Kiwi comedian Melanie Bracewell's 'so sorry' for Project on-air gaffe

Mel Bracewell forgot she was on-air a couple of hours earlier than normal.

New Zealand comedian Melanie Bracewell reacted with horror on Tuesday night's episode of The Project after she accidentally dropped the F-word midway through her guest spot on the Australian panel show.

The Kiwi comic is co-host of Ten's comedy news show The Cheap Seats at 8.40pm each Tuesday – a more relaxed timeslot where swearing is allowed under the show's M-rating.

But Bracewell momentarily forgot where she was when she was regaling those on The Project – which airs at the family-friendly time of 6.30pm – with the story of her first night out after a recent Covid infection.

"The first night I got out, I choked on calamari at dinner, and I went, 'f***, this'd be a way to go," she said, before immediately realising her error.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she said, hiding her head in her hands.

"Take her back to The Cheap Seats, people," panellist Peter Helliar quipped.

Host Waleed Aly joked that the gaffe should answer anyone wondering if the interview was prerecorded.

"I'm allowed to say that on my TV show and not your one. Oh, no," said a sheepish Bracewell.

"I'm so sorry! That is so bad. I've never done that before, but I was so relaxed with you guys, I just let it slip,"

She couldn't resist poking fun at herself as Aly tried to move the conversation along by asking how her recent run of comedy shows had gone – with Bracewell responding: "It was great, I swore heaps."

Host Waleed Aly tried to move the conversation along.

And Helliar snuck in one final dig at Bracewell's blunder as The Project wrapped for the evening, telling viewers: "It's time for us to eff off, I guess."

It's not the first time a guest on the show has dropped an unintentional F-bomb: back in 2020, singer Christine Anu offhandedly remarked about the "f***ing million versions" of My Island Home she'd recorded.

Comedian @meladoodle is touring Australia, but she tells us how accidentally blinding her audience in the early days of her show was a great marketing tactic.#TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/uw2zAVkE2s

— The Project (@theprojecttv) May 10, 2022

"And that's the end of the show!" host Carrie Bickmore responded.

Of course, Bickmore is responsible for perhaps The Project's most infamous blooper – way back in 2012 when she accidentally pronounced Qantas as "c**t-as" while reading a news item.

"I thought I'd better acknowledge it and say sorry, and then in my head I was thinking, 'I think I've just made it worse'. And then I got the giggles and couldn't stop," Bickmore revealed in an interview soon after the gaffe.

"I thought, 'well, I certainly won't be getting an upgrade any time soon'."