People sit on the back patio of Barrett’s Too, drinking coffee and margaritas, playing board games and folding anti-ICE packets for local businesses. Near the community stage, two men set up for their stand-up comedy show, Anybody But Tony.
Four comedians will have eight to 10 minutes each to deliver their material, followed by a drag finale.
Co-hosts Everett Bragg and Erik Holden said they created the show a year ago to preserve a comedy scene that has been saturated with uncensored, anti-woke comics. The show’s name is a jab at Tony Hinchcliffe’s viral Kill Tony podcast and live show, which draws hundreds of comedians weekly to do a minute onstage in front of millions of viewers. The show can launch people’s careers overnight, with jokes that often center on race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
“When we talked about what we wanted [the show] to be, there were a lot of things. But what did we not want this to be?” Bragg said before the show last Thursday. “We didn’t want it to be Tony [Hinchcliffe]. We don’t want him, and we don’t want the people that think he is funny. We’d let anybody on but Tony.”
Bragg performs his own stand-up routine. He and Holden created the show to be the antithesis of the punch-down comedy of Kill Tony.
The ‘Kill Tony’ experience
Andrew Horneman, one of the comics who took the stage at Barrett’s Too, was on Kill Tony about six years ago. Initially looking for exposure, he said he was surprised when the comedians were “treated like cattle” in the waiting room to get only a 60-second set. He said after each performance, the comics were brutally roasted on their material and physical appearance.
“They called me Joe Rogan with AIDS,” Horneman said. “Thank god I had therapy afterwards.”
Months prior to his set at Kill Tony, Horneman saw Hinchcliffe perform at Vulcan Gas Company on East Sixth Street. Hinchcliffe’s performance that night went viral after he called Chinese-American comic Peng Dang an anti-Asian slur and delivered a series of Asian stereotypes using a mocking accent. Horneman said there was a distinct shift in the room when the jokes went over the line, and that he no longer felt safe.
“It was funny until it wasn’t,” he said. “It was funny until it got hateful.”
KUT reached out to the Kill Tony show for comment, but did not hear back.
Horneman said he feels more comfortable doing his material at Anybody But Tony. Bragg and Holden describe the show as the antithesis of Kill Tony, “punching up and not down.”
“I want to leave somewhere feeling good after the laughs I’ve had,” Holden said. “I want to go home at night, go to bed, and be like, ‘Oh man, that joke.’ I want to think about that the next day. I want something that makes me feel good, especially in the political climate we’re in.”
Rise of the ‘Rogan-sphere’
Kill Tony Live became a popular Austin comedy attraction after the podcast relocated from Los Angeles in 2020. The move followed the migration of prominent comedians like Joe Rogan and Shane Gillis, who were drawn to Austin because of Texas’ lax regulations during the pandemic and were looking to “have a little bit more freedom.” Now, a large number of rising comics move to Austin in hopes of gaining a spot at the Comedy Mothership, Rogan’s premier stand-up comedy club on East Sixth Street.
“[The Rogan-sphere] was the first to come back into live performance, because those are the kind of people that did not want to wear masks or take any kind of caution,” said Dave Buckman, the executive producer of ColdTowne Theater. “They were making the most noise first, so they got the most attention first out of the pandemic.”
ColdTowne, one of the city’s primary alternative comedy venues, has served as a hub for local talent since 2006. Buckman said although Austin has developed a new reputation for mean comedy characterized by shows like Kill Tony, he believes the OG comics and clubs are what make the scene special.
“I’m not worried when I hear people say, ‘Oh, [Kill Tony] is Austin’s comedy scene, huh?’” Buckman said. “Yeah, yeah, Austin has this comedy scene; we built that. We walked so you could run.”
The alternative scene persists
Drag queen Ruby Chest closes out the show with a short performance.
Despite the big boom in Kill Tony-style comedy, Bragg and Holden say Austin’s scene remains founded in independent and homegrown spaces. The local comedy landscape offers experimental, diverse and indie alternatives, growing upon the city’s rich comic history dating back to the 1980s.
Bragg and Holden said they would love to see a resurgence in the DIY and alt-comedy scenes as the next waves of popular entertainment in Austin. For now, they’ll keep bringing that style of comedy to the Anybody But Tony show.
“Man, woman, person, nonbinary entity — everybody should have comfortability because we’re all Americans, and that’s why we’re all here,” Holden said. “We’re here to be free, so let’s take our little bit of freedom and put it in Barrett’s backyard.”