Last week started with a resounding bang. Will Smith, nominated for Best Actor at the 94th Academy Awards for his portrayal of Richard Williams, father to tennis legends Serena and Venus, had a moment where he chose violence. This happened in front of an erudite audience of Hollywood’s best, and 16.6 million viewers. Celebrated stand-up comic and actor Chris Rock cracked a joke about Smith’s wife Jada, who sporting a bald head and Jean Paul Gaultier ruffled skirt dress, looked smashing. He thought she could be the next GI Jane, given the clean pate. The audience cracked up, as did Smith, until he saw Jada’s straight face. Having struggled with alopecia, an auto immune condition that causes hair loss, she didn’t think it was funny. On an impulse, Smith swaggered onto stage—Rock egging him on in good humour—and gave him a whack. And then walked off, with just as much suave confidence, while Rock regaining his composure, a smile still on his face, said, “Wow, dude! It was a G.I. Jane joke!” Smith shouted, clearly audible despite no mic, asking Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his “f****** mouth”.

While, unfortunately, this meant that audiences discussed one tight slap more than the biggest win of the night, what it did for standup comics across the world, is give them some mental fodder. Should Rock have made a dig at someone’s health? And how does a comic exactly set boundaries?