Trump rally comic reportedly tested racist Puerto Rico joke at comedy club
Trump rally comic reportedly tested racist Puerto Rico joke at comedy club
Joke from Tony Hinchcliffe apparently bombed when he told it on Saturday night, a day before New York rally
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.
And he STILL did the jokes.
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.
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.
They're too woke/scared to enjoy it
THoSE people didn't like it, that means it should smash for MY crowd!
-that guys internal dialogue... Maybe
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
His schtick is offensive comedy. Jon Stewart covered it. https://youtu.be/cOLqSUK0eBM?t=4m54s
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.
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.
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.
I swear I head another comedian "test" that joke about 5 years ago only referring to the UK, not PR.
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.
It's an old hacky joke
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”.
JD Vance, adopted an unapologetic stance, telling NBC that Americans “need to stop getting so offended”.
Yet he continues to be offended by couch references...
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.
but I haven't seen anyone talk about it in light of Trump's utter mishandling of Hurricane Maria.
I've seen MSNBC using the clip of Trump tossing paper towels as part of their coverage of this latest anti Puerto Rico crap.
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.
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.
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.
He really should've brought a cowbell to signal the audience.
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.
And trump and people reviewed and approved it all, word for word, and it was on the teleprompter. Their only surprise is that people, people whom they didn't (and don't) value beyond their vote, were rightfully upset at it. They didn't consider reaction of the PR people, for the same reason that you don't consider your dog when you make a lot of decisions.
But trump entourage travels with a little plastic box they can shove his waddly, acne-infested, shit-stained ass into. They do that for fear that yet ANOTHER one of his own dedicated cult fans might try to shoot him, again. You think that paranoid group constantly talking about "the enemy within" doesn't also vet speakers and speech content to avoid surprises?
Find it pretty ironic that so many people are suddenly shocked and appalled at a roast comedian making a joke about Puerto Rico, calling him racist, when the Boricuas aren’t a specific race, it’s a nationality. Saying how appalled they are that the republicans would allow such a bad comedian to say a joke in such bad taste, as though saying shocking ignorant things is something new for that group.
While at the same time completely disregarding how the United States on both sides of the political spectrum has completely taken advantage of, corrupted and destroyed the islands of Puerto Rico, all while not allowing for the same level of political representation. Feels pretty hypocritical to me.
This comedian just said exactly how the US treats the people and lands of Puerto Rico, like trash…
Edit: I'll agree that I could have expressed my point clearer, but after a day of conversation on this subject I am absolutely convinced no one actually cares about Puerto Rico in this thread. Just a bunch of fake virtue and mob mentality. Hard keeping faith in humanity when so many just care about belonging to an identity instead of actually putting in the effort to care about people.
No, it was a racist joke and an attempt to stir up hate for an "other." But keep going on bleating your "well akshually" and broadcasting your moron status.
The point is that the people who are so appalled by this, are the same people who know nothing about the the people they are supposedly protecting while simultaneously disregarding how the people they are defending have been treated both historically and presently.
The same thing can be said about the Hawaiians and Samoans and the Chamorros. These are colonized peoples with a relevant and significant problems caused overwhelmingly by the mistreatment of the US government. Tony Hinchcliffe and all other ignorant puppets are irrelevant. Stop giving attention to the wrong things. PR has real issues that need to be addressed today, and they lack real representation due to poor policy. These are things we can do something about. Who cares about some rally, who actually watches this bullshit.
Really? You want to make it a semantics argument about what specific type of bigotry this was?
Read my many other replies. That’s not my point, not what I am saying. Maybe I said it poorly but I am saying that people don’t bother to learn about the people they are so offended for.
People are screaming racist about a guy who does this for over a decade as a living. This is a Tuesday for this guy, nothing new, nothing shocking. It’s like being offended that a butcher kills animals, it’s in the name, he tears people down for money.
The republican party does this shit daily, this isn’t even the worst thing that group has done this week. The difference is this comedian is paid to make this shit up while everyone else actually means it.
What I have a problem with is people being offended on behalf of the people of Puerto Rico, because it smells of fake virtue. Like when people are offended at school shootings but nothing changes. Because PR has been suffering for a century and no one in the US cares or even bothers to learn the fundamentals of their culture, like for instance that Puerto Rican is a nationality, not a race. A huge amount of Americans don’t even realize it’s a part of US and that they are citizens.
Yet a mediocre roast comic makes some inappropriate jokes and now it’s time to pay attention to PR. I don’t buy it, a month from now no one will remember and PR will continue to be the bastard step-child of the US.
I've heard this shit before...
"Muslim isn't a race"
"Puerto Rico isn't a race"
funny how most members of the not-race are always somewhat brown aren't they?
missing the point. learn about the actual people if you care so much. The word racist has been overused sooo much it has lost all relevance. It doesn't fucking matter, some idiot on some roll call of some political shitshow means nothing, actual action that could be done today for the people of PR matter.
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.