Before last week, the name Tony Hinchcliffe might not have rang a bell to large swaths of the American public. Then Hinchcliffe performed at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and, well, the rest may actually be history. “[Imagine] telling a joke so bad you change who the president is gonna be,” read one viral post on X after Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

While the consequences of that remark may be impossible to measure, one thing was immediately clear after the fiasco: The right has its very own ecosystem of entertainers and comedians, enormously popular figures that many on the left are blissfully unaware of.

Like Hinchcliffe, who counts comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan as a friend and mentor, a lot of these entertainers are extremely popular with the young, straight, white male demographic that helped turn Rogan from Fear Factor host into right-leaning host of The Joe Rogan Experience—the most popular podcast in the country, according to Spotify’s charts. While appearing on Crooked Media founder Jon Favreau’s podcast Offline, progressive streamer Hasan Piker laid out the vice grip that Rogan and his crew seem to have on (mostly) white guys under 30. “Everything that they see is right-wing sentiment being expressed by individuals they find charismatic, thought leaders, influencers that they subscribe to,” said Piker.

But who, exactly, are these charismatic thought leaders and influencers? Here’s a breakdown of a few major players in the right-wing comedy sphere.

THEO VON

A stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster, Von is immediately identifiable by his “aw, shucks” Southern drawl and his signature shaggy mullet. In the past few years, Von has built up quite the social media following, boasting over 7 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok and another 3.27 million subscribers on YouTube. His podcast, This Past Weekend, is currently the ninth-most-popular podcast in America, falling between This American Life and The Ben Shapiro Show. In the past few months he’s had both Trump and his running mate JD Vance on the podcast, as well as country music artists Miranda Lambert and Luke Combs.

Born Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III in 1980, Von grew up in Covington, Louisiana, in what he’s described as the poor side of town. He eventually condensed his very long name and made his way up the entertainment ladder the old-fashioned way—via reality television. He first appeared as a fresh-faced 19-year-old on MTV’s reality travel competition show Road Rules in 2000, then became a regular on MTV’s The Challenge, appearing on four different seasons of the competition show between 2002 and 2006. Eventually, he pivoted from reality TV contestant to stand-up comedy, going on Last Comic Standing and then appearing on the sketch show Reality Bites opposite future famous comedians like Amy Schumer and Tiffany Haddish. In 2016, he launched This Past Weekend.

While he’s certainly been embraced by the right, Von’s personal politics are a bit of a mystery. A week before having Trump on his podcast, he hosted Senator Bernie Sanders, and during his interview with Trump he said that Kamala Harris would be welcome to come onto the podcast as well. His stand-up is quite apolitical—more in the vein of Jackass and Larry the Cable Guy than anything you’d find on The Colbert Report or The Daily Show (or even Gutfeld!). Last week, he posted on Instagram that he had voted. “In the books!! Get out there and vote!” wrote Von in the caption, without specifying whom he endorses. Fans speculated in the comment section as to whom he might have voted for, with conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren leaving the comment “Fight Fight Fight.” Von’s personal politics aside, with the success of his podcast and his growing influence with young men, it’s no surprise that The Atlantic wondered whether Theo Von could be the next Joe Rogan. Time will tell.

DAVE PORTNOY

Someone who has made their personal politics very clear is Dave Portnoy. The entrepreneur and Barstool Sports founder has been vocal about his support of Donald Trump for president. “I’m voting for Trump,” said Portnoy while appearing on Fox Business. “I don’t know that I’d call myself a Trump guy…. I wouldn’t have voted for him in the Republican primaries, but I’m voting for him now.”

While he’s not a comedian or entertainer—he’s also the only person on this list who hasn’t appeared on Hinchcliffe’s Kill Tony podcast—Portnoy’s influence can’t be understated. Barstool Sports has been influencing young men for the better part of two decades, since Portnoy founded it in 2003. The official Barstool Sports Instagram account has 17.1 million followers, and its TikTok has nearly 41 million followers. Barstool, as a brand, specializes in frat-bro-aggrandizing content. (An affiliate Instagram account, @barstoolsmokeshows, which posts exactly what you think it does, has almost 1 million followers.) Barstool Sports has also served as a launch pad for talent, most notably Alex Cooper, whose podcast Call Her Daddy ranks fourth most popular among listeners, according to Edison Research, and recently had Kamala Harris on as a guest.

Portnoy has fashioned himself into somewhat of a celebrity CEO, cultivating the moniker “El Presidente,” which matches his social media handle, @stoolpresidente. A frequent poster, Portnoy mostly uses his X handle to opine about sports and sports-betting sites like DraftKings (which, coincidentally, is a new partner of Barstool) to his more than 3 million followers. He’s also become something of a food influencer via his series, One Bite, where—you guessed it!—he rates various pizza places based on a single bite for his 5.2 million Instagram followers.

A self-proclaimed Swiftie, Portnoy made news earlier this fall when he received a handwritten note from Taylor Swift, delivered to him by her brother, Austin Swift, thanking him for coming to her show and for his support. “As the king of the Swifties people are asking me what I think of her Kamala endorsement,” wrote Portnoy on X after Swift endorsed Harris. “I don’t care at all. People can vote for whoever they want in this country. How somebody votes will never change my opinion of a person. I’m voting the other way but to each their own.”

