Morrissey’s lewd Germaine Greer joke at St Kilda Palais Theatre concert

Former Smiths frontman and pop provocateur Morrissey has left fans agape at his latest Melbourne gig with a crude joke about radical Aussie feminist Germaine Greer.

Morrissey performs at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda. Picture: Facebook

Pop provocateur Morrissey shocked his Melbourne audience with a lewd joke about Australian feminist academic Germaine Greer on Tuesday.

The former Smiths frontman, performing a 40-year retrospective set, had spoken glowingly about Greer at his first show, at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre, on Monday.

“She was born and raised in Melbourne, she’s still alive, and she changed everybody’s lives. Do you know who she is?” Morrissey asked the crowd, then scoffed when somebody bellowed: “Kylie!”

“Germaine Greer,” Morrissey countered, adding: “She’s banned now by English academia because she’s too intelligent and she speaks a common sense”.

Greer has sparked controversy recently over comments deemed by some as transphobic and misogynistic.

On Tuesday night, Morrissey returned to his favourite Melburnian, but apologised for “indulgent, pointless waffle about Germaine Greer”.

He added jokingly: “I’m happy to say she’s here tonight,” to a room full of cheers, then derailed everything with a lewd punchline saying Greer was in the back row of the theatre “rolling her own tampons”.

Morrissey had lots to say about Germaine Greer. Picture: Aaron Francis / The Australian

Musically, Morrissey was in peak form, his influential voice and lyrics backed by a cracking band of young musicians.

He played Smiths classics How Soon Is Now, Stop Me, Half A Person, Girlfriend In A Coma, and Please … Let Me Get What I Want, alongside solo-era hits Suedehead, Everyday Is Like Sunday, and the intense Sure Enough The Telephone Rings.

Morrissey also kept the dangerous banter to a minimum. In Smiths-speak, Bigmouth, thankfully, didn’t strike again.

However, he almost willed two pairs of panties to be thrown on stage by casually mentioning how obscure British TV actor Peter Wyngarde was often pelted with fan underwear in the 1970s.

“I know they’ve been freshly ripped off because the smoke is still rising,” Morrissey noted.

It was classic Moz: dark, droll and tongue firmly-in-cheek.

But this is also the man who last year said of cancel culture and the outrage brigade: “Walk the other way. Don’t look. Switch it off. Listen to something else. Or bake a cake.”

Morrissey closed the show with gratitude and an affirming message. “Thank you for your kindness, Melbourne. Two fantastic nights,” he said. “I urge you to give life another go.”