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Trump rally comic reportedly tested racist Puerto Rico joke at comedy club (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

52 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (3 children)

He has a pretty big podcast

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I hope he gets an earful from his listeners then, and that they stop listening to him.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I doubt it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

It'd be funny if it was just about grilling and craft beers with nothing spicier than a Full House (the original) joke, but I somehow doubt it.

[–] [email protected] 83 points 6 days ago (2 children)

And he STILL did the jokes.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I am absolutely not defending this racist's jokes, so please do not think I am.

I am just going to explain why he still did the joke because I used to do stand-up (nowhere near at this high a level).

Sometimes, you are just convinced a joke is funny. You are absolutely convinced. Nothing will tell you it isn't funny. The audience isn't laughing? You told it wrong. Something was off. You have to tell it again because of course it's funny. It makes you laugh every time you think of it. So you have to try again. And you can get stuck in that loop very easily.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The fact that he finds this joke funny says a ton about him. I get the roast comedy angle people bring up here, but I just don't see how anyone could find that line funny.

I mean, I'm a leftist, an anti-racist, and yet there are are some racist jokes I still find funny due to the way they're crafted, even if I don't tell them anymore because some people still take them on the first degree (both racists and non-racists.)

But I just don't see the joke here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

It's him. He's the joke.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They're too woke/scared to enjoy it

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

THoSE people didn't like it, that means it should smash for MY crowd!

-that guys internal dialogue... Maybe

[–] [email protected] 63 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

It's so odd. I watched the whole thing. Nothing is taken out of context here. He just took a dump on Puerto Rico. Supposedly, he originally was going to call Kamala Harris a cunt, but they were like no no take that out but leave the shitty Puerto Rico joke in. It just seems like he stepped out of his lane by not understanding he was at a political rally where the stakes are different. He was hilarious at the roast of Tom Brady. Too bad he had to go full fascist.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Yeah the joke fits Tony's IDGAF style of comedy where literally nothing is off limits.

And while in other context it would still be a bad joke, it wouldn't be taken anywhere near as bad as at a political rally like this. It doesn't come across as a joke at all given the other political rhetoric surrounding it.

It's especially insane since he was literally just at Madison Square Garden a month or so ago for like 3 days doing a massive Kill Tony special with 3 something like 300 other smaller comedians.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The audience is at least 50% of this type of joke. Like if the punch line was making fun of Trump treating Puerto Rico like trash it could work as a joke.

But in the context of Trump's wishdotcom nazi rally it isn't a joke, it is just being cruel because the audience agrees with the statement. There isn't a punchline, it is just calling Puerto Rico names and laughing at them like the bullies that maga idiots are.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago

It's interesting to me. He read the room just fine, he just didn't read the room's global position.

He's a talented comedian in the roast/shock kinda of genre, but a political rally? A bit out of his element. And a bit stupid for the GOP to think he'd be a good fit here.

Sucks to suck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Right? In the correct setting and with a lot of jokes on the environment in the set leading up to it.. he might have gotten away with it. But at a fascist rally in MSG he was just vocalizing the sentiment in the room, like court jesters would do.

Now the trump team can climb on their podium and cry how everyone is a snowflake and point at this outrage to invigorate their base.

I guess they underestimated the backlash.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I swear I head another comedian "test" that joke about 5 years ago only referring to the UK, not PR.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 days ago

Yeah, it's an old joke he stole. The first clue is the fact that he's talking about the giant island of garbage which first made headlines years ago.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

It's an old hacky joke

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I see lots of people talking about how bad this is, but I haven't seen anyone talk about it in light of Trump's utter mishandling of Hurricane Maria.

It's been 7 years but it's absolutely salt in the wound.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

He really should've brought a cowbell to signal the audience.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why was he roasting Puerto Rico and not Walz or Harris? Seems like a rookie move.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Apparently he was going to: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trumps-shock-comic-was-set-to-call

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

I hope this guy costs him big lol moron racist with a "joke"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

We can always rely on the Republican Party for empathy and understanding:

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, adopted an unapologetic stance, telling NBC that Americans “need to stop getting so offended”.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

Roast comedy isn't a big deal. I'd expect any roast comic not to help out the man making Hitler's time in hell embarrassing by drawing comparisons with him, though. Do a roast at a Harris rally if you wanna bring the goods.

Definitely nazi shit in context.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

It certainly would have been received differently. In one case you're calling for the segregation or eradication of an entire ethnicity, in the other case you're making a joke about somebody calling for the segregation or eradication of an entire ethnicity.

Some things are funny because of how horrible they are, like dead baby jokes, but if you ever attempt to orchestrate the real equivalent to one then you should be shot on sight.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I hadn't seen anyone mentioning that he's a roast comic until I watched John Stewart address this. That does kinda change how I feel about the jokes. Doesn't change how I feel about him accepting a gig at a Trump rally, though.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago

I see your point, but that racist dipshit should have realized a few things: not everyone knows that he’s a roast comic, it wasn’t a typical “roast” type of atmosphere, and he should have roasted the opposition, not people who the Republican Party is trying to attract.

What an idiot. This disaster is probably the closest he’ll ever get to fame.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Yes, this is the critical flaw in this whole ordeal.

Comedians make tasteless jokes all the time and they generally get forgiven since they often exist as boundary pushers. A comedian makes 100 jokes that ride the line and push a little bit, and 1 of them was too far or bombs or whatever, no biggie, live and let live.

But going to this event, at this venue, with this crowd is not the same scenario. It sets a tone and he even mentions it in his set, that he doesn't normally play to a room full of grandmas and babies or whatever.

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