Jim vs Jimmy
Row as Davidson nick-nicks Carr's gag
Jimmy Carr has taken legal advice after Jim Davidson apparently stole one of his jokes.
Solicitors acting for the Distraction host have now written to the old-school comic demanding an apology after he repeated the gag on his BBC1 show Jim Davidson On The Road.
Carr cracked the joke about fat women at the televised Royal Variety Performance in 2002 – and Davidson even congratulated him on it.
Carr’s line was: "Someone came up to me last week and complained about that joke. Quite a big boned girl. She said 'I think you're fattist'. I said 'No, I think you're fattest'."
Davidson's joke, with added bile, was: "This big fat weeble-wobbles fat-arsed bird came up and said, ‘You're fattist', and I said 'No, you're the fattest'."
A source told The Mirror last night: "Jim came up to Jimmy after the Royal Variety Performance and told him how much he loved the joke.
"Jimmy was flattered, but then he heard that Jim had basically copied the joke on his TV show last month. He is not happy about it and wants Jim to say sorry and to acknowledge it was his joke in the first place."
The story highlights the gulf between modern comics, who pride themselves on distinctive material, and the older generation for whom swapping the same gags was par for the course.Published: 5 Aug 2004
