Kill Tony's Madison Square Garden Schtick was not comedy

Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Eddie Murphy would like a word

I have always loved Blue Comedy—even as a girl. Ever hear a Redd Foxx stand up comedy routine?

It was a far cry from “Sandford and Son’s” believe you me.

Among male comedians, my personal top three were George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Eddie Murphy, despite his raging misogynistic bent.

Now, some might say—whoa, whoa, whoa—Eddie Murphy was sexist?

Oh mah gawd, did you ever listen to his standup?

Yuh.

Murphy, Carlin and Pryor

Dad was a huge fan of Murphy—had both “Delirious” and “Raw” on VHS and casette. Yes—VHS and cassette.

Watched that shit till the tape wore thin.

We laughed our asses off each time we watched it—but there were some dark aspects that I could never shake off. Like him joking about hitting a woman or punishing ladies for not giving up dah drawers as fast as he would like.

One of his most famous routines starts with, “Remember the good old days when you could hit a woman?” He then went on to detail how he struck a woman once and she scared him by asking him to go to sleep right after.

We laughed, but one fact was lost in the midst of that laughter—he hit a woman for pissing him off and told her she deserved it.

Then made a joke out of it.

In the same routine, he expressed his resentment that women enjoyed sex as much as men but “played games” with it by waiting. It never occurred to him that women have a host of genuine considerations outside the act itself that make them wait.

He didn’t seem to understand how shit like unwanted pregnancy could result, for instance.

A case in point, Mel B “Scary Spice” had to chase Murphy down for years to get child support after he abandoned their daughter. DNA-evidence proved the girl was his.

He was eventually shamed enough to take care of and develop a relationship with his child.

George Carlin

This brother made me howl—his laser focus on social ills like racism, sexism and the political war machine were spot on, his words hilarious as they were maddening. Ever see him in Kevin Smith’s “Dogma?"

Hilarious!

Those who know Carlin, post some of your favorite observations below.

One of his off the cuff statements that I still oft quote is “Behind ever cynic is heartbroken romantic.”

True dat.

I don’t know much about the man’s personal life—but I will say some of his jokes landed with me while others didn’t. I enjoyed, for instance, when he would sneak in gems about how, no matter how culturally different we are, we all go through the same life shit.

As Carlin got older some of his bits still landed for me—others, nah, not so much.

For instance, he had this rant about “baby on board” signs and “honor roll student” bumper stickers that I found more aggravating than funny. Who cares about that shit so intently to add it to a comedy routine?

Bumper stickers and car signs?

Meh.

I don’t give a fuck, unless of course, said sign or stickers make it difficult for the driver to see—then it potentially impacts the population at large, otherwise ain’t mah business.

To me it felt like an old man yelling at clouds on stage.

I said that once in a YouTube comment section and you would have thought I had slaughtered a baby cow in ritualistic sacrifice!

He even once joked he would never “snitch” even if someone killed his entire family and appeared to defend Michael Jackson after he was accused of child molestation by saying, “I don't care if Michael Jackson freaked off with little boys or not, it doesn't bother me,” going further to say, “Fuck those kids and fuck their greedy parents too…”

Okay then.

This is why I hold no cows sacred—dig deep enough all idols have feet of clay. All of them.

I am, for instance, a huge fan of Finnish singer Ville Valo (HIM).

A CRAZY fanatical fan. If that man ever tossed a shirt in the audience and I caught it, I would probably enshrine that bitch in a case and never let anyone touch it.

What can I say—when I love, I love HUGO BIG—maybe that is my own deep fault.

But if Ville Valo ever did or said some dumb shit, best believe, should I have a say, I’d tell him he did or said some dumb shit.

Richard Pryor

Of the above, Pryor was my favorite among favorites—I think his always apparent vulnerability is what got to me the most.

Pryor’s comedy was often social conscious and showed a man of intelligence with demons and fears so profound he turned to drug use to ease his pain. He was honest enough to share his struggles with addiction with his audience.

Admired that.

He worked with greats like the dearly departed Gene Wilder ( a genuinely sweet man) often partnering with him in noteworthy films like “Silver Streak” and “Stir Crazy.”

It was said they were good friends.

Pryor was notoriously difficult to deal with, however, so much so, that Mel Brooks had to replace him in “Blazing Saddles” and other films, although details on the why differ depending on who you talk to.

Poor Redd Foxx? Died penniless due to owing a fuck ton of back taxes.

I say all this to point out that old school comedy pulled no punches. Back in the day stars suffered from human failings, some worse than others, but they were geniuses in their arenas—so we forgave them.

Whether this is a good or bad thing, history will judge—but I know one thing:

We won’t count Kill Tony among these comedic giants—ever

Yes, the Kings of Comedy outraged us at times, even giving us controversial material to gnaw on, but there was never this vitriol, this—this, over the top, hateful or disgusting nameless thing that is just so nasty

These guys had something to say and they said it with their chest.

Kill Tony’s “style”, what some consider Roast Humor, is meant to be extremely vile I suppose. I never get the point of roasts and have never found them funny. Any schoolyard bully can say “Man you smell like farts.” IMHO, it doesn’t take any finesse—it has no emotional honesty, no social value and it is not personal.

Now, Jon Stewart thinks we are being a bit hard on Kill Tony aka Tony Hinchcliffe because he is, after all, a roast comedian, yah know, an insult comic.

It’s what he do.

Love yah Jon but, no, miss with that mess.

Yah know, I find it a bit upsetting when some on our side agree with the likes of J.D. Vance, telling us all to take a Chill Pill about Tony. In any case, screw you, Vance, your side of the aisle cried for days after Tim Walz made a joke about White Boi tacos:

Come on, we all know that the The Trump campaign chose Kill Tony specifically because they wanted to aim his particular style of venomous jokes toward groups they disliked during Trump’s Madison Square Garden debacle.

I mean, hello 1939.

Hinchcliffe’s so—called humor was laser aimed at marginalized groups the Trump campaign had already vilified, and to make matters worse, the shit wasn’t funny.

At all.

Even Trump supporters groaned.

This wasn’t observational—it was outrage for the sake of outrage itself.

It was once said, I forget by who, and I am paraphrasing, that there is a big difference between humor and ridicule. The latter is humor at your expense, used to taunt and cause psychological injury, not to be shared.

There is movie, aptly called “Ridicule”, that explores the concept.

Indeed, ridicule is the favorite passive-aggressive tool of narcissistic personality types, used to control, belittle, and wound their victims.

It’s not humor.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a sick burn as much as the next gal, but that is generally in a situation where both parties are coming at one another—it’s entertaining because they are trying to best each other for social points in crude but funny ways.

A battle of wits, if you permit.

Again, not the case at Madison Square Garden.

That is why Kill Tony does not get off the hook.

In other words…

Comedians were flawed as fuck back in the day but we forgave them in spite of their human frailties because they gave us something in return for their madness.

Steve Martin, Madelyn Kahn, Gilda Radner, Lucille Ball, Robin Williams, hell, they give and gave us everything…

The Kill Tony’s of the world—their comedy—? I don’t know what they mean to do, but there doesn’t seem to be anything in it for the world at large.

That doesn’t stop insult comics like Tony Hinchcliffe from trying doing their thing, or people like Trump from exploiting that kind of meanspirited humor to achieve their own ends.

For this reason, it would appear the jokes is on us.