TRIGGERnometry - Tony Hinchcliffe： Cancelled for a Joke

00:00:00.060 Give it up for the one and only Tony Hinchcliffe.

00:00:05.960 This story's kind of crazy.

00:00:07.800 I think you guys are in for a little bit of a treat.

00:00:10.300 So here's the exclusive is that obviously it was a coordinated attack.

00:00:14.260 Obviously he's in cahoots with the Chinese media. 0.99

00:00:17.760 When you open your phone and you're on the front page of fucking everything for a joke. 0.98

00:00:24.660 Whatever you do, do not apologize. 0.98

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00:01:50.440 Tony, so we had, when we had Uncle Roger on the show, he was like, it's so good to be on the show that you do when you get cancelled.

00:01:59.340 So welcome.

00:02:00.760 You were cancelled a while ago.

00:02:02.460 We haven't really talked much about it and we were hanging out the other day and it's something we really wanted to discuss with you.

00:02:08.320 So tell everybody what happened first of all.

00:02:10.120 Well, I mean, this was in May of 2021 and I was doing a very routine Thursday workout set.

00:02:18.700 I mean, very routine.

00:02:20.440 It's called The Secret Show and it's called that because none of the names are announced on the show.

00:02:25.780 Which means that you, in my position, you know, as someone that's been doing this for over a decade and a half, stand-up comedy, you know, you don't have any pressure on you.

00:02:36.380 So you don't have to necessarily do your A material.

00:02:41.360 You have a chance to work out new stuff.

00:02:46.160 You can bomb if you want, technically.

00:02:48.280 I mean, I don't go in with those intentions, but it is that kind of show.

00:02:51.680 So it's literally the last show that you would expect to get cancelled on.

00:02:55.760 It was at a big aluminum bar on 6th Street called the Vulcan Gas Company, which we made our temporary home during the pandemic when Joe was building up his club.

00:03:06.980 So, again, just a throwaway set on a throwaway night, a throwaway show, a throwaway lineup.

00:03:13.640 Just no expectations of anything.

00:03:16.360 Very routine Thursday.

00:03:18.360 And I roll in and I always get to go on whenever I want on that show because, technically, how sad of a world this is, but I'm the big celebrity on a show like that.

00:03:31.460 That is sad.

00:03:32.320 Yeah, exactly.

00:03:34.060 Depressing.

00:03:35.900 So I walk in.

00:03:37.700 There's a comedian on stage.

00:03:39.140 I recognize him as Pang Dang, a guy that I had open for me quite a few times in Dallas, Texas.

00:03:45.760 Pulled him out of the bucket on Kill Tony.

00:03:47.700 Many years ago, five, six years ago, I thought he was charming and, you know, very Asian.

00:03:57.820 So it's, like, different than me.

00:03:59.280 So it's fun to have someone like that open for you.

00:04:02.540 So he opened for me a few times in Dallas.

00:04:05.400 He was on Kill Tony at least once.

00:04:08.520 And so I knew that he knew me.

00:04:10.660 I know him.

00:04:11.560 And he's going on and on during his set about how white people are so bad and Asian people have done all this great stuff.

00:04:20.380 And, you know, this is during what they were trying to make appear to be Asian hate time. 0.93

00:04:27.520 Like, that was different during that time because there was a lot of homeless people that, with mental illness, attacking Asian people in New York City.

00:04:37.780 So the media tried to make that a storyline, like it was some, you know, epidemic that's happened.

00:04:44.920 Yeah, like people in a comedy club need to be lectured about it because that will stop homeless people in New York.

00:04:49.400 Right.

00:04:49.760 Right.

00:04:49.980 Yeah, I mean, wild what the media covers and what they don't cover.

00:04:54.840 And it was Asian Heritage Month, which no one knew at the time.

00:04:59.900 That was never a thing.

00:05:01.140 I do a thing to this day where if I meet a likable Asian person, I ask them, hey, do you know what Asian Heritage Month is? 0.57

00:05:08.260 And they never know.

00:05:10.080 It's May, by the way.

00:05:11.400 I'll never forget that one again.

00:05:13.660 Anyway, so he's going on and on.

00:05:15.460 And he's also, I do believe he went slightly over his time.

00:05:19.840 This is, there's just a thing that I've always done.

00:05:22.940 I was built in the darkness of the comedy store in L.A. at a very dark time with very, you know, the comedy wasn't even that cool yet.

00:05:32.360 It was more of a carnival type of thing back then.

00:05:35.620 The leading, you know, Chappelle was retired and Dane Cook was on top.

00:05:39.860 And it was like, it was just a dark time for the art form.

00:05:45.340 And there was no Netflix.

00:05:47.140 There was no real, there was no YouTube specials.

00:05:51.380 So it was just up to HBO kind of and Comedy Central, which was a sinking ship.

00:05:57.240 Anyway, my point is that the time when I started, when I was constructed as a comedian was so dark. 0.82

00:06:02.620 And I've always been a maker, funner of people, a roaster before that was even a famous word.

00:06:10.240 You know, it wasn't, you know, if I could take you back to 2007, you'd be surprised to know that there were roasts.

00:06:16.080 They called them roasts.

00:06:17.440 Oh, there's the old roast with Dean Martin.

00:06:21.320 And there's the Comedy Central roast that happens every other year.

00:06:24.300 But it wasn't a term like it is now.

00:06:27.640 Anyway, so I got good at it.

00:06:30.300 I got really, you know, I worked on it.

00:06:32.780 And so I became known for that.

00:06:34.580 Everybody knows that I make fun of people.

00:06:36.700 Anyway, so cut back to the night, that show.

00:06:39.780 I am already frustrated because he's going a little long.

00:06:44.180 I just want to get up and get out of there. 1.00

00:06:45.700 He's saying that white people basically ain't shit. 1.00

00:06:48.640 And the, it felt like it was kind of like, you know, another thing about that show specifically is sometimes they get a dumb crowd. 1.00

00:06:56.680 Yeah. 0.83

00:06:57.080 You know, they're going to a workout show on a Thursday night.

00:07:00.820 They don't know who's going to be there.

00:07:02.360 So they're kind of chuckling along. 1.00

00:07:04.160 And I'm thinking to myself, these fucking idiots are laughing at fucking, you know, kind of like, you know, I don't want to say lefty leaning. 1.00

00:07:11.460 But it kind of was that night, a groany, lefty leaning kind of crowd. 1.00

00:07:16.520 That's kind of like, hey, hey, not laughing, but giggling at the stuff that he was saying because they felt like he had the timing of it being funny.

00:07:27.560 But if you watch the video, it ain't really funny.

00:07:29.280 Anyway, so it's all boiling up.

00:07:31.960 And I figure, okay, I'm going to take a few jabs at him.

00:07:34.620 By the way, I didn't even know he was Chinese.

00:07:36.780 I was going to use the C word on him, whether he was Japanese, whatever. 1.00

00:07:41.820 You know, it didn't matter to me.

00:07:43.220 I was just in the mood to use a funny, dark word.

00:07:45.740 That's how I often establish my sets at the top.

00:07:49.360 I like to hit them so that the rest of the set, they're like, okay, we know what we're in for with this guy.

00:07:55.700 Right.

00:07:55.920 So, yeah, it happened.

00:07:59.520 I made fun of him.

00:08:01.220 The famous, very well edited by him clip.

00:08:04.840 Hello, good evening.

00:08:06.340 Welcome.

00:08:06.920 Hello. 1.00

00:08:07.720 How about one more time for the filthy little fucking chink that was just up here? 1.00

00:08:11.960 All you fucking race traders are hooping and hollering. 1.00

00:08:17.000 I'm back there watching you puking in a fucking bucket. 1.00

00:08:21.220 Oh, we make it a gunpowder. 1.00

00:08:23.520 Oh, you want extra soy sauce? 1.00

00:08:25.340 Oh, you borrow money from us and you guys are just eating it up, you fucking pussy. 1.00

00:08:30.400 Fun facts about the moment that it happened was, you know, I had a camera rolling for my set that was rolling throughout the night. 1.00

00:08:43.040 We don't ever do anything with anybody else's set, but he didn't know that there was a camera rolling throughout the night.

00:08:47.760 And when he found out that he was bringing me up, he asked Red Band, the co-host and producer of Kill Tony, a guy that I've worked with, we've made, you know, worked together for over a decade.

00:09:01.360 He asked him, it's his show, if he could record his set, which is, you know, rare in Texas, Austin, for that to happen.

00:09:12.980 But Red Band gave him permission.

00:09:14.820 Red Band thought it was interesting that he asked after he found out that he was bringing me up.

00:09:19.200 That's something to remember for later.

00:09:21.500 This story is kind of crazy.

00:09:22.900 I think you guys are in for a little bit of a treat.

00:09:26.020 And I notice that someone's recording from the audience.

00:09:29.600 And it was the friend that he asked to record his set.

00:09:33.780 But I ignore it.

00:09:38.480 I notice that it ends a couple minutes after I'm up there.

00:09:43.900 I'm already into material, so I don't care.

