COMEDIAN Jim Davidson told the audience at his Cheltenham Town Hall gig he would like to punch an Echo reporter.
The TV star was reacting to a story last week after he was interviewed about the sexual assault allegations against him.
He said he would "like to thank the local paper" and the reporter for "trying his best" to make him look foolish and then used an obscene word to describe the journalist.
"And if they are in the room doing a review tonight I'd like to meet them and punch them," he added.
Davidson was given a warm reception by hundreds of people at the gig on Sunday as he tried to put the assault allegations behind him.
The 59-year-old brushed off claims which saw him arrested twice as part of Operation Yewtree, the national investigation prompted by the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal, to stride defiantly onto the stage.
And it wasn't long until Davidson – who vigorously denies the claims, telling the audience 'it weren't me your honour' – began to make light of the whole affair.
Dressed in a smart three-piece suit with a yellow tie, he turned to the audience and joked 'Do you think this will look good in court?'
He spent much of the gig making a joke of the claims.
At the end of the gig, before the audience burst into generous applause, he thanked them for coming out and showing him support before adding: "You know me. It is a witch hunt. It will all come out in the wash and if it doesn't then there is something wrong with the British justice system."
Fans of the comic told the Echo after the gig they had thoroughly enjoyed the show.
June Meredith, 67, from Whaddon, Cheltenham, said: "We really enjoyed it. We liked the jokes, we knew what to expect as we had spoken to other people who had gone to see him.
"He was brave to come out and I was surprised at how open he was [about the allegations]."
Diehard fan Maureen, 75, had travelled from the Forest of Dean to see him.
She said: "I thought he was very good, brilliant. He was equally as good as when we saw him before. I think he was very brave and he is genuine and I believe he hasn't done anything wrong. He says what he thinks and everything he says is true about foreigners and whatever."
REVIEW, P12
