Former president Donald Trump made a triumphant return to the spotlight at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, his bandaged ear a reminder of the assassination attempt he’d survived just two days earlier at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, the latest episode of the popular comedy podcast “Kill Tony” featured the triumphant return of comic Shane Gillis’ famous impression of the 45th president — this time performed in full Trump regalia.
The episode, as usual recorded live at Austin, Texas, venue Comedy Mothership, started with a special, top-secret guest: “Joe Biden” (portrayed by comic Adam Ray). After slowly walking out on stage with a vacant grin, Ray joined host Tony Hinchcliffe and his producer Brian Redban on the dais to watch show regular Casey Rocket warm up the crowd.
Ray’s Biden-esque rambling was then cut off by patriotic, MAGA-themed video montage, leading into Gillis’ entrance as Trump.
As in Milwaukee, the crowd erupted.
While the episode was prerecorded on July 8, the timing for its release could not have been better.
‘This man, showered with his daughter. Do you believe this?’
Gillis and Ray stayed in character for nearly two-and-a-half hours, exchanging presidential jabs, with Gillis honing in on certain creepy allegations about the incumbent.
When a guest comedian revealed getting married at 17 years old, Gillis joked that it was a great age for “showering with your dad, the way [Biden’s] daughter did.”
“Look it up! You’re going to be very, very surprised that this guy, this man, showered with his daughter. Do you believe this? Till she was 13,” he added.
“I love my family!” Ray replied, displaying the trademark Biden smirk.
Gillis was referring to the diary of Biden’s daughter Ashley, in which she recorded a disturbing childhood memory of showering with her father.
“Was I molested? I think so,” she wrote.
The faux presidents also touched on foreign policy. After a performance by a former Army Ranger, who revealed he had been deployed to Afghanistan three times, host Tony Hinchcliffe remarked that Trump did not get the credit that he deserved for ending the war in the Middle East.
Gillis as Trump then jabbed at Biden’s botched pullout from Afghanistan: “I wanted out of there and then what Joe did … what an absolute disgrace, this was horrible.”
The Ranger agreed and said that he would be voting for Trump in 2024, as he did in 2020.
The crowd’s genial reaction to Gillis’ antics revealed something “Kill Tony” fans have known for a long time: The liberal, anti-Trump stranglehold on comedy is weakening.
Just contrast Gillis’ generally affectionate ribbing of Trump with the tone-deaf attempt at humor by Jack Black’s Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass. While playing a concert in Australia the day after the shooting, Black sang “Happy Birthday” to Gass, then asked him to make a wish.
Gass jokingly asked that any future would-be assassin not “miss Trump next time.” The chilly response to Gass’ remark, both at the venue and online, would seem to indicate that the appetite for such ideologically driven Trump “humor” has dwindled.
Instead of tired Orange-Man-Hitler material, Gillis and Ray both offered exaggerated yet fundamentally accurate portrayals of Trump and Biden, respectively. If Gillis’ Trump came off better, it wasn’t because of some kind of partisan bias on the part of the show.
In other words, it’s funny because it’s true. The raucous response that night from an audience in one of America’s most notoriously liberal towns offers a hopeful sign that real comedy — the type that puts laughter before politics — will never go out of style.
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