00:09:46.460 Who cares if they recorded me making fun of Pang Dang, you know, on a random Thursday show? 1.00

00:09:53.000 No big deal.

00:09:54.180 If anything, I figured if anything were to happen with that clip, he would post it under the type of caption of,

00:10:02.600 so fun to be roasted by my pal, you know, someone that I look up to, literally.

00:10:11.600 So that's that.

00:10:13.320 That was a Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Monday night.

00:10:19.900 And I have, for some reason, this crazy dream that I'll never forget.

00:10:25.660 And this is, like, totally off subject and kind of corny.

00:10:29.100 But I have this weird dream about my old house.

00:10:32.240 And I'm in the backyard of my old house.

00:10:34.220 And there's another floor above that was never there.

00:10:38.780 And I'm looking.

00:10:39.500 And I go, what is that third floor?

00:10:41.640 And I go in.

00:10:42.200 And everything's different.

00:10:43.040 You know how weird dreams are.

00:10:44.240 And I'm going up this, like, ladder, spiral staircase.

00:10:48.300 It's all weird. 0.99

00:10:49.500 And it's, like, all old, creepy shit. 0.99

00:10:51.940 There's, like, old dolls on the walls and stuff. 0.99

00:10:54.460 And it's just creepy.

00:10:55.480 One of those weird, what is all this?

00:10:58.000 What does this mean?

00:10:59.000 Like, nightmares.

00:11:00.460 And I wake up.

00:11:01.220 And it's, like, I think, like, 4.30 or 5 a.m.

00:11:04.340 Or something like that.

00:11:05.500 It's Tuesday morning.

00:11:07.320 And I look at my phone.

00:11:09.200 Because I'm, like, wide awake.

00:11:10.560 Kind of like, you know, you want to go right back to sleep.

00:11:13.340 But the dream was so weird that you're kind of like, ugh.

00:11:16.260 So I'm looking at my phone.

00:11:17.460 And I check Twitter for some reason.

00:11:19.860 And I have, it says, you know, when you hit the max, it just says 20 plus.

00:11:25.460 Yep.

00:11:25.900 You know what I mean?

00:11:26.680 And I'm, like, that's weird.

00:11:28.240 Because I went to bed, whatever, four hours ago.

00:11:30.540 Probably checked it then or whatever.

00:11:32.540 And I click on it.

00:11:33.880 And it's all these misspelled, diabolically, like, weird words in wrong places. 1.00

00:11:43.600 Ass, ass, you are, fuck, fuck of you. 1.00

00:11:48.800 You got messaged by Yoda. 1.00

00:11:50.460 A lot, yes.

00:11:51.580 A lot of, I mean, just every.

00:11:53.640 Asian Yoda is having to go.

00:11:55.240 Different combinations of words. 1.00

00:11:57.560 You, you, you, suck, fuck. 1.00

00:12:01.020 Nothing will you be. 1.00

00:12:03.460 Ever shall you fail.

00:12:05.400 Like, I'm, like, what is all this?

00:12:07.180 I mean, it sounds mystical.

00:12:08.560 Oh, I know.

00:12:09.420 And I'm literally, like, what is going on?

00:12:12.020 What in the world is going on?

00:12:15.540 So I end up clicking on some of the profiles to see, like, what are they even referencing?

00:12:20.680 Like, normally if you click on something, there's, like, a video or something that, you know, and then you see what they're commenting on or anything.

00:12:27.280 But there wasn't anything to comment on.

00:12:29.600 But I click on another profile and another profile.

00:12:32.480 Well, and I'm clearly seeing that it's Asian, but all these people have zero followers for some reason.

00:12:39.040 Zero posts is a big thing.

00:12:42.040 Very common with this.

00:12:44.160 So I have no idea what's going on.

00:12:47.060 And then I find one that has a video.

00:12:50.580 So, um, and there's Chinese captions and then there's a whole Chinese letter, um, Chinese written article underneath it.

00:13:02.520 So I copy and I paste it into a translator and it says, this is where things get weird.

00:13:10.360 I think you guys will appreciate this because my cancellation is kind of special and weird in a way.

00:13:16.500 Kind of like you, Tony.

00:13:17.500 Yeah.

00:13:17.920 Yeah, I think so.

00:13:20.540 So, I translate it and it literally says, Chinese American comedian Pang Dang was, um, what are they, what was the radical terminology that they used?

00:13:33.660 I mean, it was, uh, you know, it was racially whatever.

00:13:38.400 I can't even, I can't even think of it.

00:13:40.560 Racially abused?

00:13:41.360 Oh, yes.

00:13:42.880 Something like that. 0.98

00:13:43.700 Just ridiculous verbiage. 0.91

00:13:45.200 Um, by Tony Hinchcliffe. 0.91

00:13:48.880 It doesn't say roaster.

00:13:50.180 It doesn't say comedian.

00:13:51.360 I find it all so interesting.

00:13:53.720 And, um, it said, comedian Pang Dang tweeted at 11.15 a.m.

00:14:00.720 That this, and it was what he said.

00:14:06.240 But what's interesting, if you remember, is that it's 4.45, 5 a.m.

00:14:11.520 11.15 a.m.

00:14:13.160 On Tuesday, which I'm reading in the translator, hasn't happened yet.

00:14:16.820 I go to Pang Dang's Twitter to see if he's tweeted anything and he hasn't.

00:14:22.080 Yes.

00:14:22.780 There is no video.

00:14:23.920 There is no tweet.

00:14:24.940 11.15 hasn't happened yet.

00:14:26.720 So, I'm like, I don't know what any of this means.

00:14:31.480 This is so weird. 0.99

00:14:33.000 Who gives a shit? 0.99

00:14:34.060 I'm going back to bed. 0.99

00:14:35.220 Fall asleep.

00:14:36.000 Wake up an hour later.

00:14:37.300 Hundreds more. 1.00

00:14:38.760 You fuck. 1.00

00:14:39.960 Die. 1.00

00:14:40.720 Shit. 1.00

00:14:41.200 Brain. 1.00

00:14:41.740 Brain shit. 1.00

00:14:42.840 Fuck. 1.00

00:14:43.460 You. 1.00

00:14:44.380 Die. 1.00

00:14:44.720 Die. 0.99

00:14:44.980 Die. 1.00

00:14:45.860 You gonna die. 1.00

00:14:47.320 Die. 1.00

00:14:47.720 You gonna. 1.00

00:14:49.540 Gonna. 1.00

00:14:49.940 You die. 1.00

00:14:51.100 I mean, all of these things. 1.00

00:14:52.660 And I'm just scrolling, like, what the fuck is going on? 0.97

00:14:54.660 It's getting bigger. 0.99

00:14:55.300 I fall asleep.

00:14:56.160 Wake up an hour later.

00:14:57.000 It's getting bigger.

00:14:58.240 Now it's like I wake up and I'm actually awake now.

00:15:00.440 It's like 10.30.

00:15:01.300 I check again.

00:15:02.120 Pang Dang hasn't tweeted this thing.

00:15:03.680 What is going on?

00:15:04.700 What is this article?

00:15:06.600 11.14.

00:15:08.480 11.15.

00:15:09.920 And now I'm looking at it because I'm getting all of these things from this one big Chinese 1.00

00:15:14.200 article.

00:15:14.600 It makes sense now.

00:15:15.820 It's coming from China.

00:15:16.780 They're not allowed on Twitter.

00:15:17.780 So that's why they have zero posts.

00:15:19.580 That's why they have zero followers.

00:15:21.040 This is their one way of harassing somebody in America. 0.77

00:15:24.940 It's by creating a fake screen name or whatever, logging on, and saying a bunch of jibber-jabber, 1.00

00:15:32.700 out-of-place bullshit. 0.98

00:15:34.820 11.15 happens and there it is. 1.00

00:15:37.360 Pang Dang tweets.

00:15:38.560 And I remember seeing it with zero likes and zero retweets.

00:15:43.260 I saw the tweet.

00:15:44.400 I saw the video.

00:15:46.420 The interesting thing that I forgot to mention is that in the Chinese one, it's in Chinese

00:15:51.320 captions.

00:15:51.780 I think it's like neon green or something like that.

00:15:54.640 And these American captions that are tweeted at 11.15 in English are neon green.

00:15:59.780 So immediately I'm like, okay, whoever made that, made that.

00:16:04.480 And this was a coordinated, without a doubt, this was coordinated over the weekend, an attack

00:16:11.580 on me.

00:16:12.420 So blatantly, blatantly, and this has never been, you know, I never blew this up anywhere

00:16:18.420 or anything.

00:16:19.040 This is exclusive trigonometry.

00:16:21.520 This is what we built this channel for, Tom.

00:16:24.840 Yeah, because I mean, I made it through this.

00:16:27.520 I'm wildly more successful, thank God, than I've ever been.

00:16:31.540 So here's the exclusive is that obviously it was a coordinated attack.

00:16:35.900 Obviously, he's in cahoots with the Chinese media.

00:16:39.180 You know what I mean?

