Comics were already walking on eggshells before Will Smith reminded them a smack in the head was possible, experts said.
Stand-up comedy has never been a safe space for the timid. But after millions of Academy Award viewers saw actor Will Smith slap comedian Chris Rock on stage Sunday — then receive an award — a whole different kind of insecurity came to mind. Comedian Kathy Griffin wondered on Twitter if comedians are safe. “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters,” she wrote. That will be on the minds of the people who take the stage at comedy clubs in the city — and those who run them. In May, the Friars Club will honor comedian Tracy Morgan at an event in the Ziegfeld Ballroom. The club’s director Anthony Trombetta says there will be “measures in place” to make sure the evening goes smoothly. “Gone is the age of the heckler,” he told the Daily News. “Now you have to worry.” Trombetta, whose club made famous the celebrity roast, said he’s never experienced anything like what happened at the 94th Academy Awards presentation. He feels that being a comedian — especially an insult comic doing a risqué comedy show — is stressful enough in polarizing times without the specter of physical violence looming. “Comedians don’t want to do (roasts) because they’re going to be canceled,” he said.
