Jon Stewart performs onstage during the 17th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Benefit in New York City on Nov. 6, 2023. (Mike Coppola / Getty Images)
By Bryan Chai October 29, 2024 at 4:54pm
How would a conservative describe late night host and comedian Jon Stewart?
Smug? Virulently anti-Trump? Lacking conviction? Inauthentic? Just not all that funny?
Well, sure. In other words, he’s sort of the quintessential big-name Democrat stooge that the left can pretty reliably depend on to peddle whatever the party’s most pressing message is.
(“Pretty” reliably being the operative term. To his minimal credit, Stewart has, in fact, made a cogent point or two. And by the end of this piece, he’ll have made three.)
So it should tell you something that even Stewart can’t find it in himself to jump aboard the latest outrage train being conducted by the left.
To wit, on Sunday, former President Donald Trump — the GOP presidential candidate — held a raucous rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The event was about what one would expect from a Trump rally in 2024 (perhaps sans any assassination attempts).
From celebrities to fed-up U.S. citizens, every voice imaginable stepped up for the event to declare why Trump is the obvious choice over the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Somewhere in-between celebrity and fed-up voter? Comedian and roast master Tony Hinchcliffe.
Do you think comedy is dead?
As you’ve surely heard by now, Hinchcliffe — again, a roast comedian — rattled off a number of jokes, including one particularly insulting quip about Puerto Rico being a floating island of garbage.
Howling outrage ensued, with every pro-Democrat mouthpiece frothing about how horribly racist Hinchcliffe’s jokes were and how anyone who enjoyed them was also a vile bigot.
It’s all over-performative nonsense from the perpetually outraged left, but the end result was loud nonetheless.
Turns out, it was a bit too loud, even for Stewart.
Appearing in his usual Monday night slot as host of “The Daily Show,” (yes, the same show Stewart hosted for years solo, which now features a rotating cast of hosts) Stewart actually somewhat came to the defense of Hinchcliffe.
In fact, Stewart even admitted that he found Hinchcliffe’s brand of bombastic humor to be pretty funny, himself.
You can watch the viral bit for yourself below:
WARNING: The following video contains jokes that may offend some readers.
Props to @JonStewart for admitting he finds @TonyHinchcliffe funny.
“I find that guy very funny. 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 … ” pic.twitter.com/Y3ZFCnRtDb
— Johnny Woodard (@JohnnyWoodard) October 29, 2024
Stewart opened the segment by introducing the fairly predictable establishment media outrage to Hinchcliffe’s humor. MSNBC and CNN were showcased, with various talking network heads very seriously calling the jokes everything from “racist” to “repulsive” to “disgusting and hateful” to even “X-rated” (huh?).
Cue Stewart, who called his own past works “Extremely Vile, So-Called Jokes,” echoing an MSNBC host.
“Now, obviously, 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,” Stewart said, because of course he has to proffer some criticism of Trump lest the Democrats completely revoke his membership.
“But to be fair, [Hinchcliffe] is just really just doing what he does,” Stewart continued. The Comedy Central pundit then cut to various scenes of Hinchcliffe roasting all sorts of people at the roast of former NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
Hinchcliffe’s jokes from that roast included a joke about how fellow comedian Jeff Ross “is so Jewish, he only watches football for the coin toss.”
The comedian then compared former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowkski to a stupid Nazi who kept burning himself and said that comedian Kevin Hart (who is black) is so small, that his ancestors called picking cotton “deadlifting.”
“Yes, yes, of course. Terrible. Boo. Yes,” a deadpanning Stewart said, barely able to stifle his own laughter at the Tom Brady jokes.
“There’s something wrong with me,” Stewart continued. “I find that guy very funny. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Or, maybe there’s nothing wrong with Stewart, and he just finds a good, offensive joke to be funny.
Look, it can’t be stated enough that comedy — something designed to help people self-deprecate — is a dying art form in this highly-charged, politically correct world we live in.
Some jokes are funny. Others aren’t.
It’s one thing to say that Hinchcliffe’s bit wasn’t funny (Stewart clearly disagrees). But to take jokes from a comedian who specializes in offensive jokes (roasts are decidedly non-PG affairs) and to make them anything more than jokes actually proves comedy isn’t dying.
It’s already dead.
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