00:16:40.160 And then, like, it's just blatant. 0.98

00:16:45.680 They did a report about a tweet that didn't happen, and they fucked up because they didn't 0.96

00:16:51.140 get the timing right. 0.95

00:16:52.220 However, the time zones or whatever, somebody fucked up because they leaked this story before 0.97

00:16:58.420 it even happened.

00:16:59.720 So 11.15, the tweet goes out, and again, right then in that moment, I'm still thinking to

00:17:06.180 myself, because I haven't put it together, this is a cancellation, that this thing's going

00:17:10.160 to blow up.

00:17:11.100 I'm literally thinking to myself, bang, dang, what the hell? 0.83

00:17:15.620 You didn't write this right.

00:17:17.800 Like, what he wrote in the caption was, whatever, it's terrible that I was insulted in this way,

00:17:27.880 blah, blah, blah, happy Asian Heritage Month, hashtag Asian Heritage Month, hashtag whatever.

00:17:34.040 He tried to get as much traction as he could.

00:17:36.520 And I'm thinking to myself, literally still at that point, I'm like, his caption's wrong.

00:17:42.120 Like, I'm like, I'm going to hit him up and be like, yo, fix your caption.

00:17:46.700 You're making me look bad.

00:17:48.400 I had no idea.

00:17:49.860 You thought what was happening is what happens between comedians, which is when we take the 0.99

00:17:54.660 piss out of each other, we make it look like I've been insulted, but it's a fucking joke. 0.99

00:18:00.060 Exactly. 0.99

00:18:00.940 So you hit him up.

00:18:02.920 No response.

00:18:05.000 And I hit him up on Instagram, no response.

00:18:07.600 And I hit up my buddy, who also has him open for him.

00:18:11.120 I go, hit up, bang, dang, have him call me.

00:18:13.860 What is going on?

00:18:14.840 Because this thing is starting to click, click, click, click, click, 100 likes, 500 likes,

00:18:19.800 800 comments.

00:18:21.520 The ratio on it was insane because this is also, we're in like almost peak virtue signaling

00:18:26.880 time.

00:18:28.080 May 2021 is like, oh yeah, oh yeah.

00:18:31.180 I think the vaccine's just rolling out right around then. 0.97

00:18:34.200 I mean, everybody's just, you know, it's a weird fucking time. 0.92

00:18:37.740 We're 11 months out of George Floyd, but still, you know, most of the, a lot of the country 0.92

00:18:44.720 closed, closed again, reclosed.

00:18:48.020 It's just, it's just a weird time for anything to happen.

00:18:53.200 And so my buddy says that he talked to Pang Dang and Pang Dang doesn't want to talk to 0.99

00:19:00.500 me.

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00:19:31.120 Which is also so interesting because he starts going to media outlets immediately, blowing

00:19:37.860 this thing up.

00:19:38.640 I mean, you know, I'm getting hit up by everyone.

00:19:41.260 It starts coming in.

00:19:43.200 My agents, my managers, Washington Post, New York Times wants to talk to you because everybody's 0.98

00:19:49.120 picking up this, you know, story that involves race and these disgusting, disgusting media people 0.99

00:19:56.100 want their clickbait. 0.99

00:19:58.520 So I turn everything down, of course, because what the fuck do I have to defend? 0.96

00:20:03.240 What am I going to do? 0.96

00:20:04.200 Really?

00:20:04.600 Am I going to say it was a joke?

00:20:06.400 That's my style.

00:20:08.200 But of course, they all write it up.

00:20:09.740 None of these journalists have any integrity or common sense whatsoever.

00:20:13.660 I thought news was fake before. 1.00

00:20:15.620 But let me tell you, when you're in the storm, you're like, holy shit, these motherfuckers. 1.00

00:20:21.080 If you Google me, the first thing that pops up is Tony Hinchcliffe is an American insult 1.00

00:20:26.820 comedian famous for making fun of comedians and writing for the Comedy Central roast.

00:20:32.740 Like it's literally the backbone of what I do.

00:20:36.840 Even though I've been doing stand-up comedy for 16 and a half years, I'm best known for making

00:20:43.380 fun of comedians, whether it be writing on the roast, hosting Kill Tony, and just in normal

00:20:48.520 life.

00:20:48.820 If you see me in a green room, you know, whatever.

00:20:52.800 It's just what I do to everybody.

00:20:54.560 I hold back.

00:20:55.560 Anytime I see anybody, I scan them, and I think of what I would say.

00:21:00.400 It's a defense mechanism from having too big of a head when I was in kindergarten.

00:21:04.220 The same size head that I have now when I was in kindergarten, but on a little body.

00:21:09.040 So like, there's my chin, and there's the top of my head.

00:21:12.220 There's the rest of my body.

00:21:13.700 So you had like one of those wobble heads.

00:21:15.180 Yes.

00:21:15.780 Big time. 0.99

00:21:16.540 I mean, it was fucking grotesque. 0.99

00:21:19.080 But it's the same size head that I have now, so I grew into it. 0.98

00:21:21.900 Yeah.

00:21:22.200 It only took an extra three feet of growth to fit into it properly.

00:21:26.100 I do feel sorry for your mother though, Tony, if that was the size of the head.

00:21:29.140 Well, I was the fifth kid of hers, so I came out like a water slide.

00:21:34.960 That thing was ready for me. 1.00

00:21:37.160 My mom's got a giant, giant pussy. 1.00

00:21:39.520 You know what I'm talking about? 1.00

00:21:40.480 All right.

00:21:42.100 So it happens.

00:21:47.180 My agent says, don't worry.

00:21:50.560 We're going to get through this.

00:21:51.960 Everything's going to be fine.

00:21:53.200 My manager, who I actually really, really, really liked at the time, is like, I'm here for you.

00:21:59.460 We're going to stick with you.

00:22:00.540 So, as it's all happening, you know, just dread kind of is setting in.

00:22:11.500 But also, I'm like, this is fine.

00:22:13.280 News articles, who cares?

00:22:15.160 This is going to blow over.

00:22:16.260 I go have dinner that night with my girlfriend at our favorite little sushi restaurant.

00:22:22.080 I'm starving, but I also don't have an appetite.

00:22:25.380 And I talk to Joe, and he's like, dude, this is not good. 0.99

00:22:29.620 I'm like, oh, shit. 0.99

00:22:32.140 Now I know it's not good. 0.99

00:22:34.120 Now I know something's wrong.

00:22:36.320 Because it's just a bad time.

00:22:37.640 And he's like, this is bad news. 0.99

00:22:39.800 And, you know, there's a lot of fucking death threats on you coming in. 0.99

00:22:44.260 I'm seeing a lot of hate. 0.99

00:22:46.220 Let's not do, let's, why don't you take a couple nights off of these shows tomorrow?

00:22:50.200 Just little throwaway shows at a little dinky comedy club around the corner.

00:22:54.440 Which is fine.

00:22:55.620 Who cares, right?

00:22:56.460 Take a couple nights off.

00:22:57.620 I don't ever get to do that.

00:23:01.360 But once they take my name off of that lineup, then there's a new news article.

00:23:10.400 And the news article is, Tony Hinchcliffe removed from Joe Rogan shows because of racial blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:23:17.000 So now people online are going, ha, ha, your buddy just stabbed you in the back.

00:23:23.240 Shame on Joe.

00:23:24.600 You know, these people don't know anything.

00:23:26.480 They don't know that it was a throwaway 20-minute set anyway.

00:23:31.400 But they smell blood.

00:23:32.760 Exactly.

00:23:33.620 And that's all anybody cares about.

00:23:35.240 So now there's a new news article that night about Tony Hinchcliffe off of Joe Rogan shows.

00:23:40.520 So it keeps it going.

00:23:42.020 There's a new news cycle.

00:23:43.360 Until the next day, it's still going.

00:23:48.580 And at the time, and it's funny we're talking about this, at the time, Israel and Palestine were bombing each other left and right, back and forth.

00:23:56.140 It was probably the last big one until this one that just started a couple days ago.

00:24:02.260 But I remember that because I'm like, why is the news not talking about this? 0.99

00:24:05.740 Why the hell are they talking about a dirty comedian at Vulcan Gas Company on a Thursday night in Austin, fucking Texas? 0.99

00:24:15.020 Like, an insult comedian. 0.99

00:24:16.740 None of these things are adding up to me.

00:24:18.800 Like, how in the world?

00:24:19.960 What is happening?

00:24:21.620 How am I the news?

00:24:23.400 How is me making fun of some completely unknown comedian that has probably seven minutes of good material to his name?

00:24:31.540 How is this the world news?

00:24:36.260 So.

00:24:37.340 But it is.

00:24:38.240 I wake up the next day.

00:24:39.640 And by the way, I couldn't eat the sushi after that.

00:24:42.860 I couldn't eat that night.

00:24:44.560 I'm starting to get, like, sick. 0.99

00:24:46.300 I'm starting to think, holy shit. 0.99

00:24:48.740 This is bad. 0.99

00:24:49.620 I'm pacing continuously.

00:24:51.520 Are you thinking my career could be over here?

