Sketchy times
A Cork comedian has brushed aside accusations of anti-Semitism following the release of a short video humorously depicting the origins of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Tadgh Hickey, the man behind the hugely popular sketch ‘Loyalism, but in a house share in Cork’ told the Cork Independent he knew there would be backlash when dealing with such contentious topics and that he is “not intimidated”.
His latest sketch, ‘Israel/Palestine Origins, but in a house share in Cork’ has already received close to a quarter of a million views since going live on Monday.
Mr Hickey had already received a number of online threats for his previous sketch including one person who threatened to burn his house down.
“I'm getting some claims of anti-Semitism from people even though there's no mention of the Jewish people in the sketch at all,” Mr Hickey told the Cork Independent.
Mr Hickey said he has been careful to “keep his side of the street clean” when addressing the issues and that most of the threats have been “soft enough”.
“If people are determined to be offended, they'll find a way,” he said.
He added that, if the treats became more serious or involved members of his family, it would be a “different kettle of fish”.
Having studied history and philosophy in college, Mr Hickey said he has always had an interest in geopolitical issues, but only recently thought of a way to marry these interests with his comedy. “I spent a lot of time on those last two scripts, particularly to make sure I had a new angle on these really tense geopolitical situations, but also that I wouldn't go at it hammering any one side,” said Mr Hickey.
He added: “I deal with Loyalism and the Israeli-Palestine conflict, but I'm not actually having a pop at any side, I don't think.”
The videos were created by Mr Hickey with the help of his housemate and friend Dominic McHale who plays Sergeant Healy in Cork comedy series ‘The Young Offenders’.
The topic of his next sketch is yet to be confirmed, but Mr Hickey said it may focus on British imperialism using the setting of a school reunion.
“I wanted to do a general one on British imperialism for a while but I haven’t decided the means of doing it yet. It might be like a school reunion or something like that, featuring India and Ireland trying to get Britain to admit to being a bit of a dick in school,” he said.
He then plans to take a “palate-cleansing” break from political comedy to shoot a music video in which he dresses as a woman and performs a cover of a Kate Bush song.