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Paul Kaye (born 1965 in Clapham, London to Jewish parents) is an English comedian and actor who made his name as shock interviewer Dennis Pennis, a fictional geeky American.

Paul and his twin sister were brought up in Wembley where their father ran a menswear shop.

Paul is a huge Arsenal fan. As evidenced by his Dennis Pennis look ("a punkoid Woody Allen"), he is fond of punk music, particularly The Clash, and The Sex Pistols. He has two sons, the youngest of which having the middle name of Strummer, as in The Clash's Joe Strummer.

Dennis Pennis

Kaye's most well-known character is undoubtedly celebrity interviewer Dennis Pennis, written by Kaye and his friend Anthony Hines. With a shock of red hair, gaudy jackets adorned with punk-style badges, and thick glasses (worn, ostensibly, to reduce the likelihood of getting assaulted), Dennis literally stood out from the crowd and asked celebrities atypical questions, ranging from playful to cruel. The technique of conducting comic interviews in disguise was pioneered in 1974-75 on Australian TV by actor Garry McDonald, in the guise of his fictional TV host character Norman Gunston.

As Pennis, a character first seen in 1995 on BBC2's Sunday Show, the basic premise was that Kaye and a camera crew would visit movie premieres, press functions, and other assorted celebrity gatherings to attempt to get an "interview" with the stars, in between short skits and sketches featuring the character.

Originally, the celebrities would be mainly British stars harassed at assorted London-based events, such as actor Hugh Grant, TV host Ulrika Johnson and sports pundit Des Lynam. A 1995 video release of these early clips, Anyone For Pennis, assured success for the controversial comedian, who sought to broaden Pennis' scope.

When the Pennis character took off, Kaye was afforded a budget large enough to travel to Cannes, Hollywood and Venice to record footage for his video VIP - Very Important Pennis, released in 1996.

His victims from this point on were much more renowned, the most famous of which were Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, and Bruce Willis amidst a raft of other Hollywood A-list stars. It was apparent that these victims, in the absolute upper echelons of fame, were highly unsettled and unhappy with Dennis' unique line of questioning. Some stars, such as Costner, hurled insults back at him, while others, such as Moore, simply declined to comment. Pennis was visibly amused at the look of disgust on some of the stars' faces. There was some controversy when Pennis asked of Steve Martin: "Hey Steve - how come you're not funny anymore?" Martin subsequently cancelled all scheduled press interviews. Kaye later stated it was the sole interview he regretted making whilst playing the Pennis character.

The final video release saw the character killed off; Dennis Pennis RIP: Too Rude To Live was released in 1997. Between the standard footage of celebrity baiting, and various sketches featuring other Kaye comic creations, the video had a plotline of several characters disliking Pennis enough to want to kill him, ending in the character's grisly murder. Expense, effort to get a single useable interview, the notoriety of the character and simply Kaye's own boredom and unhappiness with Dennis had made Paul tire of performing as him, which led to the decision to axe him.

The reasoning for killing off the character was stated as such by Kaye *: "Dennis Pennis had become too expensive. Taking a film crew out every night with no guarantee of getting even a minute's worth of footage of me harassing celebs was just stupid. And then the program would take months to compile, and it was just boring, man..... hanging out in the rain, twiddling your thumbs, playing with your hip flask...... he had to go......"

It has been noted that Sacha Baron Cohen's creation Ali G took a similar line in interviewing celebrities with a comic, mocking tone, and it has been argued that the Dennis Pennis character paved the way for Cohen's creation.

Pennis remains unrevived, although Kaye in 2002 stated his intentions to bring him back in some form or other *.

Post Pennis Career

A character Kaye debuted in segments featured in the Pennis videos, Mike Strutter, has been the subject of his own video release, Mike Strutter Presents A Star Is Porn, released on DVD in 2003. Strutter is a hard-talking pastiche character, mainly influenced by Al Pacino's star turn in the film Carlito's Way. A loud and intensely vulgar American lawyer, Strutter is violent and unapologetic, and is frequently seen hawking his questionable inventions on mock infomercials on the Pennis releases. Kaye also appeared as the singer of a fictional punk band called Spunk in a 1999 mock-documentary of the same name, which appeared as the 'wrath' part of a Channel 4 series on the seven deadly sins.

In 2000 Kaye starred in the comedy series Perfect World, a sitcom about a down-on-his-luck marketing manager. Although somewhat coolly received, the show did manage two series, although a third has not been commissioned by the BBC.

Kaye then went on to a slightly more serious role alongside Michelle Collins in Two Thousand Acres of Sky.

More recently his attention has been turned towards movies. In 2004, he played the leading role in the film Blackball, which was poorly received. His most recent appearance was as deaf DJ Frankie Wilde in the 2005 mockumentary It's All Gone Pete Tong. In 2006 he appeared in a episode of Hustle as Tim Millen

Filmography

Awards

He has won and been nominated for a number of film awards.

External links

1965 births | Living people | English comedians | British Jews

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Paul Kaye".

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