Paul Kaye was the equivalent of Ali G or Punk'd before they were even a thing.
A man full of ambition, Kaye had but one drawback: he didn't really do anything to realize his ambition.
It took him falling in love with his wife and finding success in the industry only to be stripped of it all to realize that it was time to grow up.
Paul Kaye at London Film and Comic-Con in July 2018 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Paul Kaye Had Ambition but No Expression
Let's start from the top.
Kaye was born to an orthodox Jewish couple in Streatham, London, and grew up with a non-specific yet all-familiar goal to be someone.
He walked out on formal education at 16 to join an art school, only to call it a day two years in. Leaving pages of his life half-written, he was sure that there was something more.
Eventually, he landed himself in a kibbutz in Israel.
"I had no money and wondered what I could do without money so I decided to go to a kibbutz," he told Independent.ie in an interview.
"I found one in the middle of the desert in Israel, went off with the idea that this would be a proper, socialist community - and it didn't disappoint."
Paul Kaye Met His Wife in Israel
Little did he know, his trip to Israel would introduce him to the woman who would one day be his wife.
During his time in the kibbutz, he met Orly Katz, a local from Kibbutz Gvar-Am, Israel, and fell in love.
Not long after, Kaye and Katz were lawfully wedded as husband and wife. They tied the knot in England in 1989. Two years into their marriage, his partner gave birth to his son, Jordan.
He had yet to find a fitting channel of expression to flesh out his supposed talents — his grand ambition.
Paul Kaye's Awakening
Then, on his 30th birthday, he felt a familiar pit balling up in his stomach. The same one he felt on his 18th birthday.
From the age of 13, I'd dreamed of being Johnny Rotten. And I thought at 18, and then 30, that I'd really missed the boat. I hadn't been discovered or made my mark or anything.
Well, he couldn't be Johnny Rotten then and was not getting anywhere now, so he decided that maybe acting was the thing that could cut it.
Hence, the famed, or rather infamous, Dennis Pennis was born. Pennis was an alter-ego to Kaye, and he had only one goal: pick on A-list celebrities.
Suffice to say, his strategy was entertaining, refreshing, and was admittedly a new brand of humor for his time.
Paul Kaye as Mike Strutter Kilburn, circa 2008 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Paul Kaye’s Wife Went Back to Her Country
However, this newfound industry did not sit very well with his spouse. She did not like the world that he was now circling around.
This was around the same time that Kaye was setting up shop for his very own chat show.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
Katz took their son and moved back to her country. At the same time, the 200-guest longlist for his chatshow yielded practically nothing.
"I did the first series and was on the verge of my own chat show," he professed. "We had a list of 200 people and not one of them would come on."
Paul Kaye and Wife Start Afresh
Kaye was almost down to square one. Still, Pennis' fame warranted a few TV bits here and there.
His biggest shot came in 2001 in the BBC drama Two Thousand Acres of Sky with Michelle Collins.
In between jobs, he'd frequent trips to Israel to meet his son. He was dating actress Chloe Sevigny at the time.
Over time, his relationship with the actress fell off, but thankfully, he managed to rekindle his romance with his spouse.
"So we talked about it for a year or two, went on a few holidays, and decided it was worth another try," he said.
She came back to London circa 2001, and they had Geffen, their other son, a year later.
"I was a lucky guy to get the chance to try again," Kaye humbly confessed.
As of today, Katz is working as an artist based in North London and sells her art pieces via her website.
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