Comedian's joke makes The Project hosts squirm

The sight of a shirtless comedian sitting on The Project desk last night didn’t raise as many eyebrows as his jokes on a topic still considered taboo on Aussie screens.

US funnyman Bert Kreischer appeared on the panel last night following a stand-up set, and decided to keep the ball rolling with jokes that quickly strayed into the territory of menstruation.

“I’ve seen my daughters on their periods right now,” the comedian responded after Waleed asked him if he’d ‘seen some stuff’ in his time.

Bert then launched into a recounting of his experience as a dad with his daughters’ cycles, including a detailed description of one daughter’s decision to throw a ‘period party’.

“I’ve had a lot of fun with my two daughters but I didn’t know that I would be throwing them a period party,” Bert said.

He explained that his daughter called him when she got her period for the first time, and they purchased a celebratory red velvet cake and organised a party to welcome her period.

The cake was emblazoned with her chosen name for her monthly cycle which arrived on Friday the 13th - and was therefore called Jason after the cult-film villain.

“I dressed all in red, made pasta with marinara sauce, drinking pinot noir, laughing at these two boys Max and Carter who had their faces covered in red cake,” he said of the celebration.

A visceral reaction

The subject matter was enough to make some of the hosts visibly squirm, and Steve Price even added that though they were laughing, “We’re not quite sure whether we should find this funny”.

The host was visibly uncomfortable as Bert insisted that ‘period parties’ would be all the rage in no time, and Peter Helliar quickly changed the subject.

The show later shared the segment to Twitter where it labelled it ‘possibly the loosest interview’ the show had had.

The reaction

Despite the comedian appearing shirtless, his microphone seemingly taped to his chest hair, and performing an entire comedic set prior to joining the panel, the only thing that seemed to have people talking was his audacity to acknowledge the existence of periods.

Some viewers argued that a woman’s period is a topic that should be filed away or saved for a later time slot.

“The Project remember the time slot you're on,” one viewer wrote.

“Period talk during dinner? It’s a no from this house, we are switching over to the ABC,” concurred another.

Others disagreed arguing it was a positive step to discuss the female experience so openly on air - especially considering periods are so normal and common.

“Gotta say I’m loving hearing a guy talk so freely about periods on TV, love that he’s so involved with his daughters and I’m in stitches laughing, (sic)” wrote one fan of the segment.

“HILARIOUS! And what a bright funny daughter!!” another wrote.

A persistent stigma

The outcry is just a sliver of the issue that academics are arguing is faced by women in Australia.

A cultural taboo still surrounds the period in Australia, says academic Carla Pascoe Leahy in an article exploring the topic.

Women’s charity Share The Dignity even told the ABC that it is so great it prevents women at risk from accessing period hygiene products.

They say it is because we are so loath to acknowledge the existence of periods that women would rather risk their health than announce their period.

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