Jon Stewart Defends Tony Hinchcliffe, Has Us Missing Trevor Noah

Posted in: Comedy Central, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: jon stewart, opinion, the daily show, Tony Hinchcliffe

Jon Stewart Defends Tony Hinchcliffe, Has Us Missing Trevor Noah

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart defended Trump hate rally opening act Tony Hinchcliffe on Monday night. Here's why he's wrong.

Published Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:08:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
|
Comments

"Hillary Clinton.. what a sick son of a bitch. The whole fucking party, a bunch of degenerates." "But the fucking illegals, they get whatever they want." "She [VP Kamala Harris] is the devil.. she is the Antichrist." That's just a small sample of the steaming piles of hate that flowed out of the cracks in James Dolan's Madison Square Garden on Sunday as ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump brought his 1939 homage to New York City. And look at the freak show that he dragged along: Rudy Giuliani ("star" of Borat), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (brain worm host), Tucker Carlson (being dumped by FOX "News" tells you a lot), Tulsi Gabbard (Who?), House Speaker Mike Johnson (and his "secret" election plan with Trump), the Trump brood, Hulk Hogan, Dr. Phil, and even more people you would never want to be stuck in a diner booth with. But the person getting the most attention was podcaster and alleged comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who really seemed to be at home on that stage, taking cheap shots at those individuals and groups that the mongrels attending the MSG have been foaming at the mouth about for years.

While there was more than enough in Hinchcliffe's rant for a whole lot of folks to get pissed off about (with reports that one joke would have had VP Kamala Harris being called the c-word), it was Hinchcliffe's shot at Puerto Rico that's still reverberating today. "There's a lot going on. 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." But now, it looks like Hinchcliffe has a pretty big defender – The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who just signed a new deal that will keep him on Monday nights through 2025.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was never a big fan of the idea of Stewart returning – even for just one night a week. That's not to take away from his run, but I felt like he stepped away at the right time – with Trevor Noah bringing a different life perspective to the anchor's chair that quickly differentiated his run from Stewart's. After Noah stepped down, I was all in on the idea of having a rotation of week-long hosts in that it really drove home the idea that The Daily Show was a news team – even if they're damn funny while doing it. If one of the two were to come back, I felt like Noah would work best with the team. After Stewart was announced and began his weekly shift, I gave it some time so I could see how it would work. Let's just say that I was sad to hear that Stewart would be holding onto Monday nights for the foreseeable future.

Why? The answer to that would be its own opinion piece – but I will say that Jon Stewart has joined that growing club of aging male comedians who suddenly now feel like they're some kind of "prophets" whose views carry some kind of extra importance because (I'm assuming) they crack jokes and haven't died yet so that somehow affords them some kind of "elder" status. The kind that blames the audience for not finding them funny or for taking offense – because they know comedy and you don't. Think Bill Maher, Dave Chappell, and Joe Rogan. With that in mind, we have some commentary that we would like to offer on what Stewart had to say in defense of Hinchcliffe on Monday night.

Stewart made it clear what he thought of those who spoke after Hinchcliffe, referring to them at one point as "a lineup you see outside Madison Square Garden, yelling at strangers as they try to get inside Madison Square Garden." But as for their opening act? Stewart had this to throw into the mix"

"In retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic is probably not the best decision by the campaign politically, but, to be fair, the guy's just doing what he does."

Most of the defaults back to the stupidity of the Trump campaign – and that's all of theirs to own. But it's that last part: "the guy's just doing what he does." So is Stewart's argument that Hinchcliffe knew what the assignment was – feed red meat hate to the masses to get them fired up ahead of the other speakers – and that he should be admired for doing his job? Because here's the thing… Hinchcliffe didn't have to take the job. In fact, he probably went through a few rounds before he was locked in for the rally, so he must've really wanted the gig. If Stewart thinks that Hinchcliffe shouldn't have turned down a gig that would get him that much attention, then I need to know where Stewart draws the line when it comes to gigs that comedians shouldn't take – if there is one.

But the part that bothered me the most was the painfully false comparison that Stewart tried to make between Hinchcliffe telling jokes during Netflix's Tom Brady roast and what he did on Sunday night. It's weird to have to do this to someone with as extensive a comedic resume as Stewart does, but here we got… A ROAST ISN'T THE SAME AS A POLITICAL RALLY THAT'S WEARING ITS NOSTALGIC LOVE FOR 1939 ON ITS ARMBAND. It's why you try out your "tight five" during an open mic night at a comedy club and not during your late grandmother's wake. Stewart's "defense" here is the second worst one I've heard during all of this – with the first being a white dude on a news network who tried to argue that his telling a joke about the Black community shouldn't be any different than a Black person making a joke about the Black community.

"Yes, yes, terrible. There's something wrong with me. I find that guy very funny, so I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, bringing him to a rally and having him not do roast jokes, that'd be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not have—oh."

Again, it's this argument from Stewart that it's almost like Hinchcliffe didn't have a choice – he "had' to go with the set he did. Because he would be disappointing… who exactly? That motley crew that followed after him? Was he worried that they wouldn't be "hate hyped" enough for when it was their turn at the podium? It was also interesting that Stewart didn't bring up Hinchcliffe not having a whole lot of material to go after the folks that were in the room – shouldn't a good "roast" also include that? And even with that Beyoncé line serving as a reference back to an earlier joke, I'm not sure the GOP deserves credit for using Hinchcliffe at what he's "best at," considering the result. I'm absolutely sure that Hinchcliffe doesn't deserve credit for just following orders.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!