Mick Hartley

From the Jewish News:

A London theatre has said they are “sorry and saddened” over claims that a comedian who performed at their venue has been accused of directing an abusive rant at a Jewish member of the audience as they refused to join a standing ovation after he waved a Palestinian flag.

Paul Currie, who describes himself as an “experimental fusionist” and an “absurdist laughter chef” was coming to the end of his Shtoom show at the Soho Theatre in central London last Saturday, when he produced a Palestinian and a Ukrainian one from a prop box.

He then actively encouraged the audience at the Dean Street venue to give him a standing ovation.

Spotting one male still in his seat, according to onlookers the comic approached him and asked him;”‘Didn’t you enjoy my show?”

The man, who was later claimed to have been Israeli,allegedly replied: “I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian flag.”

What had begun as a humorous exchange quickly turned nasty, according to onlookers.

Onlookers claimed Currie shouted “Leave my fucking show, Now!” “Get out now”’The man and his partner both got up to leave, and were joined by at least four others who had witnessed the exchange and were left deeply uncomfortable.

But sources told Jewish News the situation went “from bad to worse” as chants of “Free Free Palestine” begun to be heard from some in the theatre. 

In a statement, Soho Theatre confirmed they were “thoroughly” investigating the allegations.

The text of the original social media message:

On Saturday night, 10th February 2024, my wife and I, along with two friends went to see a show called Shtoom by comedian Paul Currie, at the Soho Theatre, Dean Street, London W1D 3NE. We are all in our mid sixties. There were approximately 200 people in attendance for the one-hour show.

About 5-10 minutes from the end, Paul Currie retrieved two props from his box, one a Ukranian flag, the other a Palestinian one. Naturally we started to feel uneasy, but nothing prepared us for what followed.

Minutes later, the Comedian had encouraged the audience to stand at the end of the show, a kind of standing ovation, and when we all sat down again, he looked towards a young man sat in the second row and said "you didn't stand, why? Didn't you enjoy my show?".

The young man, who soon after we discovered was Israeli, replied "I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian flag". Paul Currie retorted "get out of my show!", which instantaneously escalated in to screaming at this young man, repeatedly shouting "Leave my fucking show, Now!" "Get out now" "I'm from Northern Island [sic], we know all about cease fire, get the fuck out of my show".

The young man and his partner rose to leave, and the four of us immediately rose to exit as well, as we both did not want to be part of an antisemitic rant, as well as feeling unsafe. By the time we exited, what felt like the entire audience were up on their feet shouting "free Palestine" "get out"!

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.

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.

We will be contacting Soho theatre to complain about Paul Currie, and are wondering if you have any suggestions of where else to report this.

The UK Comedy Guild perhaps, although we do not know whether Mr Currie is a member of this organisation”

Jews are now being targeted frequently by public figures in the UK and getting a room of people to vilify British Jews is even worse, in my opinion.

This cannot be allowed happen in this country in 2024.

The comedian's bad enough, but the reaction of the audience is what's really chilling: London's trendy comedy audience just a heartbeat away from an antisemitic hate mob.

Irony postscript: the Soho Theatre used to be a synagogue.