ANDREW SCHULZ

Von isn’t the only comedian turned podcaster to get Trump to come on his show. Comedian Andrew Schulz also spoke with the Republican presidential candidate on his show, Flagrant, which has 1.79 million subscribers on YouTube. Some outlets praised Schulz for his handling of Trump—The Daily Beast said that Schulz “roasted Trump to his face” during the episode after laughing at the former president’s claim that he’s “basically a truthful person.” Schulz has said that he’s been mistreated as a result of having Trump on the podcast he cohosts with comedian Akaash Singh, claiming that the Brooklyn Academy of Music canceled one of his stand-up shows because he had Trump on the podcast. “Three and a half hours after the [Trump] interview, they canceled the shows,” he said on an episode of Flagrant. “Fuck them and fuck them forever.” (A BAM spokesperson denied that Schulz’s show was canceled and told the New York Post, “It was a prospective rental that was never contracted…. The decision to pass was made by BAM’s senior staff well before the podcast interview with Donald Trump.”)

A born-and-bred New Yorker, Schulz spent his younger years toiling on MTV2, appearing on talking-head shows like Guy Code and Guy Code vs. Girl Code before breaking into the podcast and stand-up space. He now has 4.4 million followers on Instagram and 4.9 million followers on TikTok. In 2020, he released a four-part comedy special on Netflix, Schulz Saves America, where he delved into hot-button topics like the coronavirus and Black Lives Matter. The series received criticism for its alleged anti-Asian content and humor, and a petition was launched to remove it from Netflix. His relationship with Netflix must still be intact, though, as Schulz Saves America is still on the streaming platform, and Schulz was one of the comedians selected to roast Tom Brady in Netflix’s live comedy event The Greatest Roast of All Time.

Like Hinchcliffe, Schulz has recently landed in hot water for comments he made about a minority group. While interviewing ShxtsNGigs podcast hosts James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu on Flagrant, Schulz made degrading comments about Black women during a conversation about white men with Black romantic partners. “[White men] grow a beard because there’s more cushion when they get slapped the fuck out of,” said Schulz. Their conversation went viral on TikTok and sparked a backlash, leading Duncan and Dawodu to issue an apology for laughing at Schulz’s comment. If you can believe it, Schulz then released a new episode of his podcast questioning the sincerity of Duncan and Dawodu’s apology and refusing to apologize for his “joke.” By the way, Schulz also predicted Trump would win in a “landslide” after he came on his podcast.

SHANE GILLIS

If you thought Shane Gillis was just the guy who almost made it on Saturday Night Live, you haven’t been keeping up with him. Back in 2019, Gillis made national news after he was fired from SNL days after being hired, when clips of Gillis using anti-Asian slurs on a podcast began resurfacing online. While he was deemed not ready for prime time, Gillis kept doing comedy, performing stand-up at venues like the Comedy Cellar and building a fan base in the process. He has 1.9 million followers on Instagram and a podcast with comedian Matt McCusker, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. Gillis’s comedic rise has been so undeniable that he even hosted an episode of SNL in February.

Gillis also stars in the Netflix comedy series Tires, which he created with his frequent collaborator John McKeever and Steve Gerben. Set in a struggling auto shop, Gillis plays a mechanic also named Shane. Tires often features other comedians that exist in the Rogan Cinematic Universe, like Schulz, who plays—wait for it—a guy named Schulz on the show.

Like Von, Gillis’s personal politics aren’t exactly broadcast. He’s certainly not afraid to push the boundaries with his comedy, making jokes about everything from war in the Middle East to Down syndrome. In his latest stand-up special, Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs, Gillis jokes that he’s not a Republican “right now” but feels it coming. “You think your dad wanted to be a Republican?” Gillis quips in the special. “You think he got out of high school and was like, ‘Alright, now it’s time to be a prick about everything?’” Like that joke, Gillis’s comedic persona is somewhat of a Rorschach test—with fans on both left and right reading whatever they want into his jokes. He has cracked the code to delivering a pretty good Trump impersonation as well.

BOBBY LEE

You might be surprised to learn that a recurring cast member on And Just Like That… is embedded in the Rogan Cinematic Universe, but it’s true! Comedian Bobby Lee, who plays Carrie’s podcasting cohost Jackie Nee on the Sex and the City revival series, is also unafraid to bro out. The comedian from California was a cast member on MadTV. Now the 53-year-old Lee is a frequent guest on his close friend’s podcast This Past Weekend, often riffing with Theo Von about race and politics. A recent clip from This Past Weekend featured Von and Lee discussing Asians for Trump, and last year, the pair went viral on TikTok when Lee jokingly screamed at Von to memorize his ethnicity after Von insinuated that he thought Lee was Chinese. (Lee is Korean, for the record.)

Lee also hosts two of his own podcasts: Bad Friends, with Andrew Santino, and TigerBelly, with his ex-partner Khalyla Kuhn. On Bad Friends, Lee can be found laughing hysterically at a guest who says that he’s voting for Donald Trump and then launches into a racist caricature of Asian people. But perhaps Lee is able to be a bit more genuine about his feelings on politics on TigerBelly, where he and Kuhn, who’s part Filipino, often unpack issues regarding race and culture. “I’ve discovered a couple of comics that I love that could be, you know, Republicans, or whatnot,” Lee said on an episode with comedian Bill Burr. “They’re not out. You hear rumors…. My initial reaction is like ‘ugh,’ but it’s like, ‘No’—I’m just gonna make up a name—‘It’s Joey. He’s a good guy.’” Ultimately, Lee’s attitude is to not let politics get in the way of his personal relationships, for better or worse. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t make who you are as a person—your political affiliation,” Lee continued. “There’s good guys everywhere. There’s bad guys everywhere.” In the RCU, it certainly pays to have that philosophy.