John Oliver watched Tony Abbott eating an onion for the first time, and the reaction is glorious. Source: Supplied

During a Q&A session with British television host John Oliver last night, one heroic Sydney local asked him what he thought of the infamous footage of Tony Abbott eating a raw onion.

The entire Sydney State Theatre was then treated to Oliver’s live, bewildered reaction to the video that continues to baffle this fine nation.

Never forget #oniongate. Source: YouTube

The good people at Junkee have published audio of his hilarious enlightenment, recorded by David Potter.

David - otherwise known as the hero our city deserves - called out: “Did you see Tony Abbott eat the onion?”

“T - Tony Abbott? Tony Abbott what?”

“The onion! Eat the onion! Tony Abbott ate the onion!”

The sheer disbelief in Oliver’s voice said it all, as he attempted to make sense of the question. Just remember that this was a man hearing - first-hand - that the current Prime Minister of Australia bit into a raw, unpeeled onion.

“Did he do it competently?”

Laughter followed, but it soon became clear that words were not enough. Oliver would need evidence of this. He just wasn’t getting it.

“He ate an onion? He ATE an ONION? He ate an onion like a two-year-old eats an onion, thinking: ‘it’s round and I’ve seen round apples! Is this an apple?’ No. he did not do that.”

And then, when an audience member enlightened him to the sheer gravity of the event --

“He ate TWO?! Get the f**k out!”

Finally, the blessed video footage was produced.

There was a deep silence, followed by running commentary which sounded both impressed and fearful.

“The SKIN was on it. What’s he DOING?”

Then, in a quiet, terrified whimper: “Why does he eat the SECOND one? ‘Oooh - that was an onion. I wonder if THIS onion is an onion!’”

The audience was in hysterics by this point. Suddenly, the entire thing seemed to click in Oliver’s mind, as he yelled: “HE NEEDS CONSTANT SUPERVISION!”

This isn’t the first time Oliver has had colourful things to say about Tony Abbott. Earlier this year, he described the Prime Minister as a “car crash of a human being”, saying “the fact he’s the leader of a country is in itself appealing as a comic.”

In fact, he once devoted a whole episode slot to questioning how he became the leader of Australia:

But fear not. If anything, #oniongate has only reinforced to Oliver how great our nation truly is.

He concludes by saying: “Wow... he ate an onion... I think I’m in love with this country to be honest.”

Listen to the full audio here.