During the Duke of Sussex’s appearance on a comedy podcast, he was ‘de-stabilised’ by the host’s jokes and became ‘genuinely concerned’ about being mocked, according to a body language expert
A body language expert believes Prince Harry appeared “increasingly uncomfortable” during a recent podcast appearance in which he was teased by an American comedian.
The Duke of Sussex featured on the Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know podcast , which is hosted by the American-Indian comic, to discuss his and Meghan Markle’s work in sounding the alarm on the dangers of AI and social media for children.
Despite discussing a serious topic, there were a series of quips in the podcast episode, largely coming from the comedian, with body language expert Judi James believing that Harry was struggling to keep up with the mocking humour.
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Judi told the Mirror : “Hasan’s ability to blend serious and important messages with the kind of mocking humour that Ali G used to be known for appears, from Harry’s body language, to be a de-stabilizing technique.”
She went on to say that while Harry can be humorous in his own way on different podcasts and chat shows, his funny moments usually come when he is the one on top of the joke.
“He can throw back one-liners efficiently enough but it’s here where his host seems to trip over the border from trading jokes and laughing with Harry to laughing at him that sees Harry become increasingly uncomfortable,” she said.
Judi went on to analyse parts of the podcast in which Harry seemed to get his back up over some moments, saying: “Harry even uses the line ‘You’re a humorous guy’ [to Hasan’s jokes], sounding a little like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.
“Hasan takes his gags beyond Harry’s understanding here, leaving him with no wriggle room to out-joke the host. He is even asked to make himself look and sound ridiculous with the ‘American accent’ scenario and it’s at this point that Harry seems to become genuinely concerned, looking out to the crew to ask ‘Is this part of the thing?’ to find out if he’s being encouraged or mocked.
“Harry tells his host he’s ‘sweating’ at this point and his discomfort looks obvious. When the host gets round to talk about his book Spare and refers to Harry’s ‘vulnerability’ Harry’s change of expression suggests he believes this is the part where they talk seriously about his mental health, but the quote the host uses is about how Harry had to buy his clothes from TKMaxx, which again seems to wrong-foot Harry.”
Judi clarified that while Harry seemed steamrolled by the comedian, the beginning of the podcast shows the Duke to be in control of the situation and putting his own humorous spin on the conversation.
She said: “There is a moment at the start when Harry appears to be well within his comedy comfort zone, leading the gags rather than being the butt of them. His leg is crossed over his thigh to create a protective barrier, and his toe taps in the air to suggest confidence and enthusiasm for the comedy ‘battle’.
The body language expert decoded Harry’s physicality, as she said he became increasingly uncomfortable with trying to read the very American-style jokes being thrown at him.
“But then his eye expression becomes wary and his toe-tapping speeds up to hint at annoyance or impatience,” she said. “He wipes his nose and sniffs, looking up to think of an answer but he finds none and his face begins to redden.
“Watching his host pretend to cry over his TKMaxx experience shows Harry at a loss here. His glances to the crew suggest he’s in need of support and even some advice about whether he should join in the mockery of himself or just drop out.”
The TKMaxx joke seemed to catch Harry off-guard, as Hasan spoke in a serious tone about a quote in his 2022 memoir Spare where Harry talked about his “official clothing allowance” from his dad.
Harry burst out laughing as Minhaj gave a dramatic reading of the quote from the autobiography where Harry said he shops at TK Maxx for his everyday clothes, because his allowance only covered formal wear.
“Bro, I’m sorry you had to go through that,” the comedian said, to which Harry laughed and responded: “You know what, it was hard, it was really hard. TK Maxx is now a special place in my memory.”
