Andrew Denton with Amanda Keller backstage.Getty Images
In the media room backstage, Andrew Denton appeared with his longtime comedy partner Amanda Keller, and was asked about the recent controversy around the Gina Rinehart incident on the ABC’s Race Around the World.
When he was starting out, he said, “the ABC’s editorial policy was, ‘you made the show, and if we don’t like it, we’ll let you know’. Now I think there’s more an attitude of ‘be really careful, and if we don’t like you, we might take it off air’.”
He cited Mel Brooks’ old maxim that tragedy is when I cut my finger, comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die to illustrate the point that what’s funny or offensive is subjective.
“It’s about where you stand,” he said. “Yes, you can step over the line. Yes, offence can be caused, and you can apologise for that offence. But satire is so important in terms of holding up a bent mirror to what’s going on.”
Asked where the next generation of TV comedy talent might emerge, Denton suggested the period between 9pm and midnight could be opened up “to give people a chance to play. It’s where I started out, it’s where a lot of people started. You need a chance to play, you need a chance for people to do things.”
Referring specifically to the Race Around the World controversy, Denton acknowledged that “somebody may have overstepped. They’re going to learn from that, but that’s what it’s about. If you haven’t made a mistake, you’re not trying.”