Donald Trump is running in the Joe Rogan election

• How big is Joe Rogan? So big that he can launch Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian who appeared at Trump’s rally.
• Not coincidentally, Rogan is so big that Trump spent three hours — three hours! — on Rogan’s podcast last week.
• The fact that you may not ever listen to Rogan or Hinchcliffe isn’t a problem for Trump. It’s a selling point.

Last Friday, Joe Rogan hosted Donald Trump on his podcast, which was a coup for both men: The three-hour interview/conversation has since racked up more than 34 million views on YouTube.

That wasn’t the only prominent Rogan-Trump tie-up this weekend. On Sunday, Trump’s New York City rally at Madison Square Garden featured a set from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe — a prominent member of the Roganverse.

If the words in the paragraph above don’t make much sense to you, you’re not alone: The internet is full of items Monday trying to explain who Hinchcliffe is, and how a guy best known for scabrous “roast” comedy ended up onstage stumping for Trump, and whether Hinchcliffe’s joke insulting everyone who lives in or comes from Puerto Rico was a good idea.

But back to Rogan and Hinchcliffe. How, exactly, are they connected?

You can read all about it in this excellent Bloomberg story from this summer, which explains how Rogan moved from Los Angeles to Austin in 2020 and created an influential comedy hub there.

Hinchcliffe was one of several comedians who followed Rogan there and has since seen his career take off — “Exhibit A of the Rogan flywheel,” as Bloomberg’s Felix Gillette and Ashley Carman put it. Hinchcliffe hosts his weekly “Kill Tony” show at the comedy club Rogan opened in Austin, and his show features a variety of comics Rogan and his fans love, as well as a cast of aspiring comics who are in Austin specifically because Rogan is there.

All of this has helped Hinchcliffe become so big that this wasn’t the first time this year he’s told jokes at Madison Square Garden — he headlined two nights at the famous arena in August.

But back to you, the person who had never heard of Hinchcliffe until Sunday. Maybe you’re one of many people Googling him on Monday.

The main thing you need to know about Hinchcliffe is simply this: He’s both very popular and under-the-radar. Which is something you can still say about Rogan himself: He has so much reach he can launch new stars like Hinchcliffe. But if you’re not tuned to his frequency you might never hear or see him yourself.

All of which is a feature, not a bug, for Donald Trump. His campaign has made a big point of engaging with the Hinchcliffes and Rogans of the world — and the Adin Rosses and Theo Vons — and hoping that their audiences — lots of young men who are hard to find via conventional media — will turn up for him in the election. We’re a few days away from finding out if that worked.