Comedians criticize Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes at Trump rally

On By Littum

Tony Hinchcliffe’s latest jokes, including one denigrating Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” bombed across the Internet — and other comics were among his most vocal critics.

Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” podcast, has faced a wave of backlash and ridicule after he made the remark at former President Donald Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He also made crude jokes about Palestinians and Jews, black voters and Latinos more broadly.

Commenting on how Latinos “love to make babies,” Hinchcliffe had said, “There’s no way out. They don’t. They come in, just like they did in our country.”

He later told a joke about one of his black “mates” and how they “cut watermelons” together.

After the swift online backlash, Hinchcliffe defended his comments on Sunday, writing on X that his critics “has no sense of humor.” A spokesman for Hinchcliffe did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The situation has added to what has been an ongoing debate in and around the comedy world about humor and political correctness, often centering on understanding when, how and why to push into cultural taboos.

In recent years, a handful of popular comedians have lamented the idea that they can’t say certain words or make certain jokes anymore for fear of offending people. Jerry Seinfeld this month backtracked on his earlier comments about the “extreme left” killer comedy after many online took issue with his viewpoint.

Although boundary-pushing is still often baked into comedy, comedians can’t expect certain jokes to land the same way today as they might have decades ago, according to stand-up comic Jay Black.

“If you say something racist or sexist or anti-trans or anti-gay, any of those things, you don’t go to jail for it. But if people don’t like it and don’t laugh and they say it was a bad thing to say, then that’s their right, too,” said Black, who was among those in the comedy business there criticized Hinchcliffe’s jokes online. “You made a bad joke and didn’t get away with it because you didn’t present it in a way that was clever or original or spoke to the zeitgeist in a way that made them laugh.”

When comics complain that modern standards of political correctness prevent them from making certain jokes, Black said, what they really mean is that they can no longer avoid audience backlash.

“The answer is not that the world is too soft,” he said, but rather that previously acceptable forms of racist comedy are now considered “so stupid” that many audiences no longer have an appetite for them.

Some comics online didn’t specifically call out Hinchcliffe’s jokes at the convention, but shared broader thoughts about the crossover of comedians.

Comedian Anthony Jeselnik came on Monday posted a clip on TikTok, where he talks about how good comedy should provoke laughter instead of anger. The video has been widely circulated on social media platforms, with people suggesting he was referring to Hinchcliffe. Jeselnik did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Comedian Marc Maron also crippled his other comics in one blog post Monday, specifically calling out those in the industry who have invited “shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show to joke around.” Maron, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, did not name anyone in the post.

As part of his campaign, Trump has regularly appeared on podcasts hosted by comedians known for their conservative-leaning — but not overtly right-wing — counterculture appeal. Recently he has sat for interviews with the likes of Joe Rogan, Andrew Schultz and Theo Von.

Hinchcliffe, who has appeared on Rogan’s podcast numerous times, is a prominent name in Rogan’s circle of comedian podcasters. Rogan, a former sitcom star and stand-up comedian, has built a robust following as an unlikely political pundit. The audience for “The Joe Rogan Show” is 81% male, according to public opinion and the data company YouGov.

Some online have also begun to speculate whether Rogan played a role in getting Hinchcliffe to speak at Trump’s rally. On an August episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan said Trump should hire Hinchcliffe to “write bangers” for him on the road.

But Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico landed badly across both political parties.

In a statement Sunday, Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Late. Rick ScottR-Fla., Rep. Carlos GimenezR-Fla., and Rep. Anthony D’EspositoRN.Y., was among the lawmakers who expressed outrage over the Puerto Rico joke.

While most comedians did not come to Hinchcliffe’s defense, “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart did said such jokes should have been expected from a comedian like Hinchcliffe.

“In hindsight, it’s clear that having a roast comedian at a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key demographic … probably wasn’t the best decision in the campaign politically,” Stewart said in his segment Monday. “But to be fair, the guy really does what he does.”

Sometimes humor can cut across edgy content to make it more palatable, but there was no humor there, so it wasn’t palatable at all

-Ginny Hogan, satire writer and stand-up comic

For satire writer and stand-up comedian Ginny Hogan, what made Hinchcliffe’s joke so unfunny was the lack of any apparent punch-line beyond the sheer shock factor of racism.

“I think it’s OK to push boundaries if you’re funny. The point of comedy is to make people laugh,” Hogan said. But with Hinchcliffe’s joke, she said, “it almost just felt like he was saying, ‘I don’t like Puerto Ricans,’ which is so clearly offensive. Sometimes humor can cut across edgy content to make it more palatable, but there was no humor there, so it was not edible at all.”

Stand-up comic Jake Flores, host of the “Pod Damn America” ​​podcast, said the kind of boundaries comics like to push are defined by public opinion rather than concrete consequences.

“The resistance that they feel is a limit, maybe there’s just people saying, ‘Hey, don’t do this thing that’s mostly harmful and not that interesting anymore,'” Flores said, adding, “If you criticize them on the basis that what they said isn’t funny or just sucks as a joke, instead of engaging with the criticism as it stands, which I think would be a losing battle, they will a way to rephrase it to: You are offended by me. Anyone who doesn’t like what I do must be offended.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Black, who said that if the sole purpose of a joke is to shock and outrage, it’s “not a good enough joke to justify its own existence.”

“So the question I would ask Tony would be: What else are you trying to say?” he said. “Because all that’s left is the racism at that point, and you want me to be shocked by the racism, but the thing is, you hit your mark, but you didn’t make me laugh.”