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Skating on Thin Ice: Slippery Slope Between Crime and Humour
About the Session
Why do we sometimes laugh at crime? From stand-up routines about petty theft to internet memes about real-life scandals, humour often finds its way into the darkest corners of human behaviour. But is it harmless fun—or are we crossing a line?
In this thought-provoking panel discussion, a group of experts from comedy, criminology, media, and psychology come together to explore the complicated relationship between crime and humour. Together, they’ll unpack questions like:
· Why do jokes about crime make us laugh—or cringe?
· When does humour help us cope, and when does it go too far?
· How do films, TV shows, and social media shape how we think about criminals and justice?
Join us for a lively, eye-opening conversation that balances wit with wisdom, and challenges how we see humour in the face of serious issues. Be ready to laugh—but also to think twice.
John Silvester
John Silvester is Victoria’s most experienced crime reporter and has covered the beat since the late 1970s. He has written, edited and published crime books that have sold more than 1 million copies
in Australia and has won industry awards for print, radio, television and on-line reporting. His work was adapted into the top rating Underbelly television series shown on Channel Nine and he has acted as presenter in a series of critically acclaimed television crime documentaries.
He won the 2007 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and was highly commended in the same award in 1998 and 2014. In 2008 he was judged the Victoria Law Foundation Legal Reporter of the Year.
He has won nine Melbourne Press Club Quill awards, ten Victorian Law Foundation Awards,four Walkley Awards, a Ned Kelly Award for true crime writing and a Ned Kelly lifetime achievement award. He presented the ABC documentary Trigger Point, an in depth examination of police
shootings in Victoria and Conviction – the Logie winning ABC special on the murder of Jill Meagher. In 2018 he was elevated to the Australian Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the senior crime reporter for The Age and writes the Walkley Award winning Naked City column. He appears weekly on 3AW as crime commentator Sly of the Underworld. He has given evidence in Royal Commissions on crime and corruption.