JOKES about Jews and the Holocaust have become increasingly common at the Edinburgh Fringe as comedians tackle one of the last taboos.

Some think that controversy over Israeli attacks on Lebanon have made Jewish history and beliefs worthy topics for stand-up routines. But one comedian has apologised after his outburst offended Jewish comedians and audience members.

Steve Hughes, an Australian stand-up, told The Times that he regretted describing Richard Perle, an advisor to President George Bush, as “that f***ing Jew Richard Perle”. The comment, in his show The Storm, offended audience members including Jamie Glassman, a Jewish comedy writer.

Glassman writes in today’s Times that he was shocked by Hughes’s material and the response of the crowd. When Hughes suggested that children should be taught to play Nazis and Jews instead of cowboys and indians, an audience member shouted: “Throw them in the oven.”

Hughes said that he was asking why Jews should have more protection than others. “There is racism and there is anti-Semitism. There doesn’t seem to be a name for other racism. They’re not the only people to be in a holocaust.”

Alex Goldberg, the community issues director for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that he was astonished. “For him to negate the Holocaust seems to be counter to what he wants to achieve,” he said.

Doug Stanhope, an American, devotes much of his show to why he hates people who define themselves by religion or nationality. He said: “You can hate [the Jews] for the same reason you hate the KKK [Ku Klux Klan]. They believe they’re the chosen people.”

The Board of Deputies rejected Stanhope’s attempts to justify anti-Semitism. “Those who have tried to justify race hate have always come up with a reason. It is unjustifiable.”

Simon Brodkin, a Jewish comedian, said that he discussed anti-Semitism with Hughes. He said: “I would argue that [Hughes’s suggestion that Jews are oversensitive about racism] is rung one on the ladder to anti-Semitism.”

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