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.

  • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    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.

    • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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      4 hours 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.

    • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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      6 hours 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.