Colm O'Regan: 'It didn’t look like a fight to Irish people - for a start, Will Smith looked sober'
We can at least be thankful for one thing about #TheSlap: It took place after March 17. Had the Oscars been on in the first week of March, it would have been a float in St Patrick’s Day parades around the country.
The Small Town Parade Float That Does A Global News Story In A Trailer is often a howl but it’s not often noted for subtlety. During Trump’s rise to power there was a float somewhere with a wall, a Trump and a Mexican arguing. You knew the Mexican was Mexican because of the floppy moustache, sombrero and poncho. The looting of Lidl was recreated many times.
In one parade, a perfectly executed tableau of a small digger and a miniature Lidl was not seen as enough to explain to people what was going on. Someone also carried a big cardboard sign that said “Tallaght Scumbags”
So we can only imagine how a fight between two men of colour would be represented. It might either have led to some uncomfortable questions or there would have been blackface. It could still happen next year. But having time to think is not bad thing.
I watched the slap with disbelief. I can understand Irish audiences in particular not believing it was real when it happened. It didn’t look like a fight. For a start Will Smith looked sober. He didn’t take off his coat and didn’t shout anything on the way up about Chris Rock being a scut or that he was nothing but a dirty tramp. He didn’t then roar at the audience “I’ll take ye all on!”. I can well imagine Chris Rock being rooted to the spot.
It is the comedian’s worst nightmare. Not just because of the physical risk. But also, the stage is a sort of a magic circle that you draw on the ground. It doesn’t mean you’re safe. It just means that when anyone crosses into it with not-that-good intent, something changes in the room and nothing is ever the same again.
In a battle of wills with an audience, all you have is your voice, a (hopefully) functioning microphone and a raised area. I’ve never been attacked. I’ve had memorable heckles and I’ve just had to stop and pay tribute to them. The person will then try and do another one but it rarely lands. It’s a bit like Leicester winning the Premier League. There was a moment in time when everything aligned. But it may never happen again. I’ve been approached a few times about jokes which inadvertently hurt someone and then I’ve stopped doing them.
A joke which hurts another person - a person who themselves is not a bad person and doesn’t deserve rid - with no other purpose or point has no joy in it. It is a bad joke. You can tell it but then you have to deal with the consequences. But those consequences should not be to get a slap from someone a foot taller than you. Or any height. It might sound satisfying to wipe the smile off someone’s face but when the line is crossed, the stage suddenly feels a bit easier to get onto for other people.
Not everyone will be at it. We’re not going to have parents invading nativity plays frustrated with the narrator. Look Out He’s Behind You! won't be a security alert at a panto. And hopefully, most lumbering gobshites who fall flailing onto the stage can be diffused by inviting the audience to compare their Jack Jones getup and Lynx smell unfavourably to Will Smith’s aesthetic.
But still, even though ultimately it’s a longstanding beef between two wealthy men, I imagine comedians everywhere felt that slap.
