Tony Hinchcliffe’s First Netflix Special Was So Bad That He Scrubbed It From the Internet

Netflix just closed a deal with controversial podcaster and open mic host Tony Hinchcliffe where they will stream three Kill Tony specials and a new hour from the conservative comedy icon. Clearly, Netflix Comedy believes that, no matter how bad a stand-up bombs, every Republican comic deserves a second shot.

Back in 2016, the streaming giant was just getting started in its one-company arms race to become the undisputed king of stand-up in the still-expanding streaming industry. Supported by comedy giants like John Mulaney, Tom Segura and Bill Burr, Netflix’s plan to become the most comedy scene's desirable home for streaming-original stand-up was just ramping up when it acquired a definitely-not-Netflix-original hour from an Ohio-born roast comedian whose amateur/professional stand-up showcase at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles was similarly picking up steam.

Fast forward nine years — Hinchcliffe is one of the loudest and most influential voices in right-wing comedy, Kill Tony is the unofficial Star Search of the national stand-up scene and Netflix’s bets-hedging on the comedy culture war has culminated in a massive commitment to a comic who, just months ago, bombed at Madison Square Garden and on international news by being too racist and unfunny even for Donald Trump’s biggest fans.

But long before Hinchcliffe’s F-tier jokes about Latino people having lots of babies and Black people loving watermelon made headlines, Tony Hinchcliffe: One Shot quietly backfired on the comic’s current streaming home before it slipped out of the Netflix library after just two years on the platform.

The conceit of Tony Hinchcliffe: One Shot was self-explanatory: Hinchcliffe wanted to record a comedy special in a single take, presumably to cut down on the self-funded production costs that multiple camera angles demand. And, at the Ice House in Pasadena, California, he shot all 57 minutes of his set in one go before sending off the footage to Netflix as part of a two-year distribution deal. With its ramshackle production value and sophomoric material, One Shot failed to propel Hinchcliffe to stand-up superstardom — as actual Netflix original specials did for his contemporaries like Segura — and the streamer declined to extend their distribution deal past the pitiful trial period. Hinchcliffe even removed the album version of One Shot from Spotify.

The reviews from the few Netflix subscribers who actually watched One Shot ranged from lukewarm to dismal, and even among Hinchcliffe’s fandom, One Shot is more of a punchline than a special. In a recent thread from the Kill Tony subreddit started by a Hinchcliffe fan looking for a way to stream the redacted hour, other followers told OP not to bother. One Kill Tony fan wrote, “It’s a very bad special and it took a long time to find it when I last saw it. I think Tony scrubbed the web of it cause of how bad it was. He doesn’t kill and there’s even a whole sequence of him dealing with a heckler and her getting thrown out.”

Now, the Roast of Tom Brady performer and Republican campaigner will have four chances to change his Netflix legacy after failing his first attempt at establishing a foothold on the streaming home for stand-up comedy where so many of his A-list friends have found massive streaming success. However, it’s telling that the giant, four-special deal Netflix gave Hinchcliffe only contains one actual stand-up hour, with the centerpiece of the contract being the three Kill Tony specials where the title comic won’t even be the star of his own show.

Even now that Hinchcliffe is one of conservative comedy’s biggest stars, Netflix is still only willing to give him one shot at a time.