Tom Gleeson rips into Jessica Mauboy on Hard Chat

Tom Gleeson felt bad about how poorly he treated Jessica Mauboy during an interview, saying it was like “punching a puppy”.

For a second, it almost appeared as if Tom Gleeson felt bad about ripping into Jessica Mauboy on Hard Chat.

The Aussie singer was Gleeson’s latest victim on Hard Chat, the brutal interview segment that airs during The Weekly with Charlie Pickering on the ABC.

Gleeson made it clear from the outset he wasn’t going to take it easy on the notoriously sweet Mauboy, introducing her as an “Idol and Eurovision reject”.

“You’ve been described as the ‘girl next door’, ‘squeaky clean’ and ‘relatable’,” Gleeson said. “Are there any other ways of saying ‘boring’?”

“Um, wow,” a stunned Mauboy replied.

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Idol grand finalists Damien Leith and Jessica Mauboy.

Jessica Mauboy at Eurovision 2018.

Picking on one of Mauboy’s most famous songs, Gleeson joked: “In your first hit single, Burn, you sing: ‘Look what you did to me, I need a doctor because this is starting to burn’. Is that your only song about chlamydia, or are there others?”

The singer could only sit and smile as the comedian, who is nominated for this year’s Gold Logie, continued with the verbal attacks.

“You performed at Eurovision twice and your best result was 20th,” he said. “Are you the only person to do Eurovision and lower their profile? You went in there well-known, and then you came out obscure.

As Mauboy giggled, Gleeson clearly felt a pang of guilt for his hard questions and said, “This is like punching a puppy!”

You can check out the full Hard Chat segment below.

Here’s the @jessicamauboy #HardChat. It was like punching a puppy. #TheWeekly #Gleeson4Gold pic.twitter.com/EX5z8vx8rf

— Tom Gleeson (@nonstoptom) May 29, 2019

The Weekly with Charlie Picking airs Wednesdays at 8.30pm on the ABC