Chaser star hits back after missing plane jokes fall flat
ABC comedian Julian Morrow has hit back at criticism over his appearance on the the Kyle & Jackie O Show on Kiis FM.
The Chaser star appeared on the radio breakfast show to talk about conspiracy theories to do with missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
What happened next was some of the most awkward radio broadcast in Australia.
Instead of talking about conspiracy theories to do with the disappearance of the plane, Morrow made jokes about Lara Bingle, Oprah and Coles.
“I’m not saying she’s solely responsible, but remember Lara Bingle?” Morrow said in his opening joke. “I know she normally does train wrecks or car crashes, but I think this could be a new twist by Tourism Australia as part of the ‘Where the Bloody Hell Are You campaign’ to encourage people not to go overseas.”
The hosts were taken aback, with Kyle saying: “Hang on, so this is a joke segment? I had all my serious facts here. I didn’t have any jokes written down, I thought it’s way too soon. We don’t even know where this plane is.”
The segment continued for several minutes, with Morrow cracking several more jokes before it was brought to an awkward conclusion.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was still missing after disappearing on March 8.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Morrow said that the brief for the segment wasn't made clear to him before the show.
"I was approached by the Kyle & Jackie O Show yesterday about doing a segment on their show about conspiracy theories connected to the Malaysia Airlines AH370 disappearance," the statement said.
He said he had some of the jokes cleared with producers before going to air, yet no one mentioned that the segment was meant to be a bit more serious.
"I did run through a handful of the jokes (including the Lara Bingle, Coles and Oprah Winfrey ones) by phone with Kiis shortly before we went to air, but that obviously wasn't enough for everyone to realise the mix-up that was about to play out."
However, Morrow said that he still took responsibility for his jokes.
"I'd be a hypocrite not to take responsibility for jokes I wrote and delivered knowingly, and I'm happy to do that," he said.
"Unfortunately, jokes are all about context, and today a regrettable misunderstanding meant the context was all wrong."
