Good old Mudcat. Really enjoyed (some) of this thread. I found BM's humour brilliant in his early years and surprisingly gentle too. I didn't enjoy his later humour as he developed his "racist" identity but having just read an obit from the Independant on Sunday I feel a bit more relaxed about him.
To quote a snip

"Although keeping his ancestry (Part Jewish - ed DW) under wraps, he was openly and visibly friendly with Manchester's Jewish community. He did frequent Jewish charity benefits, and told "Yiddishe stories", as he called them, with an aplomb and accuracy which satisfied the most critical Jewish joke aficionados. He was also known to give money to good causes in the city's Asian communities, and, although he would joke on stage about liking only "good English grub", was as fond of a curry at his favourite Indian restaurant as the next Mancunian."

No excuse for his racist jokes (about 10% of his repertoir). But shows there was more to him than just pure racism.

Dave Wynn (A.K.A. Spot the Dog)