STU: What have you been up to?

STATTO: I've just interviewed Jim Davidson for a magazine article.

STU: Why?

STATTO: I thought it'd be interesting.

STU: And?

STATTO: It was actually.

STU: You mean you tried to wind him up with your liberal lefty talk and then listened as he exploded in a right wing red mist.

STATTO: I didn't have to. His starting point is right ring red mist. He was trying to wind me up!

STU: Ouch! I've got something in common with Jim Davidson!

STATTO: (Sigh) He said to me he didn't care what people thought because he'd been called everything from "racist, sexist and ginger."

STU: Is that like when I call you fat and you just carry on eating your kebab?

STU: Errr, probably.

STU: Not an excuse to carry on though is it?

STATTO: Well, changing attitudes have cost him. He's not on the telly much now is he?

STU: Not like when we were kids, he was never off it.

STATTO: Back in the days when xenophobia was alright!

STU: Xenophobia's never right mate - unless it's about the French, or Americans or…

STATTO: Very funny.

STU: Seriously though, it wasn't that long ago he was presenting the Generation Game on prime time BBC. Doing what's now called the Ant and Dec slot.

STATTO: The Ant and Dec slot?

STU: Yeah, switch on the TV between 5pm and 8pm on a Saturday and there they are!

STATTO: It used to be called the Davina slot.

STU: Apply own punchline! Anyway, so what did Davidson say?

STATTO: Well, after a bit of chat about how he thinks he's not what people think he is, I asked him my big question.

STU: Which was?

STATTO: Well now he lives in Dubai, a Muslim country, he has actually become an ethnic minority!

STU: Brilliant!

STATTO: So I asked him how that felt.

STU: I bet he went nuclear!

STATTO: To be fair he saw the irony. His PR agent had told me he lives there so he can be near the troops to entertain them.

STU: Not because it's a tax haven then?

STATTO: To be honest, it's the troops I feel sorry for. Returning to base after a battle with the Taliban in the baking heat of Afghanistan, only then to be told you've got to go and get scrubbed up and watch Jim Davidson.

STU: Send me back out! I'll carry on fighting!!

STATTO: When we were growing up he was on the box all the time, in fact he starred in high rating TV sitcoms: Up The Elephant And Round The Castle, Home James. They were both decent hits.

STU: But he hasn't changed with the times has he?

STATTO: I think he would argue that he's just "uncompromising".

STU: I think anyone who describes their work as "uncompromising" are really saying, this is largely "unnecessary".

STATTO: Fair point, but at least there's a reason Jim's not on the telly now. There a lots of people who aren't on the telly anymore and you just can't understand why.

STU: You only have to watch Celebrity Big Brother, or I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here to see that.

STATTO: Cannon and Ball for example.

STU: Uri Geller, Mike Read, Jason Donovan, Faith Brown, Timmy Mallett, they've all had a go at getting back in the big time.

STATTO: Must be hard to take when you are a star and then you lose it. At least you've never had it!

STU: Thanks! So what happened to Jim? He was the nation's favourite for ages.

STATTO: When I spoke to him, he was pleasant enough but I don't think he likes to be told what he can and cannot say. He's clearly right-wing in his politics, hates political correctness and was a big Thatcherite.

STU: Thankfully, another 80s personality star you don't see much of!

STATTO: Uncompromising humour from Wilde there!

STU: Yeah but the thing with Davidson was, he wasn't clever enough about it.

STATTO: How do you mean?

STU: Well, I went to see Ricky Gervais at the Theatre Royal a few years-ago. I thought that some of the stuff he did was really risky!

STATTO: Was it?

STU: If someone like Davidson or Manning had come out with gags like he did there'd have been uproar. But because Gervais is cute about it and does it with an ironic twinkle in his eye, he can get away with it. He makes it non-threatening

STATTO: Good point.

STU: To be honest, Gervais was so popular at the time, he could have just walked out and read the phone book, he'd have still got laughs.

STATTO: He couldn't have done that though.

STU: Why?

STATTO: He'd be stealing your act!

STU: The humour!