Nazis! But with excellent facilities

[davertfnewman]

I might be making a rod for my own back here, but while there's a lot to disagree with him about on a political and moral level, I've always thought Jim Davidson was an incredibly funny man and absolute talent on the stage and screen.

Getting ready now for someone to post the video of him singing Hello and replying "Really?".

[Chili]

5 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

I might be making a rod for my own back here, but while there's a lot to disagree with him about on a political and moral level, I've always thought Jim Davidson was an incredibly funny man and absolute talent on the stage and screen.

Getting ready now for someone to post the video of him singing Hello and replying "Really?".

Two follow up Q's instead of saying really. When you say alot to disagree with on a political/moral level do you mean EVERYTHING and what was it that made him so good? For me, I will give him the caveat of his hosting gigs on stuff like Big Break, because firstly it's Big Break and the timeslot limited him from being a complete cunt.

[Hannibal Scorch]

13 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

I might be making a rod for my own back here, but while there's a lot to disagree with him about on a political and moral level, I've always thought Jim Davidson was an incredibly funny man and absolute talent on the stage and screen.

Getting ready now for someone to post the video of him singing Hello and replying "Really?".

As I can’t find the pantomime video 

 

[davertfnewman]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

Two follow up Q's instead of saying really. When you say alot to disagree with on a political/moral level do you mean EVERYTHING and what was it that made him so good? For me, I will give him the caveat of his hosting gigs on stuff like Big Break, because firstly it's Big Break and the timeslot limited him from being a complete cunt.

Terribly homophobic and the kind of self-serving conservatism that's presented as Thatcher and "our boys" but is more like Enoch Powell, but also very funny as a stand-up comedian with some really incisive, as in cutting, takes and able to use the mic and his stage presence to great success.

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

As I can’t find the pantomime video 

 

Definitely at his nasty worst there, with a bit of 'see above'.

[Devon Malcolm]

If you acknowledge problems with his politics and homophobia and flag them as unacceptable then where are you getting the laughs from in his act? It's always been entirely based around him punching down, misogyny, racism and ableism. It's not like with, say, Jerry Seinfeld, where his age gap relationship and Zionism are placed far and away from his act. With Davidson, his personal opinions and views are central to it.

[davertfnewman]

49 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

If you acknowledge problems with his politics and homophobia and flag them as unacceptable then where are you getting the laughs from in his act? It's always been entirely based around him punching down, misogyny, racism and ableism. It's not like with, say, Jerry Seinfeld, where his age gap relationship and Zionism are placed far and away from his act. With Davidson, his personal opinions and views are central to it.

Fair question: there's a part of his routine, like Chalky for instance, which has a degree, whatever amount, that's authentically funny. I can say I've heard him come out with lines, whether looking down on others or not, that were funny. Different to a Bernard Manning, who I did like as well, it came across less of let's gang up and more of "one man's view".

[Hannibal Scorch]

11 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

Fair question: there's a part of his routine, like Chalky for instance, which has a degree, whatever amount, that's authentically funny. I can say I've heard him come out with lines, whether looking down on others or not, that were funny. Different to a Bernard Manning, who I did like as well, it came across less of let's gang up and more of "one man's view".

This a weird hill to die on

[davertfnewman]

Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

This a weird hill to die on

I wouldn't die on it! All I can say is, as or maybe despite coming from a lifelong Labour-voting, working class, pretty liberal and compassionate family, we had a video collection of a lot of comedians and Jim Davidson was one of the ones I found much of his routine very funny. Not in the league of a Dave Allen but he obviously had something that got him stardom and opportunities. Plus, isn't the point of this thread the contradiction of shit person/great performer?

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

I wouldn't die on it! All I can say is, as or maybe despite coming from a lifelong Labour-voting, working class, pretty liberal and compassionate family, we had a video collection of a lot of comedians and Jim Davidson was one of the ones I found much of his routine very funny. Not in the league of a Dave Allen but he obviously had something that got him stardom and opportunities. Plus, isn't the point of this thread the contradiction of shit person/great performer?

Sure, but I used to find lots of things funny when I was a kid that I think are awful now days. Was he a good performer or is it just childhood memories?

[davertfnewman]

1 minute ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Sure, but I used to find lots of things funny when I was a kid that I think are awful now days. Was he a good performer or is it just childhood memories?

Could be both. If it helps, he's been bitten back in the past. Thought this was a very good egg on his face story from Wikipedia:

On Saturday 30 May 1987 he had entered a fish and chip shop on Denmark St, near Bristol Hippodrome, and had told a policeman, Paul Cox, in the queue 'I have been drinking. Are you going to nick me?' He was subsequently caught in his Jaguar vehicle, with 72mg of alcohol in his blood, twice the legal limit. He claimed that his wife was arriving to pick him up, and that he had only driven a few yards. 

Someone I'd throw on the fire if he wasn't already in a hot place is Freddie Starr. Never as funny as he thought he was, bastard of a bloke, his own biggest fan and a sociopath. A friend of mine was a nurse on a ward he was on during a hospital stay and he was a complete arse to her and everyone else on staff for not just giving him pills he was inclined to abuse.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

19 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

Someone I'd throw on the fire if he wasn't already in a hot place is Freddie Starr. Never as funny as he thought he was

Starr as a performer was absolutely top tier in the 70s. There are few people in the world who can outshine the charisma of Muhammad Ali but here is Starr doing it effortlessly 

He may be have been an arsehole in real life bit as an entertainer he'd knock your Davidson's of this world into the middle of next week with ease. 

Edited September 14, 2024 by Lion_of_the_Midlands
Can't spell can't type, what do you do.

[DavidB6937]

I'll always remember my dad meeting Freddie Starr before a show randomly on Blackpool Pier. Couldn't have been a nicer guy. Hadn't seen my dad that excited about much. Can't underestimate Starr's talent and popularity to many. He definitely had something. 

[Chili]

Freddie Starr is one of those people that had his absolute peak before my time and most of ours tbh (the Ali clip in particular is a brilliant bit), but he was probably a bit irrelevant as an actual talent by the 80's and an embarrassment by the 90's. But he must have had something to have been remembered beyond his contemporaries. I always think of him and Alvin Stardust having those same kind of careers. Died out years before they stopped being on TV etc but still got some residual work for standing out a bit over the others. As absolutely ludicrous as this might sound, I think some would see him as a British version of how Robin Williams was seen in the states minus the differing careers.

Rambled there, not a clue tbh but I was trying to reach some sort of point there. Essentially I think Freddie Starr suffered by not having an off switch, a bit like Rik Mayall could be occasionally, except Rik Mayall was Rik fucking Mayall.

Edited September 14, 2024 by Chili

[Sergio Mendacious]

Bill Clinton is obviously an absolute rotter, in his prime he should have been caged up when any women were in the vicinity, and I don't especially like his policies.

But in his prime, and well past his prime, he is an incredibly gifted politician. Always knew exactly how much to bend toward the republicans, and would be rewriting his own speeches until moments before he walked out on the stage to deliver them. And even though he'd frequently go way over time, because he was mainly out there to put himself over, I never noticed. He was just that perfect in delivering his message. 

[davertfnewman]

Not ludicrous, but maybe in his dreams he wanted to be Robin Williams. More Elvis who does jokes, without any of the ability on that level.