Timing is famously the key to jokes but, even if comedians can retain their sense of how long to hold a pause, their fear throughout their career is that their time will pass. The immediate reason that Jim Davidson has suffered the punchline of bankruptcy - failing to reach agreement this week with Revenue & Customs over back taxes of £700,000 - is his four divorces and the associated alimony and school fees.
But his real difficulty is that large parts of British showbusiness have stopped taking his calls. A blog entry yesterday calling him "pitifully unfunny, sexist, racist and homophobic" is typical of the approved view now.
In one way, a man who has become a political exile in protest at the Blair administration - Davidson has lived in Dubai since 2004 - might claim to be in step with the national mood. The comic, though, would be unlikely to return for a Cameron or Brown ascendancy. He is a Thatcherite Conservative, whose peak was in the 80s when he regularly appeared at Tory events and wrote jokes for ministers including David Mellor, a friend for whom he campaigned in Putney. He became the Vera Lynn of the Falklands war, entertaining troops and islanders.
Dubai, it's clear, has not changed Davidson's sense of humour. The latest blog on his website concludes: "Anyway, thanks for logging on - I've got to go now as I had a very heavy night and I've got the 'sheikhs' ... get it?!?!" The Davidson style is all there: the playground wordplay, the racial simplicities, the fear, in that "get it?" and the volley of question and exclamation marks, that some of his target audience might be too pissed or thick to see the pun.
For a long time, admittedly, enough people did get it, profitably for Davidson. He was, Diana-like, the People's Comedian, coming to prominence through TV talent shows, failing on Opportunity Knocks but then succeeding on New Faces in the 70s as a then 20-something south Londoner, who liked a smoke, a swear, and some skirt.
Davidson's act began in pubs and the influence of that circuit stayed with him, both in the material - targets including the strange, smelly ways of women, and the amusing manner of his black friend "Chalky" White - and the quantities of alcohol he drank.
As television became more censorious during the 80s, Davidson concentrated on silliness for the box, while touring filth around theatres and clubs. He developed a line in "blue pantos," such as a Dick Whittington which put the emphasis heavily on the hero's first name. But he had overestimated the potential audience and a huge loss on these entertainments in 2003 began the slide to bankruptcy.
To all except those who regard him as irredeemable, the shame was that Davidson was showing signs of sorting himself out personally, off the booze and with his marriage rate slowing down. An erratic streak, though, remained. He refused to perform in Great Yarmouth, disliking the audience, and a recent gig in Poole was mysteriously cancelled. Davidson, on his website, says: "Something was amiss, not quite sure what, the promoter won't tell me."
Davidson lost his last major TV gig - The Generation Game on BBC1 - four years ago, amid suggestions that the younger breed of BBC executive was uncomfortable with a performer who had admitted violence against a woman and had regularly been accused of racism.
Bruce Forsyth, a previous Generation Game host, makes an interesting comparison. Forsyth, though also multiply married, remained on such good terms with his ex-wives that the publishers of his memoirs reportedly begged him to include some dirt. After Brucie's bookings dipped, he was triumphantly restored through Strictly Come Dancing. Forsyth, though, got this reward because he was essentially loveable and classless. Davidson, for many viewers, radiates unloveability and carries the indelible whiff of tit, fanny, arse and darkie gags for lads and geezers clutching one beer too many.
Admittedly, showbiz is less unforgiving than it used to be. The addicted, skint and ignored are these days offered a second chance through series such as I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, in which failed famous faces can make their name a second time in exchange for humiliation. Even as his debts mounted, Davidson was probably too proud to consider that option; it will be interesting to see if he takes it now.
The official website lists numerous August tour dates: Skegness, Grantham, Weymouth, and so on. There is still a market for Davidson.
Apart from his pro bono jokes for soldiers, making money was what drove Jim Davidson. So, now the fees will be claimed by creditors, he may find it harder to raise a laugh. Paradoxically, given his contempt for Blair, the prime minister's foreign adventures may be Davidson's salvation.
While women and anyone with black friends less forgiving than "Chalky" White may find it hard to feel sorry over the comic's fall, many of our boys in Iraq and Afghanistan might still be glad to see him.