00:24:53.520 Could be.

00:24:54.340 Could be.

00:24:54.700 It's what it kind of seemed at the time, which is crazy to me because I'm like, there's just no way.

00:25:02.280 I can't get in trouble for making fun of people.

00:25:04.520 That's like you guys getting in trouble for asking questions.

00:25:07.620 That happens.

00:25:10.840 That's the world we live in.

00:25:13.440 To get in trouble for what you do and what you're supposed to be good at is crazy to me.

00:25:19.800 You guys leave your eggs out?

00:25:22.000 Is that a British thing?

00:25:23.120 Yeah. 0.99

00:25:23.360 Are you fucking serious? 0.99

00:25:25.180 You don't keep them in the fridge? 0.99

00:25:26.960 This is amazing.

00:25:29.440 You guys are.

00:25:30.880 Okay.

00:25:31.880 Time to focus.

00:25:33.080 No way.

00:25:34.320 That's crazy.

00:25:36.380 I've never seen that in 39 years of living in America.

00:25:39.400 That's a British thing.

00:25:40.400 You just leave them out all the time?

00:25:42.020 You don't need to put them in the fridge.

00:25:43.620 You don't need to.

00:25:45.520 You don't have to.

00:25:46.640 You have to leave this in.

00:25:48.440 Yeah.

00:25:48.820 We will do.

00:25:49.320 You don't edit this, right?

00:25:50.400 We will do. 1.00

00:25:51.240 Motherfuckers leave their eggs on the counter. 1.00

00:25:52.960 How much of your percentage of listeners is American? 1.00

00:25:56.060 About 40%.

00:25:57.060 And 60% British? 0.80

00:25:58.840 No, 40% British, 20% the rest of the world. 0.99

00:26:01.260 So Americans, you've been educated.

00:26:03.340 Exactly.

00:26:03.980 Keep your eggs out. 1.00

00:26:05.380 Put your eggs in the fucking fridge. 1.00

00:26:07.320 This is why we beat their ass in the war of revolutionary times. 1.00

00:26:12.760 Okay. 0.99

00:26:13.280 So anyway, here's where it starts to get cooking.

00:26:15.960 Because the next day I'm like, well, yesterday was crazy.

00:26:19.840 No way.

00:26:20.700 I'm going to be the world news today.

00:26:22.280 And at about, I also messaged the venue in which we were doing Kill Tony at the time.

00:26:31.760 A really, really, really small venue here in Austin, Texas that famously is like a small

00:26:41.220 corporate venue that I only chose as the home of Kill Tony when we first arrived here because

00:26:51.100 one of my very good friends, Gary Clark Jr., is a partner in the place.

00:26:57.740 However, he doesn't run the place.

00:26:59.500 He's not hands-on.

00:27:00.800 And he was in Australia at the time, very busy with some very busy stuff that I won't

00:27:07.500 get into.

00:27:08.060 But he was out of the loop being a creative genius.

00:27:13.300 And I messaged the running partner of that club.

00:27:21.100 I go, hey, stuff's crazy right now, but it's going to blow over.

00:27:25.480 Trust me, if you want to talk about it, give me a call.

00:27:28.380 And I'll explain everything and how we will execute moving forward.

00:27:36.020 Again, very small venue.

00:27:37.860 I always felt like I was doing them a favor by having the show there.

00:27:42.120 Very, very, very, very left-leaning venue to where they restricted how many people were

00:27:50.820 in the audience, so much space in between the audience.

00:27:53.680 And again, it's May 2021.

00:27:55.560 We're like, what are we doing here?

00:27:57.260 Because we're doing stand-up shows where people are shoulder-to-shoulder every other

00:28:01.120 night of the week, basically.

00:28:02.580 But I was playing along with them, being a nice guy.

00:28:06.080 And so I go, hit me up if you have any questions or whatever moving forward.

00:28:11.380 And that was the day before I messaged them at about whatever it was, 11 or noon the next

00:28:17.340 day, they put out a press release saying, we're no longer the home of Kill Tony.

00:28:24.080 We do not believe in racism of any kind.

00:28:28.760 And we find his words to be intolerable.

00:28:32.440 Whatever.

00:28:33.060 Again, this jargon, I don't even remember. 0.98

00:28:35.380 There's a part of my brain which remembers a lot of shit that won't allow myself even the 1.00

00:28:41.000 opportunity to remember what these virtue-signaling morons, both them, Pang Dang, I'm realizing 1.00

00:28:49.160 right now, you're watching me realize that I can't remember the actual verbiage because 0.99

00:28:54.280 I won't let myself. 0.69

00:28:56.100 It's so ridiculous to even do that. 0.98

00:29:00.820 I just find virtue-signaling to be literally the most disgusting thing in the world. 0.94

00:29:05.280 Be a good person or don't be a good person. 1.00

00:29:07.320 Don't make it look like you're a fucking good person. 0.99

00:29:10.260 Anyway, so they put that out. 0.99

00:29:12.640 So guess what?

00:29:13.460 That's a news story.

00:29:15.040 That's the new news story of the next day.

00:29:18.360 This venue, which by the way, it's the service is terrible at the venue.

00:29:23.720 I've seen so many bugs at this venue.

00:29:26.540 Either you know the venue or you don't know the venue.

00:29:28.960 Don't go there if you know it.

00:29:30.480 And if you don't know it, don't look it up and don't go there.

00:29:35.120 There you go.

00:29:35.900 So now that's a new news story.

00:29:39.680 Even though I helped them throughout the pandemic from December of 2020 to May of 2021,

00:29:46.600 they sat empty other nights of the week.

00:29:49.060 And I gave them liquor sales and a full audience and the coolest show in town every Monday.

00:29:56.440 Packed it as much as they would let me pack it.

00:29:59.080 Could have done hundreds and hundreds and hundreds more people.

00:30:01.700 But they wanted to appear like they cared about the safety of Texans that wanted to see a comedy show.

00:30:08.280 So now there's a new news story. 0.99

00:30:10.500 It sucks. 0.99

00:30:11.580 And I'm watching. 0.99

00:30:12.380 Even my favorite news outlets.

00:30:13.960 It sucks when your favorite ones start covering it, right?

00:30:17.080 Fox News. 0.76

00:30:18.480 Comedian.

00:30:19.820 Goes on racist rant.

00:30:21.400 I'm like, what?

00:30:22.600 Come on, guys.

00:30:24.280 You're my guys.

00:30:25.820 You can't do this to me.

00:30:27.660 Anyway, everything's covering it.

00:30:31.640 And what I chose to do because I was so stressed out is I went golfing with Ron White and another really good friend.

00:30:41.120 And I'm explaining to them what's happening. 1.00

00:30:43.380 And these guys live in fucking high rises and castles and ranches and shit. 1.00

00:30:47.820 And they don't know shit about shit, especially being canceled. 1.00

00:30:51.160 You know, Ron's a class act. 1.00

00:30:53.220 And I remember I took my girlfriend with me there.

00:30:56.460 So she's driving the golf cart. 1.00

00:30:58.120 And we were doing this thing where each hole, when I would get back in the car, I'd go, anything new?

00:31:03.920 And she was refreshing Tony Hinchcliffe.

00:31:07.160 It's a good way to relax.

00:31:08.320 It was crazy, by the way.

00:31:11.120 And as you could probably guess, the worst game of golf I've ever had in my life.

00:31:15.140 It's so interesting to see that, like, you know, it really is that game.

00:31:19.800 It really is.

00:31:22.140 It's a game of mental strength and not being distracted, not being stressed.

00:31:28.220 Because little tiny things, you know, going the other direction or farther from the hole than I was before.

00:31:36.820 Like comically bad.

00:31:39.180 And yeah, so every time I go to the golf cart, it was something else.

00:31:43.080 It was weird that I was torturing myself that way.

00:31:45.600 But I was just waiting for the thing.

00:31:47.220 When you're in this like this, if you want to know what it's like to people listening, since you guys probably do know.

00:31:53.100 But what it's really like is you're waiting for the storm to pass.

00:31:56.980 So you're kind of looking out the window to see if there's any light coming, right?

00:32:02.020 And that's all I was doing.

00:32:03.600 I wasn't, like, obsessed with myself.

00:32:06.280 It's obsessed.

00:32:07.200 I was obsessing with, it's got to be any second now.

00:32:10.280 Any second there's going to be not another news article.

00:32:13.440 And there she goes, you know.

00:32:14.900 Yeah, three minutes ago, the LA Times.

00:32:19.240 Seven minutes ago, Fox News.

00:32:22.060 Yeah, they wrote another one.

00:32:23.420 I go, another one?

00:32:24.120 You know, it's like it's the same ones of writing other ones.

00:32:26.880 And then at about 4 or 5 p.m. that day after I got home, and I'm really thinking, well, this is it.

00:32:35.700 It's been a day and a half of this.

00:32:37.860 This is any second now.

00:32:40.740 I get a call from my agents.

00:32:44.280 Very, very big, fancy agents in LA that, you know, I left a huge agency to go with them.

00:32:52.740 Took a chance.

