[Cherie]

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nyone witnessing comic Jim Davidson’s return to the stage this month could be forgiven for thinking the 57-year-old was getting his comeuppance for the racist, sexist routine he trotted out before a shift in good taste saw him whisked off our screens nearly 20 years ago.
In the play Stand Up And Be Counted, Davidson is bigoted old comedian Eddie Pierce, who is confronted in one scene by a young, black stand-up comic and berated for the years he spent cracking jokes at the expense of pretty much every minority under the sun.
The parallels with Davidson’s own life are more than coincidental. For it was Davidson himself who penned this intelligent, tense script — and the inspiration for the scene in question was based on a real-life encounter.
Repentant? After years in the wilderness for bigoted views, Jim Davidson says he wants to get a few things straight
Repentant? After years in the wilderness for bigoted views, Jim Davidson says he wants to get a few things straight
When in a Southend-on-Sea comedy club a few years ago, Davidson went backstage to congratulate 41-year-old black comedian Matt Blaize after being impressed by the quality of his act.
But, far from welcoming this tribute from an established star, Blaize gave him a furious dressing-down.
He told Davidson how he had been taunted in the playground thanks to one of the comic’s regular Seventies routines involving a West Indian character called Chalky White.
One of Davidson’s favourite jokes involved the dope-smoking Chalky walking across a zebra crossing. The distasteful punch line, delivered in a mock Jamaican accent, had Chalky saying: ‘Now you see me! Now you don’t!’
Jim Davidson (Eddie Pierce), Matt Blaize (Earl T Richards), Rachel Barrington (Ellie Jayne) star in Davidson's new play Stand Up And Be Counted
Jim Davidson (Eddie Pierce), Matt Blaize (Earl T Richards), Rachel Barrington (Ellie Jayne) star in Davidson's new play Stand Up And Be Counted
Blaize told Davidson of the immense impact this crude humour had on the lives of black and Asian people.
Davidson apologised to him. ‘What could I say but sorry? I can see now that it was wrong,’ he says.


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