REVIEW: Jim Davidson Unlocked, Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne

Pull no punches comedian Jim Davidson proves as outrageous as ever when bouncing back with a bang following the Covid lockdown.

Jim is Mr Marmite because you either love or hate his controversial material, and most of the large audience at the Royal Hippodrome lapped up his mainly raunchy jokes by laughing long and loud.

His fans don't mind that a lot of his humour is characterised as sexist, homophobic and racist – they admire him as a talented old school comic who actually delivers jokes with real punch lines. He can also out-do new wave comedians with observational humour.

The 'bad taste' patter that rides roughshod over political correctness included digs at Paralympians.

Jim got away with poking fun at those sitting in the front rows because there was no maliciousness in his accusations about their sexual habits. And even old gags went down well due to his brilliant timing and impish charm.

The warmth of a man who was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to charity also shone through.

Davidson, having first made his name as a stand-up comic and impressionist on 1970s TV talent show New Faces, embelished anecdotes by using accents to good effect.

There have been many highs and lows during his 67 years, but nothing can keep Davidson down for long as he proved after being unable to appear on TV's Celebrity Big Brother in 2013 due to allegations of historical sexual assault. His name was cleared and a year later Jim not only appeared in the Channel 5 series, he won it despite upsetting fellow housemates!

He continues to say what most of us only dare to think. And he left us with this piece of advice: “Don't pay attention to all the wokery going on.”

REVIEW by Tony Flood

* The Hippodrome will be providing more comedy with Britain's Got Talent stars Steve Royale on Friday October 15th and Jon Courtenay on Saturday October 23rd, plus Joel Dommett Unapologetic on Saturday October 16th.