Did Andrew Denton really make Kyle Sandilands squirm in last night’s much-hyped interview on Enough Rope?

I don’t know. When an interview subject has the hide of an elephant and a range of emotional expression slightly below that of your average cane toad, it’s difficult to tell whether they are squirming or not.

Before the show went to air, there were various reports that Denton made the radio shock jock and Australian Idol judge “see red”, that “fireworks flew” and that Sandliands was at one point “stuck for words”.

Funny, I must have missed that. All I saw was the same smug, self-satisfied expression throughout; his voice barely changed level or volume, no matter what the question or which piece of confronting radio or television footage was played.

Denton did ask the hard questions – Is Sandilands just a bully? Should he take responsibility for his actions? Why is he the way he is? Is anything okay in the name of entertainment? – and some may argue that it was the host’s chatty, low-key delivery that robbed them of their sting.

However, the fact that his subject never really rose to the bait was possibly the most revealing aspect of the interview.

Asked whether he had considered that outing a 19-year-old radio station employee on air was a “hugely exposing thing to do”, Sandilands answer was a simple: “No, I didn’t … I just didn’t even think about it.”

He was also challenged about the decision to put a clearly distraught father and son on air after the young man revealed he had caught his dad having oral sex with another man.

“That family are identifiable, presumably, to other people so once that’s out there, you can’t control what happens in those people’s lives and that could end very, very badly,” Denton said. “Do you consider those ramifications?”

Sandlilands’ response: “No.”

Even when Denton probed for details of how he spent a year apparently living on the streets after his parents threw him out of home at 15 after an out-of-control party, the smug expression and monotonous delivery never faltered. In fact, Sandilands’ description of the incident was so bizarrely emotionless it had the audience laughing (not the intended result, judging from his reaction).

What was even more odd was that Sandilands claimed to have a “great relationship with them now”, but admitted he drags out the story at every available opportunity, knowing how much they hate it.

The one incident which elicited a hint of emotion was the playing of a videotape of comedian Dave Hughes calling the Idol judge a “dickhead” at the Logies.

“"I hate him - the next time I see him I'm going to punch him in the throat," Sandilands told Denton.

So the man who outs a vulnerable teenager live on air and makes humiliating comments about a 16-year-old Idol contestant’s “jelly belly” on national television can dish it out but he clearly can’t take it.

The arrogance and serious lack of empathy are classic symptoms of someone with sociopathic and narcissistic tendencies.

But at the risk of getting punched in the throat, I think Dave Hughes hit the nail on the head: the man is just a dickhead.

If you missed the interview and want to see it for yourself, check out the transcript and video.

— SUZANNE KEEN

What did you think of the Enough Rope interview with Kyle Sandilands? Did it change your opinion of the man named FHM Tosser of the Year and the Fugly awards Worst Male Personality on TV?


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