Comedian takes savage dig at Channel Nine’s Richard Wilkins after TV veteran made shocking blunder

Comedian Akmal Saleh has shared an anecdote about a recent meeting with showbiz veteran Richard Wilkins.

The 60-year-old appeared on The Project on Monday when he explained how Wilkins linked him to Anh Do, who hosts ABC’s Anh’s Brush with Fame.

“The other day I was on one of those morning shows, the Today show maybe,” he began his story.

“I think it was the Today show with one of the regulars, it might have been Richard Wilkins, the entertainment reporter,” he added with a laugh.

“He comes up to me: ‘Mate, I’m a big fan of yours. I love that show you do on TV. I said what show?

“Where you paint a celebrity,” Saleh added, before sharing his shock at being compared to the Vietnam-born comedian turned acclaimed artist.

The 60-year-old appeared on The Project on Monday when he explained how Wilkins linked him to Anh Do, who hosts ABC’s Anh’s Brush with Fame. Richard is in the photo

“We’re not the same race,” he said to loud laughter.

“He might as well have come up to me and said, ‘Are you Kitty Flanagan?’ Yes, I let myself go.’

Akmal went on to mock the television host mercilessly.

“I think plastic surgery will hurt his head!” I didn’t want to disappoint him and said, “No, it’s okay! I’ll have you on the show next time.”

The funnyman is fearless when it comes to taking shots and Australia’s previously attacked cancel culture.

At the time, he compared the freedom of expression of local comics to that of artists in Egypt.

The well-known comedian, who moved to Australia from Egypt at the age of 11, said further SBS Insights In the episode “Bad Jokes” it is said that speech is “not free” and that it comes with a cost.

Saleh said he grew up in a country where everything is restricted and warned Australians don’t want to get to that point.

“There are comedians in Egypt today who are languishing in prisons and suffering torture because of an opinion contrary to the government’s line,” Saleh said during the discussion.

Anh Do is standing on the left of the photo next to Akmal Saleh

The show has made it its mission to discover where the “line” is when it comes to comedy and cancel culture.

The Egyptian-Australian comedian has been making comedy since the early 1990s.

He said that when it comes to jokes that are not intended for the audience, the response should not consist of a social media sequence.

“People should just be offended and accept it,” he told the television show.

“Accept that you are offended, don’t go to that comedian,” he added.

‘Freedom of speech is not free, it has a price – the price is that someone will invariably be offended about something and that’s okay, that’s allowed…

“Go live in Cairo and have your opinions suppressed when the secret police knock on your door, and which one will you choose?”

Comedians Rudy-Lee Taurua, Lewis Spears and Alice Fraser were among those interviewed in the programme.

The comedians debated the merits of boundary crossing and sometimes offensive humor, as well as discussing when the art form becomes distasteful.

When asked if there was a line on what could be joked about, Saleh told host Kumi Taguchi that the line was between the comedian and the audience.

If the audience “organically” decides that a comic’s material is bad, Saleh said, that’s a “democratic process.”