‘Taint Funny, Magee: Antisemitic ‘Comic’ Currie Gets His Comeuppance

Paul Currie is a Northern Irish “comedian” who specializes in non-verbal comedy, which in his case does not mean brilliant marcel-marceau miming, nor even mister-bean-buffoonery, but something much cruder, worthy of the Two Ronnies or the Three Stooges. The other day he was strutting his non-verbal stuff at the Soho Theatre in the West End of old Londinium. At the end of his show, he took out a Ukrainian flag and a Palestinian flag, and asked the audience to rise and applaud in a show of support for these two oppressed peoples — the Ukrainians and the Palestinians. One person sitting in the second row did not rise, and Currie asked him why he had not joined the rest of the audience. He replied that he was Israeli and had no intention of standing for the Palestinian flag. He did not add, as he might have, that the Palestinian terror group Hamas had recently committed unspeakable atrocities on Israeli men, women, and children, that Hamas had vowed to carry out the same attacks “again and again and again,” and that he was not about to honor, by standing and applauding, the flag of people who wanted to destroy his country and replace it “from the river to the sea” with a twenty-third Arab state.What followed was most unpleasant.

Currie, enraged at the Israeli’s refusal to do as he had demanded, told the Israeli to “get out of my f**king show” and continued to scream at him while the man, joined by four other Israelis, made for the exit. It was not Currie alone who was screaming; others in the audience joined in the fun of harassing, insulting, yelling at Jews and calling for a“Free Palestine.” Robert Spencer wrote about this briefly here, and more on this ugly scene can be found here: “Comedian Who Orchestrated ‘Antisemitic Rally’ is Banned by Top London Theater,” by Ben Cohen, Algemeiner, February 14, 2024:

After the round of applause [for the two flags] was over, Currie pointed to the man and quizzed him over why he had remained seated.

The unnamed Israeli man replied, “I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian flag.” An infuriated Currie began screaming, “Leave my show now! Get out of my f—-ing show!” et out of my show. Get the f*ck out of here. F*ck off, get the f*ck out of here” as several audience members cheered the comedian on.

As the man and his partner rose to leave, accompanied by a handful of other shocked audience members, the assembled crowd began chanting “Get out” and “Free Palestine.”

In a written complaint to the theater over his treatment, the man wrote: “Shaken and feeling threatened by the growing antagonism, we exited and tried to complain/get some support from the front-of-house team at the theatre, who were not very sympathetic but did give us an email address to make a complaint. By this time, the show had ended and the audience started exiting, a number of whom were glaring at us aggressively and in a very threatening way. We all left the scene.”

He added: “Our friends later received a message from someone they knew who had also been at the show, saying that after we left, the situation became even more inflamed. What had been intended to be an evening of comedy turned out to be what felt like an antisemitic rally.”

Instead of expressing sympathy for the Israeli who was being hounded out of the theatre by Currie’s yelling, as he left, along with a handful of other Israelis, many in the audience apparently joined Currie in yelling at the departing Jews. No one deplored the behavior of the bully on the stage. What fun it must have been to be able to join Currie in cursing the perfidious Jews — which is what they must mean when they say “Israelis” — not just as they exited the theatre, but even after they had left. No one expressed solidarity with the Jews being hounded out of the theatre; no one else walked out in disgust at their treatment.

In its statement disavowing Currie, the Soho Theater noted that “following the end of Paul Currie’s show, ‘Shtoom,’ Jewish members of the audience were subjected to verbal abuse and the performer aggressively demanding they leave the theater.”

It continued: “Such appalling actions are unacceptable and have no place on our stages, now or ever. We will not be inviting Paul Currie back to perform at our venue.”

The theatre’s management could not possibly have known that Currie would. behave in such an atrocious manner. It has done the right thing. Not only has it issued an apology for Currie’s behavior, but it has let it be known that he will never again be performing at the Soho Theatre.

The theater said that it had met with representatives of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), which has been providing support and advice to the affected audience members, as well as with the police.

In a separate statement, the CAA expressed appreciation for the theater’s decision, confirming that it was still examining legal action against Currie under British anti-discrimination laws.”

It said that the theater “has engaged with us positively and swiftly. It is clear that the venue was caught by surprise. The show was supposed to be non-verbal, and had been on previous evenings. Soho Theatre has clearly condemned Paul Currie and confirmed that he will never again perform on their stage. The theatre is cooperating with the police investigation. We will be arranging for senior representatives of the theatre to meet with Jewish members of the audience to talk about what happened.”

The CAA emphasized that it was “continuing to review legal options in respect of Mr Currie and are discussing the matter with members of the audience.”

Being banned from the Soho Theatre, which is one of the prized venues in the West End for new theatre, comedy and cabaret, should put a dent in Currie’s career, as other theatres will now think twice before engaging him. He’s too volatile, too likely to get himself, and the theatre he appears in, in legal trouble.

And then there are those he hounded out of the theatre, with his screams of “get out of my show. Get the f*ck out of here. F*ck off, get the f*ck out of here,” which whipped up others in the audience to shout “Get out” and “Free Palestine.” There is a likely lawsuit in the offing, to be brought by those he so mistreated. Zany laff-riot Paul Currie is now facing a world of woe.