Comic in a case of the two Ronnies

A stand-up comic is facing legal action after inadvertently naming a comedy character after a funk organist.

Jimmy O’Neill created the character of Ronnie Foster as a ‘simpleton and petty arsonists’ unaware that it was the name of a keyboard player and record producer who has worked with the likes of George Benson, Roberta Flack and Stevie Wonder.

Now he says he has received a warning letter from an American attorney telling him to stop using the name, and seeking to stop the release of a new DVD entitled Ronnie Foster’s Guide To Wigan.

O’Neill said: ‘At first I thought this to be a wind up.

‘From what I can gather he is not impressed, to say the least, with my Ronnie, even though in national health spectacles and a duffle coat he bears no resemblance to the real Ronnie, being an ultra cool, funk organist.’

But he’s defiant that he will press ahead with the DVD – as he no money to lose should the American win any court case.

‘Ronnie Foster can sue me, but he will have to get it back a pound a week,’ he said. ‘I’m in this for the art, like my idol Jerry Sadowitz. I will please myself, I’m not corporate, I’m flawed and real, and the show must go on, No matter what the consequences are.’

O’Neill’s Ronnie has something of a cult following in Wigan, thanks to his YouTube videos. But O’Neill said: ‘Wigan will hate me when its released.'

O’Neill is no stranger to publicity, having last year called in a Wicca ‘witch’ to exorcise his home-town club, after claiming that a series of mishaps were down to it being haunted.

Here is his Ronnie Foster:

And here is the musician:

Published: 6 Jul 2010