what he does, not attacked him because of what he is.

[shyamz]

Quite right.

And let's not forget Ronnie Corbett (who remains well loved today without having to re-invent himself, and has appeared in some of the biggest new TV comedy hits of the past ten years) or Barry Cryer who still appears regularly on TV and radio and often mentions contemporary comedians who's work he enjoys (apparently he considers Ross Noble one of the best).

[davidjay]

Most of the vanished without trace mob such as Davidson, Victoria Wood and Bernard Manning (before he died, obviously) became famous in the seventies via TV. Their predecessors, who served their apprenticeships in theatre and other live work, have coped a lot better

[ACG]

wood has done a reasonable job of repositioning herself as an actor, another thing davidson has failed spectacularly at (lest we forget his stage outing, which the people who saw it probably have).

[Tubby Isaacs]

Most of the vanished without trace mob such as Davidson, Victoria Wood and Bernard Manning (before he died, obviously) became famous in the seventies via TV. Their predecessors, who served their apprenticeships in theatre and other live work, have coped a lot better

Manning did his share of live work, not least after he'd made it on TV. His failure to flourish later was down entirely to being a cunt on stage for too much of the time. He could have cut out some of the racist stuff and done low brow TV comedy in his sleep- Jim Bowen did pretty well. He didn't want to.

[Andy McDandy]

And if anything, the Two Ronnies (and for that matter the Pythons) epitomised 1970s TV. In fact, the really surprising thing about the Ronnies is that they started off doing quite edgy stuff in the 60s, before drifting into their much parodied 'wordplay and double entendres' solidly respectable image. Whereas Barker was quite capable of delivering a fine comic performance with a bit of grit (forget the Littlejohn love, Porridge had a definite edge to it), he all too often fell back on whimsy (Open All Hours, Clarence etc). Apparently the part of the butler in Trading Places was written for him, but he dropped out and Denholm Ellott took over. Corbett's solo work was solid shit; it's only in recent years that he's started to defy expectations, revel in his elder statesman role and seemingly have fun with his image.

As for Victoria Wood, not much of a fan - nothing personal, it's just that her stuff doesn't float my boat. My mother can't stand her, more because she plays her 'Lancashire housewife, common as muck' image a lot (and anyway, Les Dawson and Corrie have got that one nailed), while being in fact a social climber to rival Hyacinth Bucket. Apparently.

Even the other 1980s "I had a bit of a funny journey here tonight, layngennlemen" London/Essex comedians have adapted. Bradley Walsh and Brian Conley as serious actors, Richard Digance on the folk/festival circuit or on Countdown, Joe Pasquale on IACGMOOH or stealing jokes...Davidson seemed to have his moment in the early to mid 80s, but even after that, whether doing the Generation Game or whatever, it was never about just being a presenter or question-asker, it seemed more like an extended chance to grab the mike and dominate the show. Noel's HQ with prizes, if you like.