Tony Hinchcliffe’s fellow comics turned up the heat on the roast specialist after his half-baked insults bombed at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
Hinchcliffe admitted to MAGA supporters that it wasn’t his usual audience after calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” saying: “Normally I don’t follow the national anthem, everybody.”
The Los Angeles comedian has made his name insulting other celebrities on Comedy Central Roasts, including ones for Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady.
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But after his quips fell flat at the Garden—with even the Trump campaign disavowing his jibe against Puerto Rico—Hinchcliffe found himself the brunt of the jokes as comedians piled in online.
“To be fair: None of the comics had a great set at Nuremberg either,” posted comedian and former Chelsea Lately panelist Guy Branum on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“There’s something so incredible about seeing the worst comedian in the world bomb so hard he changes the course of US history,” quipped The Late Late Show With James Corden writer Sean O’Connor.
Comedian and Emmy-nominated and WGA Award-winning writer Laurie Kilmartin wasn’t sure the MAGA crowd would even see Hinchcliffe’s set as a roast, writing: “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.”
Stand-up comic Ian Karmel, co-head writer for CBS' The Late Late Show with James Corden, didn’t sound like a fan either, posting: “big day on here for your favorite comedian’s least favorite comedian.”
“More than ever we need Will Smith to slap a comedian,” posted Chris Estrada, co-creator and star of the Hulu comedy series This Fool.
“I think America just found its next Jim Breuer!” wrote actor and comedian (and Daily Beast columnist) Michael Ian Black, referring to the former SNL comic, who faced a backlash over his opposition to COVID-19 regulations.
“The really sad part is that Tony worked 6 months as MSG’s door-guy for that set,” added stand-up comic Jesse Case.
Comedian Robin Tran wrote: “Most of the comedians piling on Tony are making jokes about him. Thats what we do when we don’t like somebody. We make jokes about them.”
Stand-up and Silicon Valley actress Alice Wetterlund, wrote on Threads: “One of the highlights of my career was going on a show that Tony Hinchcliff was on at @hollywoodimprov and he was bringing women up from the audience and insulting them while they awkwardly giggle? Anyway I didn’t get that that was his ‘act’ so I opened my set by saying he looks like if Lance Armstrong f***** a clock. He looks like if you microwave Pete Davidson from frozen. He looks like Geppeto’s first draft before pinocchio.”
“Probably the last thing I would’ve done tonight if I was @TonyHinchcliffe is retweet a clip of one of the funniest comedians ever having a great set," posted The Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer Daniel Kibblesmith.
And W. Kamau Bell, former host of CNN’s United Shades of America, clearly didn’t think Hinchcliffe has much of a future in the MAGA world. Referring to Anthony Scaramucci, who was fired 10 days into his job as Trump’s White House communications Director, he wrote: “Tony Hinchcliffe’s career with Trump barely lasted a tenth of Scaramucci.”
