Erin Molan: Oscars slap should not stop us having a laugh

Here’s hoping the Oscars fracas between Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock doesn’t put an end to good, old-fashioned roasting, writes Erin Molan.

When it comes to tough gigs in television, opening awards shows tops the table. Generally the greatest fear for those willing to take on the highly coveted but even higher risk gig is a joke falling flat or the media declaring you a complete failure never to be seen from or heard from again.

Now our poor, long-suffering comedic types have to throw in the fear of physical abuse if some famous, privileged, high-profile type determines something that came out of their mouths to be offensive.

When Will Smith leapt onto the stage at the ­Oscars and whacked Chris Rock, the world watched in complete shock.

Thoughts of it being a set up or publicity ploy for a woke event losing relevance were quickly put to bed once the F-bomb was dropped … not once but twice live on the television coverage.

Smith yelling at Rock ‘‘leave my wife’s name out your f---ing mouth’’.

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars made headlines around the world — but will it ruin a good ‘roast’ forever? Picture: Terry Pontikos

The joke, at the expense of a woman with alopecia, was a poor one and in bad taste, no doubt about it, but nothing that comes out of anyone’s mouth ever warrants physical abuse.

Chris Rock broke his silence yesterday for the first time since the incident: “I’m still kind of processing what happened. So at some point I’ll talk about that shit” he said to the crowd at one of his sold-out shows in Boston.

Academy Award officials are trying to desperately clean up what will only become a bigger mess for them.

In a statement they claim “Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused”.

Really? There would have been a team of security there to rival a G8 convention. Even Prince Harry would have felt safe at the Oscars.

If an anonymous audience member had jumped onto the stage and hit a host, they’d be bundled out in seconds. So why was Will Smith any different? Is it because he’s a superstar? Was nominated for best actor?

Or because he fits so perfectly into this hypocritical Hollywood world where actors frequently take the moral high ground, use their platform to lecture the rest of us, then refuse to be held to account for any of their own behaviour?

I’d suspect a healthy dose of all three.

Comedian Dave Hughes with breakfast radio colleague and opinion writer Erin Molan. Picture: Jane Dempster

The closest thing we have in this country to the Oscars are the ­Logies, and after the passing of Bert Newton, RIP, the most qualified person to comment on hosting the gig is Dave Hughes, my colleague on breakfast radio on 2Day FM and one of the country’s best-known comedians.

Our group chat with Ed Kavalee went absolutely crazy during the ceremony and the insights were both fascinating and super juicy.

I rang Hughesy and quick-fired questions at him. Hopefully it provides us with an insider’s view and a more local perspective on what Chris Rock (somewhat ambitiously) des­cribed just seconds after impact as “the greatest night in the history of television”.

Riskiest joke you’ve ever done?

Hughesy: “There have been a few, but probably James Packer and David Gyngell after their fight in the street. One of them owned the building we were in, Crown, and the other was the boss of the network we were on. I heard Packer wasn’t too happy afterwards. I also made a joke about the Channel 7 boss at the time. I was told not to expect any work from that network moving forward.’’

How do you decide which celebrity to target?

Hughesy: “You want to target ­either people who can take a joke, or people who deserve the joke. It’s better for them to be in the room if possible. The ultimate outcome is telling the joke about the person, have the camera zoom in on them, then have them laugh. That’s when you win. If they can laugh at themselves. The way I explain it to people is if you are getting a joke made about you it’s an honour. If you’re big enough in the public sphere that people know you and will get it then it’s a good thing in our line of work.’’

Will Smith wins Best Actor in a Leading Role not long after attacking Chris Rock on stage. Picture: AFP

Any jokes you regret telling?

Hughesy: “No regrets BUT I’d never want to do a joke that would make someone feel genuinely bad. The Kyle Sandilands one got a lot of publicity. He was angry about it. If I’d known he was going to react that way and be so hurt I wouldn’t have done it. He went on TV afterwards and said he was going to punch me in the throat next time he saw me. I spent the next five years nervous every time I went to an event or airport. I reckon he’d win in a fight.’’

Who cops your jokes the best?

Hughesy: “Karl Stefanovic loves it but I’m not so sure Lisa Wilkinson did the year I joked about her pay parity. In fact one year I forgot to do a Grant Denyer joke, got back to my table and he was upset I hadn’t mentioned him. Apparently his mum loved it so much when I spoke about him that she was gutted. In 2017 Denyer was nominated for the Gold Logie … he’d crashed his car a month before going 160km/h … I said the only thing that saved him was the seven pillows he was sitting on — and the booster seat. He’s a good sport.

“Grant Hackett’s had his issues and I addressed them one year. He rang me afterwards and said he’d laughed out loud. In 2016 I had the great Shane Warne in my sights but couldn’t see him in the room. I found him outside having a dart, so I told him I needed him inside because I was about to tell a joke about him. “He smiled and said ‘no worries’, put out the smoke and scurried back inside. He seemed to enjoy the moment I said on stage that he’d done so well on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ that he’s doing his own version after the Logies in his hotel room called ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get in Here!’.

Has anyone ever abused you for a joke afterwards?

Hughesy: “No, not to my face.’’

Do you get paid a motza?

Hughesy: “No. Not at all. You do it for the challenge. Every year I do it I hope they don’t ask me again because it’s the most nervous I get but when they ask again you can’t say no.’’

Did Chris Rock cross the line with his Jada joke?

Hughesy: “Yes. I wouldn’t have done it. If he knew she had alopecia then definitely he shouldn’t have. As I said, you have to take risks and push the envelope but you never want to genuinely hurt someone’s feelings.”

And now for the most important question of all — are we now so ­easily offended that the roasting at the Oscars and Logies alike will ­become a thing of the past?

Hughesy: “I bloody hope not. I ­really don’t think so. We have to laugh at ourselves and each other. Otherwise what’s the point.”

Hear hear.

Just as opinion remains sharply divided on the gravity and guilt of Smith and Rock’s behaviour, so too will opinion remain divided on the merits, appeal and relevance of ­retaining these awards ceremonies as a feature program — with or without the roasting.