Tony Hinchcliffe (born June 8, 1984) is an American comedian. Since 2013, he has hosted the live comedy podcast Kill Tony, a showcase of professional and amateur comedians who take turns doing one-minute sets. Hinchcliffe is known primarily for roast comedy, having been on the writing staff of the Comedy Central Roast series, and appearing at the All Def Digital Roast of Snoop Dogg in 2016 and The Roast of Tom Brady in 2024. He has released two comedy specials, One Shot on Netflix in 2016 and Making Friends on YouTube in 2020.
Hinchcliffe has a reputation for dark humor which, combined with his insult-based roast comedy, has led to several controversies. In 2021, he was dropped by his agency and lost multiple endorsements after using an anti-Asian slur against an opening Chinese American comedian during his set. In October 2024, the Donald Trump campaign invited him to perform a set at a rally at Madison Square Garden, during which he made a widely criticized joke about Puerto Rico.
Early life
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, on June 8, 1984,[1] Hinchcliffe was raised by his single mother in the city's north side.[2][3][4][5] He attended Ursuline High School, where he was on the wrestling team,[6] graduating in 2002.[2][4] He is of Italian descent.[5]
Hinchcliffe told the Free Times of Columbia, South Carolina, that he grew up in a tough neighborhood and that he first developed roasting as a defense mechanism.[7] In an interview with Cleveland.com, he said that his insults also got him punched in the face on the school bus on his first day of school.[3] On Ryan Sickler's HoneyDew podcast, Hinchcliffe revealed that his father was married to a woman other than his mother and that his birth was kept secret from her. At the same time, he was unaware of his father's other family until adolescence, thinking instead that his father just travelled a lot for work.[8]
Hinchcliffe became known at The Comedy Store for insulting other comics and audience members during shows.[3][10] He is also known for broaching uncomfortable and sensitive topics during his stand-up sets.[7][3][10][11] Hinchcliffe's style of roasting[12][3][9] and dark sense of humor appealed to fellow comedian Jeff Ross, known as the "Roastmaster General" of the television series Comedy Central Roast.[3][5][10] Hinchcliffe refers to Ross as his mentor and he helped get Hinchcliffe his first writing jobs.[3][5][10]
Hinchcliffe's first one-hour stand-up special titled One Shot premiered on Netflix in 2016.[2][12][13] His special was so named because it was shot in one camera take with no edits.[2][13] In 2017, he headlined the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour where he toured 20 American cities in 22 days.[2][12][9]
Since 2013, Hinchcliffe has produced and hosted a podcast called Kill Tony, a weekly live show recorded at The Comedy Store.[13][12][17] During the show, Hinchcliffe and co-host Brian Redban (of The Joe Rogan Experience and the Deathsquad Network), along with a changing panel of comedians and other celebrities, act as judges for amateur comedians.[17][18] The contestants enter their names into a bucket and are selected at random throughout the show.[17][18] Each selected contestant gets to perform a one-minute comedy set,[2][13][12] followed by a discussion and critique by the panel of judges.[18] The show aims to give young comedians a chance to showcase their talent and build their professional reputation. It sets no limits on topics the contestants can present, allowing for potentially offensive or politically incorrect performances.[19][20]
In September 2020, Hinchcliffe announced that he would relocate to Austin, Texas, to join Joe Rogan and Brian Redban.[21] The Kill Tony podcast relocated to Antone's Nightclub in downtown Austin. The show relocated to Vulcan Gas Company on 6th Street in May 2021. Due to an incident that month with a racist slur, his agency WME released him as a client and Antone's announced that it would no longer work with Hinchcliffe or Kill Tony.[22][23][24] As of 2023, the show is hosted at Joe Rogan's Austin-based comedy club Comedy Mothership. On New Year's Eve 2023, Kill Tony hosted its first live arena show at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.[25]
2021 Austin stand-up performance
During a stand-up set in May 2021, Hinchcliffe was videotaped insulting Peng Dang, an Asian American comedian who had introduced Hinchcliffe after performing the previous set at Vulcan Gas Company in Austin. Hinchcliffe said Dang was a "filthy little fucking chink", followed with a series of Asian stereotypes in a mock Chinese accent, and lashed out at audience members who laughed at Dang's jokes, branding them as "race traitors". The video was later shown on Twitter, went viral and received criticism.[22] As a result, Hinchcliffe was dropped by his agency WME and removed from shows scheduled with Joe Rogan in Austin, and the Austin nightclub Antone's announced that it would no longer be involved with Hinchcliffe or his Kill Tony live show.[22][23][24]Vulture reported that during his set, Hinchcliffe stated that Chinese people came to Austin because of the bats and criticized offended audience members for "believing he was serious".[26] In an interview with Variety, Hinchcliffe stated that the line was a joke and he did nothing wrong, adding that he believed comedians should never apologize for a joke and simply continue with their work.[27]
Hinchcliffe's remarks were widely criticized as racist, including by prominent politicians such as Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, who called him a "jackwad",[32][33] and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry. Representative Ritchie Torres, also of Puerto Rican ancestry, said that he was "tempted to call Hinchcliffe racist garbage but doing so would be an insult to garbage".[34][35][36][37][38] The Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe's Puerto Rico comments.[39]
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