00:32:54.040 It worked for years.

00:32:55.340 I doubled my money and tripled my money with touring with these big, fancier agents.

00:33:01.740 And I get the call, and they go, Tony, really bad news.

00:33:06.540 It's coming from above, but we have to let you go.

00:33:11.740 We can't associate ourselves.

00:33:14.360 This is not our choice. 1.00

00:33:16.040 It's coming from above, you know, these pussies. 1.00

00:33:19.080 Always blaming someone else, which is just ridiculous. 1.00

00:33:21.960 All the promises of a bright future and building a crowd and all of this stuff.

00:33:26.400 So guess what? 0.99

00:33:29.740 That sucks. 0.99

00:33:30.940 But you know what sucks even more? 0.99

00:33:33.680 Because that's another news cycle. 0.99

00:33:35.480 They put out a fucking press release saying, we disassociate ourselves with Tony Hinchcliffe and racism of any kind. 0.99

00:33:41.560 So boom, CNN, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 1.00

00:33:46.400 Now it's a day and a half.

00:33:47.940 And now that's the biggest story.

00:33:50.140 Dropped by agency.

00:33:52.180 WME drops Tony Hinchcliffe.

00:33:54.620 It's the biggest story since the whole thing even went.

00:33:57.300 So there we are now.

00:34:01.720 And my manager stuck with me the whole time.

00:34:04.100 And again, to know what it's like as a comedian when it's a joke, when it's not right, what's happening to you?

00:34:11.940 You know, I see people.

00:34:13.440 It's funny because getting canceled gets clumped in with people that should be canceled.

00:34:17.740 You're Bill Cosby's.

00:34:18.920 You're Harvey Weinstein's. 1.00

00:34:20.400 You're this's and that's rapists and sexual assaulters. 1.00

00:34:24.760 Disgusting humans. 1.00

00:34:25.800 And it kind of gets clumped together, getting canceled. 0.95

00:34:29.400 But there's a whole slew of your Joe Rogan's, your Tony Hinchcliffe's, your Shane Gillis's, your Ari Shaffir's of people that, what?

00:34:37.960 You said something on a podcast?

00:34:40.200 Which is interesting because this is even different than that.

00:34:43.860 And again, I'm scrambling in my brain the whole time like, wait, even these guys got in trouble for something they said on a podcast.

00:34:50.780 How am I getting in trouble for something that I said on a stage at a comedy show to another comedian?

00:34:59.360 It still, to this day, makes no sense to me.

00:35:03.460 But I get it.

00:35:04.420 The disgusting big media wants their clicks. 0.94

00:35:09.140 And, you know, they were bloodthirsty at the time to see a, especially, I think, a Texan, which made the story more interesting to them.

00:35:18.260 Whereas just a year or so earlier, yeah, a year earlier, I was a Californian.

00:35:24.000 I don't think it would have rang the same, their headline, you know, comedian in L.A. gets in trouble for making fun of Asian comedian.

00:35:31.180 I think Texan sounded better.

00:35:36.460 So there we are.

00:35:38.140 Oh, yeah.

00:35:38.740 So what I was going to say is when you get canceled for a joke and it's not right, what's happening is you're getting, I'm getting phone calls continuously from the best comedians in the world.

00:35:48.980 All my best pals.

00:35:50.780 And some people who at the time weren't even my best pals.

00:35:53.840 They were reaching out just to give advice or ask how I'm doing.

00:35:59.700 This is so wrong.

00:36:01.220 Everybody was on one side and one side only.

00:36:03.760 There was a couple that are like, geez, why did you have to go like that?

00:36:06.740 Why did you have to go so hard? 1.00

00:36:07.860 Shut the fuck. 1.00

00:36:08.860 Get the fuck out of here. 1.00

00:36:10.920 But everybody had different advice. 0.96

00:36:13.480 That's what's interesting. 0.98

00:36:15.940 That's where things get really fucked up. 0.94

00:36:18.620 And, I mean, I'm talking about geniuses. 0.97

00:36:21.040 I'm talking about the 10 best stand-ups in the world except for Chappelle, Louis, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld.

00:36:28.960 Very short list of people that didn't call me.

00:36:31.720 But everybody else had different advice.

00:36:35.200 One guy says you should write a letter and put it on Twitter.

00:36:38.500 One person says you should type it and put it on Twitter.

00:36:41.020 One person says you should make a video and put it on Instagram.

00:36:43.780 One person says you should explain what happened and put it on Instagram.

00:36:47.380 One person says you should apologize and put it on Instagram and Twitter.

00:36:51.040 Another person says you should write an apology.

00:36:53.440 Another genius says that you should make a video of an apology.

00:36:57.580 Another one says you should make a sketch about it and put that out.

00:37:00.180 Another one says go on stage, do a set about it, and put that out.

00:37:04.500 Literally.

00:37:05.760 Nobody.

00:37:07.500 There was very, very few.

00:37:09.620 Shane Gillis and Ari Shafir were the only two that matched up,

00:37:13.600 which was whatever you do, do not apologize.

00:37:17.420 The third guy that I golfed with, me, Ron White, and the third guy, who's not a comedian

00:37:22.560 and not in the industry whatsoever, also said, whatever you do, do not apologize.

00:37:27.320 He said that that day.

00:37:28.640 And he called me that night.

00:37:30.560 I don't even know how he got my number.

00:37:32.780 He called me that night and he goes, Tony, I know you're really going through it.

00:37:35.680 I saw your golf game earlier.

00:37:38.480 Whatever you do, don't apologize.

00:37:41.240 Meanwhile, and I'm not going to name any names, but a lot of people say,

00:37:45.580 look, you just have to say some kind of apology.

00:37:48.840 Just a quick little, hey, I misspoke.

00:37:51.640 But I'm thinking of myself, I didn't misspeak.

00:37:55.320 It's jokes.

00:37:56.460 And it's my style.

00:37:57.760 It's what I do. 1.00

00:37:58.760 If I want to call somebody a fucking cunt or a dick or this or that, there's no magical words to me. 1.00

00:38:06.100 If I think it's funny at that time, for that moment, in that place, then that's me. 1.00

00:38:12.580 I'm the most professional person to know.

00:38:16.220 I'm the doctor to diagnose that special case, right?

00:38:20.900 So I just, and again, I got to tell you, so many geniuses of wild, wild success.

00:38:28.760 And wild wealth mentioned apologizing.

00:38:32.180 And I just couldn't believe it.

00:38:33.260 But there's still this tug of war, even though I don't want to.

00:38:35.560 And even though I'm talking with them about, I don't think that's the right move.

00:38:39.280 I don't think it's the right move.

00:38:40.400 It's so hard to tell people that are, you know, wildly successful that I think they're wrong about this.

00:38:49.220 Especially when the entire world is going, this is the worst guy in the world right now. 0.97

00:38:54.780 And I'm thinking to myself, am I fucking crazy? 1.00

00:38:57.520 Am I losing my fucking mind? 1.00

00:39:01.180 Am I really wrong about this? 0.99

00:39:03.240 Should I apologize for making fun of somebody?

00:39:08.100 But I hold strong.

00:39:09.540 Now it's day three.

00:39:11.200 I ate, I remember eating a slice of pizza that night, the second day.

00:39:17.520 And that was all that I ate the entire day.

00:39:20.000 And as you can tell, I'm very skinny.

00:39:21.920 So if my metabolism is so fast that if I miss a meal or two, I look skinny and gaunt and gross.

00:39:29.740 And now we're basically waking up on morning 72 hours, right?

00:39:37.260 24, 24, 48.

00:39:40.260 Well, I guess it's 48.

00:39:42.580 Morning, 30.

00:39:44.720 I don't know.

00:39:45.520 Anyway, now I've had a little bit of that sushi before the phone call with Joe and a slice of pizza the next day.

00:39:54.800 Maybe a slice and a half.

00:39:55.820 I remember thinking, I can't believe how not hungry I am.

00:39:59.160 This is so weird that I'm not hungry at all. 0.98

00:40:02.560 And I'm a fucking, I'm one of those like Joey Chestnuts type of characters. 0.97

00:40:07.120 You know, the hot dog eating champion? 0.99

00:40:08.800 No. 1.00

00:40:09.060 You might not be famous where you live, you leave your eggs on the fucking counter. 1.00

00:40:13.400 But Joey Chestnuts is a famous skinny guy who beats everybody in the world at eating hot dogs. 1.00

00:40:18.720 For some reason, he can eat fucking 300 hot dogs in 10 minutes. 0.99

00:40:22.500 And I eat like that. 1.00

00:40:23.380 I'm gross. 1.00

00:40:24.160 Like I can eat fucking a bowl of spaghetti that big if I wanted to. 1.00

00:40:28.160 I fucking hate you. 1.00

00:40:29.340 Carry on. 1.00

00:40:29.780 It's amazing.

00:40:31.440 And so I remember thinking, how am I not eating?

00:40:35.020 Anyway, but I'm just trying to take you guys to what it's like.

00:40:38.660 You know, when you're wronged by everybody and everything.

