Mark Lawson: A flashback to racism in the Embassy Club

At the Embassy Club on Thursday night, it was clear how Mr Manning might have come to stand for what the younger comics try to be an alternative to. The audience was white, middle-aged, dressed up. Mainly birthday parties and office leaving dos, the groups sat around tables facing a small stage which was draped with folds of beige Lurex. Crew-cut waiters in gleaming white jackets brought the drinks; pints for the lads, gin and tonics for the lasses.

The ceiling was polystyrene tiles studded with cheap chandeliers. Small signed photos of visiting acts called things such as Twice As Nice or Blueprint lined walls on which greatest prominence was given to snaps of Mr Manning meeting Margaret Thatcher and (separately) the Queen. Val Doonicany music spilled from the loudspeakers until Mr Manning burst on stage, singing 'When Fools Rush In', backed by his live band, the Dave Green Trio. His voice was surprisingly good; reminiscent, though he might not want this said, of the black American tradition.

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The act began. Anyone who is offended by what might be called the copulatory and excretory expletives or by colloquial white terms for other races should move now to another page, but a flavour of the act needs to be given. The Irish and Jewish jokes are frequent and familiar but Mr Manning is more global in his concerns than some comedians. There is a lament about the "fooking Chinkies" taking over the chip shops, complete with Mr Manning's parody of a Chinese accent.

A gag about a Manchester City footballer - "If he'd taken 12 shots at John Lennon, he'd be alive today" - proved to be a route to a discussion of the wisdom of the Beatle's marriage: "What'd he want to marry a fooking slant-eye for, after what they did to our lads in the war?" A member of the audience about to emigrate to South Africa is advised: "South Africa, eh? That's where, if you see another white person, you shout 'snap!'." A joke apparently about his own unsavoury appearance also had a racial pay-off: "I'm not bad looking. I came second in a Robert Redford lookalike contest once. (Pause) Fooking nigger won it." The surprise lay less in the the attitudes than their expression in the old, theoretically outlawed vocabulary of sexual and racial hatred.

At the climax of the act, those celebrating birthdays were called up on to stage. The comic sang 'Me And My Shadow' and invited one celebrating lady to contribute the next line. She faltered on the second note. "I hope you fook better than you sing," beamed Mr Manning. The middle- aged recipient of this remark was outwardly thrilled by it. One female fan who offered Mr Manning a picture of herself was promised "You'll star in ma next wank!"

She seemed pleased.

This is an extract from an interview with Bernard Manning published in 'The Independent' in 1990