Akmal takes another swipe at Rocky

HE turned up to be a panellist on Stephen Fry's Quite Interesting, but The Morning Bulletin's Jen Gourley thought comedian Akmal Saleh's material was actually "quite insulting".

Currently on a live tour of Australia, the show's first night at the Brisbane Concert Hall saw the Australian-Egyptian comedian taking the opportunity to make yet another public swipe at Rockhampton

"He started off ok, but he just brought up Rockhampton out of nowhere, and kept making jokes about it."

Akmal made several jokes about Rockhampton, at one point saying, "I can't do a Rockhampton accent because I'm fully evolved. If you've ever questioned whether we evolved from monkeys, go to Rockhampton."

Jen, who is The Morning Bulletin's chief designer, said that she took offence at the comedian's jokes and did not think they were popular with the audience.

"The jokes weren't particularly funny and I don't think it got a particularly good reaction from the audience or Stephen Fry. I thought he must have taken it that Q.I stood for 'Quite Insulting' rather than 'Quite Interesting'."

This is not the first time the comedian has publicly slammed Rockhampton. In 2009, he told Good News Week that Rockhampton should be "removed from Australia and put in Afghanistan".

Akmal's hatred of the city has stemmed from an incident that occurred at the Rockhampton Show where he was assaulted by a woman while he was filming a sketch for a show.

Reportedly seeing him filming children on rides, the Rockhampton woman allegedly thought Akmal and his crew were pedophiles and punched him in the face.

While it seems Akmal has had trouble getting over this incident, Jen said she didn't let Akmal's behaviour ruin her night.

"His comments left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but it didn't ruin the rest of the show for me.

"I just think it's a shame that Stephen Fry, who is one of my favourite personalities, may now have the wrong impression about Rockhampton."

The Morning Bulletin was unable to contact Akmal for a comment at the time of print.