Jon Stewart Says Tony Hinchcliffe Wasn’t the Problem With Trump’s “Apocalyptic” MSG Rally

During his final regular episode of The Daily Show before the 2024 election, Jon Stewart joked that he had yet to decide who would get his vote. “Normally I just vote for whomever The Washington Post endorses,” he said—a reference to the Jeff Bezos-owned paper’s controversial decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, which led at least 200,000 people to cancel their Post (but perhaps not their Amazon Prime) subscriptions.

Stewart confirmed this week that he will continue hosting The Daily Show on Monday nights through December 2025, and a previously announced live, hour-long special on Election Day. Then he unpacked some of the last major rallies from the presidential candidates. In regards to Beyoncé’s appearance at Kamala Harris’ event in Houston over the weekend, he quipped, “No singing? Fuck it, I’m voting for Trump.”

Then there was Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, which included vitriolic speeches from Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk. “Now, generally, that’s a lineup you see outside Madison Square Garden, yelling at strangers as they try to get inside Madison Square Garden,” said Stewart. “And, let me just say, how dare they desecrate the stage that the Piano Man has consecrated? How dare you? How fucking dare you? Listen to me: Do you know how many ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant’ he’s going to have to play to exorcise the demons that were on that stage?” he continued, referring to Billy Joel’s longtime residency at the arena.

Stewart then turned his attention to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose racist remarks (“I don’t know if you guys 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”) have sparked criticism from both sides of the aisle. “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. “But, to be fair, the guy’s just doing what he does.”

The host then played a clip of Hinchcliffe performing at Netflix’s roast of Tom Brady earlier this year, where he joked about Jews and enslaved people. “Yes, yes, of course, terrible, boo” Stewart replied, stifling his laughter. “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 have him not do roast jokes, that’d be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not have—oh.”

That said, Stewart maintained that the focus should be kept on the Trump rally guests who have actual political power, who brought “a real dark, apocalyptic version of America to the stage.” Trump struck a similar tone in his own speech, repeating his “mass deportation” plans that he’ll enact on “day one” if he wins the election.

“Day one? Have a snack, meet the staff,” Stewart replied. “Day one is typically we just read the syllabus. Generally there’s no homework.” He then reminded Trump of an earlier episode in which the candidate wasn’t able to accurately identify his wife Melania in a photograph. “Right now, you think you’re safe ’cause the group Trump’s talking about, it’s not you,” Stewart added. “As if, ‘Are-you-sure-this-isn’t-my-wife?’ Donald Trump can tell the fucking difference or even cares.”