Jim's got just the ticket for troops

7th February 2011

Back to News

Stand up and be counted is something forces favourite Jim Davidson OBE has never been afraid to do. Now the legendary comic, and Founder of The British Forces Foundation, is temporarily leaving behind the relative comfort-zone of a 40 year joke-telling career and putting his pen where his mouth is.

Jim’s new-found passion for writing is about to be laid bare centre stage with his very own play Stand Up and Be Counted. As well as writing and directing, he also plays one of the main characters, who happens to be a controversial comedian thereby already provoking the inevitable question – is Jim playing himself?

Servicemen and women will be able to judge for themselves as Jim and The BFF have joined forces with the theatres involved. Military ID produced when purchasing tickets, or upon entry to the performance, will mean a £3 discount off the top two prices (for a maximum of two people). “This means a soldier can bring his wife or girlfriend - but not both!” said Jim.

Speaking about he’s new venture Jim said: “This is the first ever play ‘wot I wrote’ and it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my career. It came about when I strayed into a comedy club and saw a young black guy called Matt Blaize. He took the piss out of me something rotten all evening and then told me at the bar he hated my guts!”

Despite this shaky start, they found a common interest in comedy and went off to do some gigs together, and Matt subsequently recorded a ten minute short film called Taxi for the Comedian.

“Strangely enough, it co-starred a little, fat, white comedian called Jim - cheeky sod,” said Jim. “In response, I wrote this play and the two of us decided to get together and perform it.”

Matt plays Earl T Richards who is young, hip and politically correct. Jim plays Eddie Pierce who is old, fat and yes, politically incorrect. The play is a serious look at the world of stand-up comedy and is set backstage in a dim and dreary dressing room prior to an AIDs benefit concert in London.

Thrown together for this concert, along with Eddie and Earl T, are Billy Simpson (a gay icon and TV star) and Ellie Jayne (a beautiful, busty Page Three comedienne who came second in one of television’s conveyor belt talent show contests). Added to these explosive ingredients, are Eddie’s nagging wife, Suzie and a poor long-suffering roadie, Stan, who picks this night of all nights to drop a bombshell of his own.

Everyone competes for the comedy moral high ground but at the end of this hilarious two hours no-one comes out totally unscathed.

“I wrote the play when I was living in Dubai,” said Jim, “and it took about a year. It was something I’ve always wanted to do and there is a lot of stand-up comedy in it. The actress, Rachael Barrington, who plays Ellie is gorgeous and just brilliant at being crap and extremely funny as an unfunny comedienne.

“Everyone is asking am I playing myself, and the answer is no. Me, as Jim Davidson the stand-up comic, is like Al Murray as the pub landlord but without the obvious character. The difference between Al and me – apart from the wage packet – is that everyone can easily see when he leaves his stage persona behind, but with me it’s not so obvious.

“With the character Eddie, he is exactly the same off stage as he is on and isn’t aware of the effects he and his jokes are having on others. I know only too well the affect my jokes can have on people and therefore edit myself accordingly.

“The problem with Eddie is that he is such an arsehole in the first hour of the play people are going to hate him so much and never going to forgive him.”

With Stand and Be Counted now in rehearsal Jim is busy re-writing parts of the script. “It’s a bit like buying a suit off the peg and then making some alterations to make it perfectly fit the individual. From the very first idea about 80% of the play remains untouched but the last 20% is written and rewritten over and over again.

“It’s funny because I have never sat and written anything really before – I’ve never written my jokes. I suppose the first thing I did write was Sinderella 2 but if you take all the swear words out that only comes to two pages of A4!”

However, this is a career change Jim is keen to pursue. In fact, play two, about Alzheimers, should be ready to go into production in the latter half of next year. “I wrote it for Ronnie Corbett and he loved the play to bits but he said unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to remember it all!”

And writing a play is not the only first for Jim this year. He has just finished his first novel entitled Joined by the Hip which will hit bookshops in March. “It was 600 pages long,” said Jim, “but after the publisher’s legal people got their hands on it there’s now 242 pages.”

Stand and Be Counted begins its 13 week run, in 13 venues across the country, in Torquay on February 24. Gauging his success as a writer is, for Jim, simply a case of whether the audiences laugh in the right places. As for the critics? “They’ve probably written the reviews already, such is the power of perception. Nothing will ever go away and I’m the world’s worst for that.

“This is something I’d like to do for the next couple of years. With this you get to work with other people’s talents – there’s only so much of yourself you can stand! But I guess if it’s all crap and the money runs out I will just go back into the trenches.”

Jim’s love affair with the British forces began before his career had even begun – and that affinity is as strong today as it has ever been. He has had countless engagements throughout the world entertaining service personnel – Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, Sierra Leone and many other hot spots.

In 1999 he travelled to Macedonia to entertain the Forces and in the same year he founded The British Forces Foundation Charity to boost morale among the troops.

Since then, Jim and a host big name stars – like Katherine Jenkins, James Blunt, Emma Bunton, Joe Pasquale and The Saturdays – have circled the globe on behalf of The BFF to entertain servicemen and women. There have been countless highs – and a few lows…

“The worst gig I ever done was HMS Argyll in Dubai in 38 degrees of heat on a flight deck. Every seven seconds the radar affected the PA system with a beep, the volume increased and then dropped down again ending with a farting noise.

“I had a girl singer with me who was having a mental breakdown, after half an hour I had dehydration, got p***ed and then the hanger caught fire! This sailor of West Indian origin, who I’d been taking the micky out of since the start of the show, leapt to his feet and put it out with a fire extinguisher. At that point I said ‘F*** this, let’s go for a drink’ - which brought the biggest cheer of the show!”

Stand Up and Be Counted runs until the end of May from Torquay to Dartford, Glasgow to Southampton. For full details of performances near you click here