Did Sacha Baron Cohen Kill An Award Presenter? [VIDEO]

It was a hectic scene at the BAFTA Los Angeles Jaguar 2013 Britannia Awards. 

Sacha Baron Cohen was presented with the Charlie Chaplin Award for Excellence in Comedy by Salma Hayek and former Charlie Chaplin child co-star, 83-year-old Grace Coddington. Once Cohen arrived on stage to accept the award, Coddington gave Cohen one of Chaplin's actual canes. Cohen decided to do an improvised dance with the cane which ultimately broke the cane causing Cohen to tumble forward and push Coddington's wheelchair off of the 5 foot tall stage.

Luckily it was all a staged stunt, but I'm surprised everyone in attendance assumed it was a joke in the moment and simply laughed it off from beginning to end. Is it a new form of comedy? Scare-humor?