00:40:43.220 And, you know, your friends are there for you, which is great. 0.97

00:40:46.200 But still, when you open your phone and you're on the front page of fucking everything for a joke. 0.99

00:40:54.220 Mind boggling. 0.98

00:40:56.240 And at this point, let me remind you that at this point, you know, morning three,

00:41:00.800 or the start of the third full day, let's put it that way, right? 0.90

00:41:06.440 Because it started at fucking 5.30 a.m. on technically Monday night, Tuesday morning. 0.88

00:41:12.340 So now we're waking up Thursday. 0.98

00:41:14.140 These WME drops, Tony Hinchcliffe articles are everywhere.

00:41:17.220 And Pang Dang is going on a media blitz.

00:41:22.720 Accepting everything.

00:41:24.000 Every single thing that reached out to me, he did.

00:41:26.160 Yes, I can't believe what he did to me.

00:41:29.180 So terrible.

00:41:30.500 And he hasn't reached out in any way.

00:41:32.900 He hasn't apologized.

00:41:34.880 He doesn't care.

00:41:36.080 It seems like he's, and he's adding more stuff.

00:41:39.060 He's basically giving himself away in a lot of ways.

00:41:42.300 In one interview, he talks about how he saw me the night before opening for Joe Rogan.

00:41:50.340 And so he knew that I had Asian jokes.

00:41:55.500 Like he's like giving himself away.

00:41:57.200 Now it's starting to make sense to me.

00:41:58.800 So I go, okay.

00:42:00.060 He asked Red Band if he can record after he found out that he was bringing me up.

00:42:04.200 Like I start doing the math on it.

00:42:06.300 And I don't know what happens.

00:42:07.500 Look, I don't know how it works.

00:42:09.060 And I'm sure deep down, Pang Dang is probably, you know, somewhere in there, 0.94

00:42:14.100 a good guy that just made a massive mistake.

00:42:17.240 And I don't know how it works with China.

00:42:18.840 I think none of us do, right?

00:42:20.940 It's a big, mysterious blur.

00:42:24.080 Pandemic taught us that, Tony.

00:42:25.840 And I'd imagine you get rewarded, though, for doing what they want.

00:42:29.380 I'd imagine that maybe, I don't know, whatever it may be, your family.

00:42:34.360 As an aside, what I find kind of weird is him doing that, right?

00:42:38.160 He's still on 3,000 Twitter followers.

00:42:40.680 I'm like, what did you do this for?

00:42:42.520 Oh, it's crazy.

00:42:44.160 Oh, it's crazy.

00:42:45.740 And you should see, you know.

00:42:46.840 And again, you know, I've never done anything.

00:42:49.880 I could have, I could have had the entire, I could have made it a thing.

00:42:55.840 I could have made it my identity.

00:42:57.940 I could have told the Kill Tony fan base, let's get him.

00:43:02.160 I could have done all of these things. 1.00

00:43:03.940 And I just think he fucked up. 1.00

00:43:06.400 And I think he knows he fucked up. 1.00

00:43:08.960 And I think it's going to follow him forever. 0.99

00:43:13.760 In a way, I kind of feel bad for him, but I don't.

00:43:16.760 Because it was a true assassination attempt.

00:43:18.940 Let there be no question.

00:43:20.200 This was not hurt feelings.

00:43:21.880 This was not, this was not, it's not what he said it was. 0.99

00:43:28.040 I don't believe it for a fucking second. 0.98

00:43:30.100 He contravened the golden rule, which is you do not do that to a colleague. 0.99

00:43:35.020 Oh, yeah.

00:43:36.060 You do not see a joke, especially in a new material night, and then record it and put

00:43:44.140 it on the internet and then orchestrate a pile on.

00:43:48.180 You don't do that.

00:43:49.320 And again, the editing of the thing is magical.

00:43:53.280 You know, about 15, 20 seconds after he cuts it at the end, you know, at the end of me,

00:44:04.440 I think the last thing I say, all you guys out here hooting and hollering, like it seems

00:44:08.540 like I'm mad at the audience for laughing at him, the way that the clip goes.

00:44:14.020 But what's funny is that if you watch the video, about 15 seconds after that, I literally

00:44:22.000 say, come on, lady, relax. 1.00

00:44:23.740 You're the only one not having fun.

00:44:25.100 What do you think I'm being serious up here? 0.99

00:44:27.140 Like I'm literally, I totally acknowledge that I'm fucking just being a crazy, dark freak. 0.97

00:44:34.420 We'll be back with the interview in one minute. 0.71

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00:45:41.560 So, we're planning.

00:45:44.340 I'm thinking in my head, I can't, I can't. 1.00

00:45:47.360 16 years of doing this fucking shit. 1.00

00:45:49.480 I took the hardest path. 1.00

00:45:50.940 You know, I slept in my car. 1.00

00:45:52.260 All the stupid old school comedian shit that you've heard about everybody. 1.00

00:45:56.120 You know, sleeping in my car behind the comedy store. 1.00

00:45:58.820 Working the door at the store.

00:46:00.800 You know, picking up shifts at the coffee shop around the corner.

00:46:03.660 Working from 7 a.m. to 12.

00:46:06.840 Jumping on the phones at the comedy store from 12 to 7.

00:46:09.500 Then working the door at the comedy store from 8 to 2 a.m.

00:46:12.500 And then waking up after sleeping in my car at 5 a.m.

00:46:15.720 And working at the coffee shop the next day.

00:46:17.460 I mean, literally.

00:46:18.540 And I'm thinking to myself, is this happening to me?

00:46:21.200 Is this really it?

00:46:22.560 What can I do?

00:46:23.940 And again, you know, of all the people.

00:46:26.800 Again, Shane Gillis and Ari Shafir, you know, who had both gone through it.

00:46:33.460 Shane made a joke on a podcast, got cancelled off of SNL.

00:46:37.160 Ari Shafir made a joke on Twitter.

00:46:40.620 About Kobe.

00:46:41.680 Yeah.

00:46:42.120 I think it was 2021 when Kobe died?

00:46:44.680 Or was it 2020?

00:46:45.700 2020, yeah.

00:46:46.600 Early 2020, I think.

00:46:47.820 And they hold strong with the no apology.

00:46:56.000 I'm talking with Ari a lot, who really, really, really, really, really ended up when the smoke

00:47:00.760 cleared being my top advisor, which is kind of crazy because he's a renegade, you know,

00:47:06.020 a lawless, amazing big brother.

00:47:09.000 And I talked with him about how, you know, I have the video of his set and my set.

00:47:17.320 If he put out my material, why shouldn't I put out his material in full length, you know?

00:47:25.100 Retaliation is a hell of a thing, as we're probably going to find out with this new Israel-Palestine 1.00

00:47:30.660 thing that's happening, you know? 0.98

00:47:31.820 You don't want to mess with somebody that has the fucking Iron Dome, right? 0.93

00:47:36.440 I don't know if that analogy makes any sense. 0.98

00:47:38.300 But Iron Dome is defensive, so no.

00:47:42.440 But still, they've got resources, I think, is what you're saying, Tony.

00:47:45.720 Yeah.

00:47:46.280 But what I didn't want to do is I didn't want to, you know, I wanted to get it out there,

00:47:53.540 but I wanted to get it out through a good vessel.

00:47:55.440 And it was actually Ari's suggestion that we put out both sets, his set, his whatever,

00:48:01.400 10-minute set, and my whatever, 15-minute set, and let's just put it out.

00:48:06.300 And let's not edit a thing.

00:48:08.460 Let's not speed up the intro like he did.

00:48:11.600 Let's leave his anti-white, pro-Asian, and by the way, another thing that happened is 0.95

00:48:18.740 that when the clip that he put out happens, and I call him a filthy little C-word, and 0.99

00:48:24.900 I go, oh, we make it a gunpowder, we do with this, we do with that, I hit like three Asian 1.00

00:48:29.580 stereotypes, oh, the soy sauce.

00:48:31.880 I'm referencing what he was talking about during his set.

00:48:36.080 Literally.

00:48:36.980 That's what he was talking about. 0.62

00:48:38.700 It sounds like I'm rambling off these Chinese stereotypes, but it's him being a cornball and 1.00

00:48:45.100 me letting the audience know, you just saw the Chinese guy doing corny Chinese jokes. 0.99

00:48:52.240 But again, the clip makes me look fucking terrible.

00:48:57.620 So we decide that we're going to put it out on Ari Shaffir's YouTube channel, and it was

00:49:03.340 a wild success. 0.92

00:49:04.860 I mean, it blew up, both sets back to back, showing that holy shit, not only was he doing 0.97

00:49:11.480 unbelievable kind of, I mean, really weirdly anti-white material and corny Asian jokes, but 1.00

00:49:22.120 I, you know, just to graze over it, when you watch both sets full length, it's the 20 seconds 0.97

00:49:30.180 that made world news for three days is fucking nothing. 0.93

00:49:34.860 Because it all makes sense. 0.99

00:49:36.280 Context is goddamn everything. 0.98

00:49:38.740 And the set that I had was fun and silly. 0.99

00:49:41.160 Again, it was a workout set.

