Open slather: Why T.J was hard done by

A radio producer friend recently remarked that Australian humour doesn’t ‘travel’ very well, and I think she’s right. It can be difficult to tell when someone’s taking the mickey, particularly if the person on the receiving end is of a different nationality.

I have known and worked with TV and radio host Tony Jones for more than 30 years. A mentor to me and to many others, ‘T.J’ is hands down one of the most skilful journalists in the country.

He’s also legendary for his deadpan, mischievous sense of humour.

It’s now almost a week since T.J made world headlines for all the wrong reasons, when his teasing banter with Serbian tennis fans during Channel Nine’s Friday night news bulletin culminated in tennis superstar Novak Djokovic boycotting an on-court interview with Nine at the Australian Open.

T.J has since apologised, but talkback radio’s been abuzz with the story ever since.

Was T.J hard done by?

On Melbourne’s 3AW this week, Ross Stevenson, Russel Howcroft and Mark Allen offered their thoughts on Djokovic’s snub, with Stevenson saying “It makes me think that he’s being misled by people about what actually happened.”

Allen also thinks T.J copped a raw deal.

“If Mick Molloy or Sam Pang said the same thing, everybody would’ve been bent over and knee slapping. It was said in fun.”

Having worked alongside him at two radio stations, T.J has what I would describe as a very ‘dry’ sense of humour. He’s a master of delivering wisecracks whilst keeping a totally straight face.

Unlike some Breakfast radio teams who get so caught up talking amongst themselves that they actually achieve the opposite of what they set out to do and end up excluding the listener, T.J understands the value of casting the net as wide as possible in order to unearth the funny stuff.

And, as was the case last Friday night, this often extends beyond the studio.

Instead of just relying on his fellow radio hosts, he’ll seek out content from the newsreader, the sports presenter, the receptionist – heck, even the bloke who just popped by to top up the office vending machine.

Like most things in life, it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s gold.

I will never forget the day T.J not only threw to me in the booth, he threw me under the bus.

T.J was co-hosting the Breakfast radio show on what was then known as Sport 927 (now RSN) and I was about to read the news.

Suddenly, he turned around in his studio chair and asked me on-air if I knew any good jokes.

The only joke that sprang to mind was a really naff one about a polar bear that walked into a bar. The fact I failed miserably to nail the punchline left everyone in hysterics, myself included.

When it was the sport journo’s turn, he offered this up:

“What’s brown and sticky? A stick!”

I know, right? Ridiculous, juvenile, silly stuff. And yet, I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. No small children were hurt. No f-bombs were dropped, no sex references were made. Just good, clean (albeit childish) fun.

The photo above of myself, Tony and then-Sport 927 Breakfast co-host Michael Christian perfectly illustrates T.J’s sense of humour. Whilst that pic was being taken, I distinctly remember Tony saying to Michael “Why are you doing rabbit ears, Chrisso? How old are you??”

Sure enough, there are two fingers being held up behind my head. But I’ve always suspected it was T.J, and not Michael, doing the ‘rabbit ears.’

Humour, as we know, is subjective, and whilst I personally didn’t find T.J’s interaction with the Serbian tennis fans particularly funny, I do think it’s a classic case of a mountain being made out of a molehill.

It was vintage T.J. All meant in jest. On this occasion, it just didn’t quite hit the mark.

Main photo credit: Nine