Jim Davidson - I'm not a c*nt any more

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Quite an odd piece in The Guardian, about well known bigot, JD, writing a play, that revisits his past, and possibly, rehabilitates Jim into someone who isn't a total .

Is it one last cynical grab for fame and fortune, or has he genuinely confronted his nastier side?

We all like to believe in a bit 'o redemption, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Quite a brave thing to do, either way.

The Guardian said:

The young black comedian fixes Jim Davidson with a contemptuous glare. "I grew up feeling inadequate because of your comedy," he says. "You old-school guys got laughs from feeding people's prejudices." Davidson, chunkier than we remember him, bespectacled and grey-haired, listens on as the comedian continues to berate him. "Has it ever occurred to you that all the stereotyping you do is negative? You just don't get it – you're such a fking prick."

It is an extraordinarily dramatic moment, rendered even more remarkable when one learns that the entire encounter is in fact a scene from a new stage play written by the target of the abuse: Jim Davidson. The play Stand Up and Be Counted sees Davidson playing a bigoted, middle-aged comedian who envies and despises the new generation of politically correct comedians who dismiss him in turn as a hateful dinosaur

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/mar/06/jim-da...

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carmonk said:

Don't waste your breath. Most people will sit and laugh like a drain at skits of Americans, French, German, Australian, Austrian, Swedish, English, etc. until it gets to someone with a darker skin, at which point it immediately becomes 'racist'.

The problem is, is that it's more complex than you suggest. People have always ripped the piss out of each other, and always will, but how the same joke is perceived will vary, depending on "the balance of power" between the people involved. It's risky to try and fabricate an example, but you could imagine a 1000 black people in a theatre, listening to Bernard Manning/Jim Davidson doing their routine, and maybe finding it funny, but compare that to the exact same situation, but with 999 white guys and one black guy. In that case, despite the jokes being the same, the black guy *could* feel awkward.

Insert yourself into those two scenarios - black comedian/1000 white people vs black comedian/999 blacks+ you, on your own.

Same comedians, same jokes different perceptions depending on circumstances.

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I'm sorry his show has been canned. It's possibly a case of his fan-base not wanting to see him change, and the left-wing not wanting to see him.......change.

There is no question that his past behaviour has been.....questionable, but he has also done some admirable things - troop visits for example.

I still want to believe in redemption,and hope that some good comes from it.