Comedy star Bernard Manning dies
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6765093.stm

Controversial comedian Bernard Manning has died aged 76, his comedy venue, Manchester's Embassy Club has said.

He shot to fame in the 1970s on ITV programme The Comedians, having already developed a career in music as a vocalist for the Oscar Rabin Band.

His website branded him "one of the most outrageous and successful comedians of our time".

He also denied being racist, once remarking: "I tell jokes. You never take a joke seriously."

However, in 2002, he was banned from performing the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth, where councillors were worried that his act would breach laws on race.

About 200 people had signed a petition, protesting about the show.

He died in North Manchester General Hospital at 1510 BST on Monday, a spokesman there confirmed.

'Didn't understand fuss'

Manning's biographer Jonathan Margolis last saw the comedian at his house in north Manchester six weeks ago.

"Bernard was the last of the old-style joke-telling comedians," he told the BBC News website.

"Jokes slightly went out of fashion maybe 25 years ago and Bernard was the last of the joke-tellers.

"I think he'll inevitably become famous for this question of whether he a racist comedian - and it's a funny thing because it's some way down the list of things he was," he explained.

"He was a man of his age - and as people of his age went, he was relatively un-racist.

"He was of Jewish extraction, he had a huge circle of Jewish friends in Manchester, and a smaller circle of Asian friends in Manchester."

"Until his dying day, he didn't understand what all the fuss was about."

'Godfather'

Showbiz agent Mickey Martin, who was a close friend of the comedian, told the Manchester Evening News that his death was a sad loss.

"I was going to visit him today but young Bernard called to say he's gone," he said, referring to Manning's son.

"It's come all of a sudden as we thought he was on the mend."

Mr Martin added: "He was the godfather of The Comedians and it's a sad loss to Manchester as well as to the world of comedy."

Some of my mates will miss him, i was never that bothered

I was not a fan.

But he was big in the usa and played at las vagas a few times.