LeVar Burton Roasts Will Smith at Grammys, Comedian Wears Helmet

Will Smith is still the talk of the town at the Grammys, including for LeVar Burton -- trotting out a comedian presenter ... who also had the moment as top of mind, literally.

The wacky moment went down Sunday ahead of the official broadcast, where they were still presenting the off-air awards -- such as Best Comedy Album. It was at that point in the pre-ceremony that Burton was on stage and invoked the Chris Rock slap ... not too subtly.

He said that he wanted to warn the audience that their next presenter was a comedian (Nate Bargatze) ... and that everyone should refrain from coming up and smacking him.

The audience was howling ... but not as much as when Bargatze himself actually walked out -- because he was decked out in a HUGE helmet, obviously in reference to the hit from last week. Yeah, they really leaned into the gag ... and NB had some jokes to go along with it.

The guy explained that he heard comics had to wear headgear like this from now on at award shows, especially during their "joke parts." Clearly, he's team Chris on this.

Considering the official show hasn't even started yet ... we might be in for a lot of Smith references. Like we said, it's still very much the topic of the day -- even after a full 6 days -- and for good reason too.