00:49:42.560 So I'm doing crowd work.

00:49:43.700 I'm in and out.

00:49:44.340 I'm having fun.

00:49:45.160 I'm very loose.

00:49:46.780 Where he was doing a very, you know, tight, like he's like trying to make it in Austin,

00:49:51.640 Texas, that set.

00:49:52.400 That set was a big deal to him and a shoot around for me.

00:49:57.780 So the thing comes out and he clamps up. 1.00

00:50:02.860 Um, he absolutely stops every single scheduled media thing because he realized he fucked up. 0.79

00:50:09.900 He had no idea that I had the nuclear warhead, which is both of our sets unedited. 0.95

00:50:15.100 Um, and I mean, I got word from someone that, um, he had to beg CBS to stop, uh, from running

00:50:26.340 a 60 minutes or whatever it was.

00:50:28.120 Like it was about to be a big thing and it's him going, please stop.

00:50:31.340 My, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got, we can't, I have to stop.

00:50:35.260 Like he hit full breaks.

00:50:38.260 Um, and thank God, you know what I mean?

00:50:40.280 If I don't have that video and it's funny cause I just mentioned this dinner with Joe,

00:50:45.620 we were talking about how crazy cancellations are. 0.73

00:50:48.860 And I go, if I didn't have that video of both sets, who the fuck knows where we're at? 0.95

00:50:53.280 And instead people got to see that I was just being me on a random night, not attacking 0.96

00:50:59.860 somebody, not attacking somebody's race.

00:51:03.080 And, you know, by the way, if he would have come up to me that night and said anything,

00:51:08.220 we could have talked about it.

00:51:09.520 A, but that wasn't the thing.

00:51:11.380 That wasn't what he wanted.

00:51:12.420 It's not what he needed and it's not what would have benefited him again, whatever, however

00:51:17.300 this Chinese media thing works or whatever was supposed to happen there.

00:51:21.560 I mean, technically he's a spy, let's face it, right?

00:51:25.060 Technically in some way, what he was doing was, you know, he's infiltrated America in

00:51:32.240 order to, you know, cause a ruckus of some kind.

00:51:37.320 How does the Chinese media release that he tweets at 1115 in America? 0.97

00:51:42.420 When he didn't, when it's not 1115 in America and the fucking tweet happens at 1115. 0.98

00:51:47.180 Crazy, right? 0.99

00:51:48.380 Oh, there's a fucking drone. 1.00

00:51:55.480 Chinese fly drone. 1.00

00:51:57.380 Yeah.

00:51:57.880 So the video gets released.

00:52:00.880 I go on stage on Sunday night, again, Vulcan Gas Company, a random throwaway show that I'm

00:52:07.060 not scheduled to be on.

00:52:08.360 Um, I pop in and, um, to the most amazing pop of applause that I've ever gotten in my

00:52:15.700 entire life. 0.92

00:52:17.020 And, um, I talked about it and it was, uh, again, this is corny, but I, I was fucking 0.95

00:52:24.020 like almost emotional afterwards. 0.66

00:52:26.440 It was, I was, it had been five days and there I was doing what I loved to do and I had jokes

00:52:33.260 about it and it, it's, it's always been my therapy, you know, again, for a decade and

00:52:39.080 a half.

00:52:39.480 That's how I've handled everything.

00:52:40.660 Whether it be a friend that kills themselves or a tragic accident or a grandma dying or this

00:52:45.980 or that or whatever, I do it on stage.

00:52:48.920 And there I was talking about being on stage while on stage five days after I'm thinking

00:52:55.660 maybe, maybe I remember one comedy club owner, uh, said, you know, and this is like on the

00:53:03.360 Wednesday, this is like 24 hours in, she goes, you know, Tony, in about a year, everything

00:53:09.300 should be back to about normal.

00:53:10.760 And there I was on Sunday and everything was better than normal.

00:53:16.720 And it changed me.

00:53:18.040 When you get wronged, um, you're, I think you're going, it made me go after the laugh

00:53:25.400 instead of waiting for it to come to me. 0.97

00:53:27.400 I was more bloodthirsty for, um, having a fucking great set. 0.99

00:53:33.560 It's, I'm going to show you motherfuckers that this isn't like, you know, this is, this 0.99

00:53:38.920 is what I do. 1.00

00:53:40.660 This is my everything.

00:53:42.860 So anyway, yeah.

00:53:45.160 That is such a powerful lesson in that, Tony, because there's a lot of people who would have

00:53:50.520 let that experience destroy them, who would have gone under.

00:53:54.280 And you can understand it as well because it was unfair.

00:53:57.240 It was a media pile on.

00:53:58.460 But I don't think people watching this realize what it means to an actor or an agent to,

00:54:04.580 or to an actor or comedian to sign with a big agent.

00:54:07.620 I was going to say big agent.

00:54:08.900 That's a very different thing.

00:54:10.000 But it's a moment of validation.

00:54:12.320 It's, it's that moment you've been working towards the promised land.

00:54:15.780 You're going to be able to get this or access it.

00:54:17.500 And for all of that to disappear like that, because of a joke you made at a new material

00:54:24.000 night, when the entire rule of the new material night is we're going to say stuff, it might

00:54:29.940 not be funny, and we might cross the line.

00:54:32.300 But that's the point because we're working it out together.

00:54:36.720 On a Thursday night in my hometown, not listed on the show, all of it was a perfect storm of

00:54:44.940 this isn't right.

00:54:46.360 I'm an insult comedian.

00:54:47.700 And even then, here's another fun fact is my Wikipedia changed that week, that day or

00:54:52.160 whatever.

00:54:52.640 It went from American insult comedian to, you know, disgraced comedian or something like

00:54:57.720 that immediately.

00:54:58.420 The first line, whatever it was.

00:55:01.160 Disgraced?

00:55:01.680 Is that the right thing?

00:55:02.640 Whatever it was.

00:55:04.000 But it changed. 0.99

00:55:05.140 Someone changed it from insult comedian because it didn't match their fucking storyline. 0.98

00:55:09.200 But it had been insult comedian forever. 0.99

00:55:10.880 I didn't care.

00:55:12.080 I don't even love the term insult comedian.

00:55:14.140 I don't know who puts it there.

00:55:15.440 I don't know who writes these things.

00:55:16.960 But they're not that wrong.

00:55:19.460 I mean, on stage, my stand-up isn't really just, it's not one, you know, it's not one-sided

00:55:26.420 like that.

00:55:27.280 It's a little bit of a diverse portfolio of making fun of a ton of stuff.

00:55:31.340 But I always found it interesting that that was the first line and then it wasn't the first

00:55:36.840 line when I insulted somebody.

00:55:39.660 When it was actually relevant.

00:55:40.700 So let me ask you something about the media because I'm curious to know what you think

00:55:46.600 about whether they were click hunting, whether they maybe just don't know comedy, maybe they

00:55:55.380 didn't know enough about you, or do you think it was malicious?

00:55:59.940 They went after you because they knew this was their moment to make some money.

00:56:04.900 It was multi-pronged in that way.

00:56:07.200 I think, you know, a lot of these articles had me as frequent Joe Rogan guest, friend

00:56:11.720 of Joe Rogan, Joe Rogan friend.

00:56:14.940 And at the time, he's burying them with a shovel.

00:56:18.300 And I mean, he still is.

00:56:19.520 And he was years before that.

00:56:21.380 Yeah.

00:56:21.560 And he's going to be years from now.

00:56:22.700 But he's talking to people about vaccines at this time.

00:56:25.380 Totally.

00:56:25.660 They're all piling on him.

00:56:26.660 A hundred percent.

00:56:27.580 Even the US government are piling on.

00:56:29.440 Biden spoke about it.

00:56:30.820 Well, his press secretary.

00:56:31.680 Oh, his press secretary, yeah.

00:56:32.800 Spoke about what?

00:56:33.920 It spoke about Joe.

00:56:35.080 When was that?

00:56:36.520 Around that time.

00:56:37.660 Oh, yeah.

00:56:38.040 Yeah.

00:56:38.480 I mean, yeah.

00:56:39.660 Chaotic times.

00:56:40.640 Totally being working. 0.99

00:56:41.660 So you think they were kind of going, this is a guy we can use to shit on Joe? 0.99

00:56:45.800 That, I think it was perfect clickbait. 0.99

00:56:48.360 I think they had a weird thing with Asian hate at the time.

00:56:52.020 I think they're coming off of the George Floyd thing.

00:56:56.240 Yep.

00:56:56.700 And they're like, ooh, this could be a new market for us.

00:57:01.840 I'm serious.

00:57:05.080 I'm not even kidding. 1.00

00:57:06.540 I really, they're fucking disgusting. 1.00

00:57:09.980 They're nothing burgers. 0.99

00:57:12.200 And, you know, a couple of them actually stuck me on the phone.

00:57:15.820 They're so sly and slimy.

