Regular readers of Funny.co.uk (and most of the rest of the UK comedy press
too) will know that we've had a few problems with Jim Davidson in recent
years. Along with the out-dated, offensive, small-minded material, he then
made our headlines several times in recent months for incidents such as refusing
to perform for an audience that contained disabled people.
However, we decided to put our past feelings behind us. Jim Davidson starts
the first of a new four part stand-up series on BBC1 tonight (10:35pm), and we
thought we would approach it with an open mind. To be balanced, to be fair,
to give him another chance.
We lasted about 10 minutes.
It seems if Jim is unable to change then why should we. So let the
harsh but fair critical mauling commence...
For the first show in the series, Jim is performing for
a Welsh audience. In Wales. As the show opens we see Davidson, who
now seems to be developing more and more into a caricature of how we depict
him. A squat, sunburnt little man, with tattoos and an oversized gold
medallion hanging from his open collared shirt. He would look not out of place
sitting at the bar in a Spanish tourist hotel, refusing to speak the lingo and
begrudging the bloody foreigners.
And then we come to his audience. This remains one of the great
mysteries of the world. Not so much the fact that he manages to still pull
in an audience (surprising as that is), but more the makeup of his
audience. Averaging in their 50's, they are not the kind of people you
would expect to see revel in Davidson’s material, which often would seem more at
home among people with Tattoos, shaven heads, or Subaru Impreza drivers.
We can only assume that the audience, anticipating the fact the Davidson often
ends his show on a song, believe this is "good ol' cabaret" from their era, and
feel quite at home.
Jim Davidson spends the first part of his set trawling through a predicable
set of clichéd old Welsh jokes, presumably some of which he appeared to have
remembered while driving to the venue, the rest presumably looked-up backstage
in the ACME Jokebook, pages 46 through 52.
He then moved on to a bit of name dropping, associating himself with the
SAS in a few jokes, being a bit "good 'ol British boyz" about the armed forces,
and reminding the audience rather crassly that he had an OBE. (Presumably the
Duke of Edinburgh has some influence over how these are awarded..... )
Fairly early on in the show Jim just about managed to put down a lone heckler
with some dignity, rather than walking off stage in a huff or getting all
confused. It was just like you get with real comedy and everything. So
well done him.
What followed was the predictable slurry of old worn out jokes, delivered in
a tired old "working mens club" manner, laced with his ill-hidden
prejudices. We recently reported that Jim Davidson plans to leave the UK
for good, and that these shows may be some of his last on UK soil. After
tonight’s show I see little point in him unpacking his bags after this tour, he
might as well just proceed straight to the airport when he's done. I, for
one, would be happy to help him with his bags onto the plane.
On a final note, Jim seemed to spend a fair amount of time laughing at his
own jokes. Well at least he finds them funny, that's the main
thing....
