Joke from Tony Hinchcliffe apparently bombed when he told it on Saturday night, a day before New York rally
The podcaster who provoked an angry backlash against Donald Trump’s campaign with a racist joke about Puerto Rico reportedly tested out the gags at a comedy club the night before delivering them at Sunday’s televised rally at Madison Square Garden.
Tony Hinchcliffe, whose 11-minute set has thrown Trump’s team into damage limitation mode a week before the presidential election, made the same quip, calling the territory “a floating island of garbage”, at the Stand club in New York on Saturday, according to NBC.
The joke bombed, drawing just a few awkward chuckles, NBC said, citing one of its own producers and three audience members.
I’m a big supporter of comics being given leniency for offensive jokes, and if this guy had made that joke at a comedy club, I would not have had a problem with it, because the presumption is that it’s a joke—nothing is meant to be taken seriously.
But this was a political rally. Totally different situation. When you make jokes there, they’re understood to reflect the politician conducting the rally. And in this case, it did.
I hope Mr. Hinchcliffe never finds work as a comedian again. Not because he’s a bad comic, not because he might actually be racist against Puerto Ricans, but because he’s a catastrophically stupid human being.
He has a pretty big podcast
I also see clips from Kill Tony hawked a lot on YouTube, and the most this guy has going for him is he’s a shock jock. Making a crass, low-hanging quip while grinning at the camera is hardly an indicator of a lofty comic personally, but I’m sure his popularity will continue after this.
I hope he gets an earful from his listeners then, and that they stop listening to him.
I doubt it
I think he will be murdered by Donald’s cultists if the election goes bad for Donald. Just a hunch based on the fact that Repubs have been actively radicalizing domestic terrorists for decades.
Maybe one MAGA lunatic will try but a KKK lunatic will jump in front of the bullet to protect a fellow racist. One can dream.
While it’s worse at a political rally, I don’t think this is much better at a comedy club. Mostly because it’s not really a joke; it’s just offensive. Perhaps if there was some point he was trying to make beyond being racist, but it doesn’t seem like it. It’s only “funny” if you’re already bigoted against Puerto Ricans.
His schtick is offensive comedy. Jon Stewart covered it. https://youtu.be/cOLqSUK0eBM?t=4m54s
I don’t know. There’s a type of joke that is funny simply because of how ridiculously offensive it is, provided you know the teller doesn’t mean it. People think Sam Kinison was funny and he just yelled and swore a lot. Lots of things can be funny for fairly stupid reasons.
I still think the main problem here is that he told a really offensive joke in the wrong context. If Hinchcliff really is racist then that’s obviously a problem, but I don’t think the joke itself is the issue. If you’re going to take issue with it on its own then you’re treading into the Offense Olympic waters.
I think context is key here. If you tell a Jewish joke at a Bar Mitzvah or comedy club it comes across entirely differently than if you tell it at a Skin Head or Proud Boys rally.
He told the this joke at a Trump rally where accusations of racism and facism abound. He was probably trying to be ironic but it just comes off far more serious than just a joke.
Fundamentally a rally should bring people together. The Trump team knew what they were getting when they hired this guy. Whatever this comedians intentions were, the Trump team is ultimately responsible for their message and to refuse to have Trump repudiate him publicly and immediately peaks volumes.
That’s the important point. They don’t get to back away and claim it just some random thing that some random guy said.
They knew exactly who this guy was, and they specifically invited him to speak on their stage in front of their audience.
If this guy genuinely went to this rally and was trying to make fun of this sort of racism by telling that joke (i.e., the joke is how stupid it is to believe that), then you would have a point. But I don’t see any reason to believe that because he agreed to speak at a Trump rally. Context goes both ways.
I’m not personally familiar with Hinchcliff or his comedy, but what little I’ve seen from fans of his online seems to indicate that this is just his normal shtick. As such, I’m not sure I agree that he went out there to wave a Nazi flag at his fellow Nazis. It would make more sense to me that he took the gig because it paid well and offered him a ton of publicity. The irony is that he’s certainly gotten publicity, but probably not the type he wants.
I’m not seeing where I mentioned him being a Nazi.
I understand being charitable and not assuming bad in people. However, it’s not exactly a mystery where Trump stands in this area. I’m a little doubtful this comedian is barely making rent, so this wasn’t a gig he had to take. Since he did, he has to accept being part of that context. It was very easy to avoid.
If this ends up costing Trump the election, and Hinchcliff comes out saying that was his master plan, I’ll gladly eat my words.
I inserted the Nazi part as a bit of hyperbole. I just meant the idea of him doing his bit intending to express actual racism for the yuks of actual racists.
I agree wholeheartedly that this was an idiot move on his part and that he deserves all the bad press he gets from it. I was just saying that—based on what his fans have said—I don’t get the impression he really hates Puerto Ricans. This was likely just a really dumb career move on his part.
I don’t know. He got dropped by his agency and Joe Rogan (!!!) in the past for using a racial slur. When people show you who they are, believe them.
🤷🏻 Can’t say I’m surprised. Joe Rogan cancelling him seems kinda hypocritical though.