00:57:18.220 They go, no, I'm not. 1.00

00:57:19.040 I don't know how they got my number, by the way, which is also creepy as fuck. 0.99

00:57:22.080 They're fucking good at getting your number. 0.99

00:57:23.260 Yeah. 0.99

00:57:23.880 Weird.

00:57:24.520 Yeah.

00:57:25.200 And I go, no, thank you.

00:57:26.860 I can't do it.

00:57:27.880 But I don't hang up the phone.

00:57:28.880 I'm not interested in having any statement on this whatsoever.

00:57:33.180 Well, are you thinking about putting out a statement?

00:57:35.880 Well, I'm not really.

00:57:36.820 I mean, you know, they keep you on the phone. 1.00

00:57:39.500 They're fucking dirty dogs. 1.00

00:57:41.340 And that's their entire everything. 1.00

00:57:42.940 You know, so, yeah, I think it was a multi-pronged effect.

00:57:50.160 It was racism less than a year after George Floyd, but in a whole new market, kind of like

00:57:55.400 a new twist.

00:57:56.260 The, you know, I think there was, you know, I think they love downplaying stand-up comedy.

00:58:06.000 I think that it hurts them to have people really out there, you know, single-handedly having

00:58:14.080 a voice and an opinion on things, which is what they really want, right?

00:58:18.900 These media outlets want to sneak their opinion or their take in on things, and they supposedly

00:58:24.960 aren't allowed to, but that obviously changed half a decade ago or however long ago when 0.90

00:58:30.800 it started really being silly.

00:58:36.020 But, you know, it, the crazy thing is, is that when they try to cancel you and they're

00:58:41.920 wrong, it makes you stronger.

00:58:43.820 I've seen it with Ari Shafir, I've seen it with Shane Gillis, I've seen it with myself,

00:58:50.180 and we've all seen it with Joe Rogan.

00:58:52.620 When it's not real, it makes you stronger.

00:58:56.200 When it is real, it, I'm sure it gets you.

00:58:58.860 I'm sure it takes you down.

00:59:00.740 I don't see Cosby having a resurgence or any of those people, you know.

00:59:05.580 So many, so many times I see Weinstein on the front or back of my favorite movies that

00:59:11.840 I watch, and he's not coming back.

00:59:14.640 No.

00:59:15.140 When you did wrong, you're done.

00:59:17.400 If you didn't, you're bigger, you can get bigger than ever.

00:59:20.820 And it did.

00:59:21.480 Again, and it's not just, it made me famous, it changed me.

00:59:25.380 Again, I was going after the laughs. 0.96

00:59:27.940 I was swinging the bat with fucking anger instead of, eh, I hope you think this is funny. 0.99

00:59:36.040 It's fucking funny. 0.99

00:59:37.180 I was, there was an animal that kind of is created. 0.99

00:59:41.540 It's an I'm going to show you mentality.

00:59:44.800 And, you know, we started, it was two weeks later, we started Kill Tony at Vulcan Gas Company

00:59:50.940 in front of 350 people instead of 100 people.

00:59:55.480 The viewership was bigger, stronger than ever, and we've doubled that continuously every few

01:00:01.260 months since then.

01:00:02.620 Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

01:00:04.500 It just keeps getting bigger, stand up the same thing, absolutely nonstop and at a different

01:00:09.180 temperature, and, you know, everything's just better than ever.

01:00:15.000 Now, my agent is the agent that my old agents hated more than anyone.

01:00:21.440 The absolute head of comedy at the biggest comedy agency, not the second biggest, which

01:00:28.100 is where I was before.

01:00:29.500 They dropped me during the cancellation.

01:00:30.980 The number one biggest, and he's their worst nightmare.

01:00:34.500 He's the guy that they see in their nightmares.

01:00:37.260 It's that guy.

01:00:39.640 And I've gotten two calls from them, my old friends at WME, in the last only two months

01:00:47.000 saying, you know, if you ever, if anything ever goes wrong over there, we would love to

01:00:51.920 get back in the Tony Hinchcliffe business. 0.94

01:00:53.800 And I cannot tell you, I cannot explain to you how much fucking joy it brings me. 0.94

01:01:00.360 I mean, I just sit on the other end of that phone and I just play it cool. 0.99

01:01:04.860 I don't go, I bet you fucking do. 0.98

01:01:07.100 But my God, am I thinking it? 0.99

01:01:09.760 Because when they get you like that, when you're down, you know.

01:01:13.740 You don't forget that.

01:01:15.060 Not at all.

01:01:15.480 You don't forget that.

01:01:16.180 No.

01:01:16.280 Because that is the sign of someone's character.

01:01:19.160 Oh, yeah.

01:01:19.500 The sign when things go bad and people start running or they walk away or they take part

01:01:24.600 in the pylon or you go, thank you.

01:01:27.640 Thank you for showing me.

01:01:28.820 And you always remember the people who are there for you and you never forget the people

01:01:33.060 who run.

01:01:34.140 It's just, it's a very simple thing. 0.97

01:01:35.880 And just as cowardly and weak as I thought they were for dropping me when the times were 0.97

01:01:40.380 dark. 0.98

01:01:40.740 Like, I think that maybe even more cowardly, I find them crawling back with sold-out arenas

01:01:50.980 and sold-out theaters on my schedule.

01:01:55.140 It's almost as disgusting to beg for forgiveness when someone is obviously thriving than it is

01:02:04.960 to stab them in the back when, you know, they are down and out. 0.96

01:02:08.860 Like, I mean, how weak, how gross to show your character like that. 0.99

01:02:15.700 It's unbelievable. 1.00

01:02:17.600 But I like to fuck with them. 1.00

01:02:20.240 So I go, yeah, yeah, I'll keep thinking about that. 0.99

01:02:22.680 Yeah, if anything ever goes wrong, if anything goes wrong with this, and again, I mean, it's

01:02:27.980 literally like, it's the dream situation.

01:02:31.060 Because it's the hope that kills you.

01:02:32.580 Oh, yeah.

01:02:33.140 Yeah, they're talking.

01:02:34.020 They're like, no, no, no.

01:02:35.040 I swear.

01:02:35.620 Like, he sounds fine.

01:02:36.760 Like, yeah, six months to a year, he'll be back.

01:02:39.440 Oh, yeah.

01:02:40.240 Yeah, we built a strong rapport with that. 1.00

01:02:43.540 Fucking idiots. 1.00

01:02:45.500 Absolute morons. 1.00

01:02:46.560 It's good to have you on the show. 1.00

01:02:47.700 It's good to see you thriving.

01:02:49.100 Yeah.

01:02:49.240 And this is what, this is, you know, I started the interview by saying when we had Uncle

01:02:54.280 Roger on, he said, you know, this is the show you're going when you get cancelled.

01:02:57.420 This is why we have people on who've been cancelled.

01:02:59.600 Because people need to hear this story.

01:03:01.620 They need to hear that if you have been treated unfairly, don't apologise.

01:03:07.860 Get the support of your friends.

01:03:09.440 And you, and then lean into it.

01:03:10.680 And we saw you do a set at the mothership.

01:03:13.820 And I can totally feel what you're talking about.

01:03:15.840 You're like an animal on stage now.

01:03:17.280 You really are. 0.77

01:03:18.120 You go on there.

01:03:19.060 There's no apology.

01:03:20.420 There's no hesitation.

01:03:22.080 You go on there with supreme confidence.

01:03:24.420 And I'd love to see it.

01:03:25.240 So congratulations on your success, man.

01:03:27.080 It's awesome to see.

01:03:28.460 And people who get cancelled need to see this too.

01:03:30.680 Yeah.

01:03:30.880 Right?

01:03:31.200 Yeah.

01:03:31.740 This is how you beat cancelled culture.

01:03:33.740 People who get cancelled come back stronger.

01:03:36.120 Right.

01:03:36.300 That's how you win.

01:03:36.980 Don't apologise if you didn't do something wrong.

01:03:39.280 If you did do something wrong, apologise.

01:03:41.820 Right.

01:03:42.060 Yeah.

01:03:42.880 Absolutely.

01:03:43.500 Here's something that I didn't mention that I thought about a lot during that.

01:03:47.980 Actually, Tony, save it for locals because we've got to ask some questions from our audience.

01:03:51.700 Head on over to locals, guys.

01:03:52.900 We'll talk about what Tony wants to talk about and ask your questions as well.

01:03:55.920 We'll see you on there.

01:03:58.220 We promised our audience you would roast us.

01:04:01.120 You look like if...

01:04:03.260 We'll see you on over to later.

01:04:04.860 We'll see you then.

01:04:05.380 We'll see you on the journey.

01:04:28.100 We'll see you on the foret long.

01:04:28.460 We'll see you on the foret long.

01:04:28.900 We'll see you soon.

01:04:29.020 We'll see you soon.

01:04:29.420 We'll see you on our chart.

01:04:30.240 We'll see you on the foret long.

01:04:30.860 We'll see you on the foret long.

01:04:31.120 We'll see you on the foret long.

TRIGGERnometry - October 29, 2023

Tony Hinchcliffe： Cancelled for a Joke

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