Paul Mercurio
From OAPedia.com
Paul Mercurio is a former friend of The Opie and Anthony Show, who is largely responsible for the boys getting kicked off the air in 2002. As part of Sex for Sam 3, he was acting as spotter for a couple from Virginia, and as part of the preliminary discussion, a point value was suggested for performing the act in a house of worship, which was later said that it was a joke. Paul's couple was performing in several places successfully, with an emphasis on the two-point conversion. Paul called in from the lobby of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and said his couple was about to perform a two-point conversion. Of course, with so many New York policemen being fans of the show, it was only a matter of time before they arrived. A security guard ran over just as the man was zipping up, and asked them to leave, and rather than just getting out, Paul proceeded to comment on the activities of certain priests. Also, it was a Holy Day of Obligation for the Catholic Church, so there were more people than usual in the cathedral. Paul and the couple ended up getting hauled down to the police station, and the news media made as much of this story, resulting in Opie and Anthony getting pulled from the air two days later.
Because of Paul's role in their being kicked off the air, O&A have not had Paul on their show since their return to radio in 2004. Jim Norton has admitted to being angry with Paul initially, but has since talked with him about the incident and forgiven him. Opie has also admitted possibly forgiving him, but still has not had him on the show. Also, O&A fan Flea went to one of Paul's comedy shows and began harrassing him over the incident. O&A told the fans to leave him alone after that.
Other Works
Contrary to popular belief, Paul is not the same Paul Mercurio known for his role in the movie Exit to Eden, where he plays a submissive to Dana Delaney. That is an Australian actor by the same name. He also caused a big splash on Broadway by yelling "Kathleen, put your goddamn clothes back on!" during Kathleen Turner's nude scene in the stage adaptation of The Graduate.
Paul also was an Emmy award winning writer for The Daily Show. One of his tasks for that show included warming up the audience before Jon Stewart came out. During one of these warm ups he wished a barren womb on an old woman.
