The Comedy Community Weighs In On Tony Hinchcliffe’s Trump Rally Appearance

Courtesy of Politico YouTube.

Tony Hinchcliffe, the Austin, Texas based stand-up comedian & Kill Tony podcaster, has been making enormous headlines this week for his appearance at former president Donald Trump's campaign rally at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday. He was the only comedian on the lineup, who you may also know well for his roasting chops during this year's Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix as well as several Comedy Central Roasts.

During his appearance, he made some comments about latinos, black people & Puerto Rico when speaking to the packed out Republican crowd.

Hinchcliffe's statements about Latinos: “It’s wild. And these Latinos, they love making babies, too, just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.” He then cackled, adding, “Republicans are the party with a good sense of humor.”

Hinchcliffe's statements about Puerto Rico: “There’s a lot going on,” he said. “Like I don’t know if you know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

When speaking about black people, he then pointed to a Black man in the audience. “That’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together. It was awesome.”

After two days since the rally, comedians in the greater stand-up comedy community have been chiming in & gave their response to Hinchcliffe's comments. Here's just a handful of what fellow comedians have been saying.

Stand-up comedian & seasoned Conan writer Laurie Kilmartin responded saying, "imo, roast jokes work because you have to fight your inner "nooooo!" to laugh at them, and the people at Trump's rally probably call Puerto Rico a floating garbage heap every morning before they leave for work. It's not a joke to them, not even a roast joke."

Legion of Skanks podcaster & comedian Luis J. Gomez gave his take on Hinchcliffe's performance. "Comedians piling onto Tony should be ashamed. We make jokes. That’s what we do! Also most of the comics talking shit are terrible comedians who don’t actually work."

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart came to Tony's defense when describing the choice it was to have a roast comedian speak at a Trump rally. "Now, obviously, in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic-- probably not the best decision by the campaign politically." He continues, "But, to be fair, the guy's really just doing what he does. I mean, here he is at the Tom Brady roast a few months ago."

Robert Smigel, better known as the comedic puppet canine Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, posted on X: "the sick thing about the crude comments by the Trump Rally speakers is the clear contempt they have for his supporters. Every one of those comments bombed with the audience. But Team Trump thinks they're all dumb racists & women-haters. The deplorables were the ones on stage -RS"

Comedian, actor & WTF Podcast host Marc Maron writes to his fans in a longer post on his podcast website addressing anxiousness in the air. "Anxious, Folks. We’re all anxious I assume" he writes to start off.

"Politics aside, there are so many better racist comedians who deserved that RNC gig over Tony Hinchcliffe" says The Downside Podcast co-host & comedian Giamarco Soresi on X.

In response to Hinchcliffe's comment about Puerto Rico, comedian Gina Brillon posted a video message on Instagram responding to his message on "what's garbage."

When reflecting on Hinchcliffe's comments on Sunday, comedian W. Kamau Bell uses fellow dark comic Anthony Jeselnik as an example of a comedian "who is as edgy and as offensive as comedy comes." Further elaborating how Jeselnik performs offensively "in good faith and in the context of stand-up comedy. And he accepts and understands what he is doing. He is RIGHT ON here."

Mark Normand, a friend of Hinchcliffe's, chimed in with some clever wordplay regarding the PR & Puerto Rico situation.

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