Seven saga mocked on huge US talk show

In his opening monologue during the show on Thursday night local time, Kimmel shared the clip of Maddern and Amor unabashedly calling the world number one tennis pro an “a***hole” while unaware they were being recorded.

And it seems the duo have themselves a mega-famous new fan, with Kimmel chuckling to the crowd afterwards and praising their candour.

“Have you been following the legal battle between Novak Djokovic and the Australian Government?” Kimmel began to his studio audience before briefly explaining the ongoing court saga over unvaxxed Djokovic’s visa to enter the country for the Australian Open.

“It’s a very big story Down Under, and one that led to this exchange on TV news where these anchors were apparently unaware they were on the air,” he said before the clip of the discussion rolled.

“Whatever way you look at it, Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky a***hole,” Maddern is seen saying to her colleague.

“That’s it, I mean he’s an a***hole. He got a bulls**t f***ing excuse and then fell over his own f***ing lies. It’s just what happens, right, that’s what happened,” Amor said shaking his head and fiddling with his audio pack.

Laughing along with the rapturous audience after the clip, Kimmel appeared charmed by the explicit hot mic grab.

“Why isn’t all the news like that? I would watch the news every night,” he said, joking, “‘I think he’s an a***hole … Now let’s check in with Ron in the Channel 9 weather centre.’”

It’s an attitude that’s shared by many Australians, with Twitter exploding with praise for Maddern and Amor this week.

Over the past few days the story has even reached an international audience, with popular political commentary page Wu-Tang Is For The Children sharing the footage on Wednesday.

“These two are pretty good; they should have a show,” US author Josh Barro wrote, with former British footballer Gary Lineker retweeting the clip with a laughing emoji.

“I feel a special kinship towards the Aussies. They, and the Scots, have a remarkable no-bulls**t filter I aspire to emulate,” wrote Ohio journalist Shannon Freshour.

While Channel 7 is treating the leak seriously, with The Australian reporting the network intends to involve the police in the investigation into the caption company employee involved, it looks to have worked in Maddern and Amor’s favour.

The night following the leak, despite neither addressing the controversy during the show, Channel 7 Melbourne’s 6pm bulletin lifted by 40,000 viewers compared to Tuesday evening’s ratings.

It’s a huge feat given the pair only started working on the newsdesk together on January 3 after Maddern returned to Channel 7 from Channel 9.

Originally published as Jimmy Kimmel shares leaked Rebecca Maddern and Mike Amor footage on talk show