Image Credit: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images / Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Film Independent / infowars composite 
The Onion’s new chief heading its Infowars takeover fired shots at stand-up comics who perform at Los Angeles’ famous comedy club The Comedy Store, saying they won’t be welcome on the new iteration of Infowars, which he said would feature experimental progressive comedy.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Heidecker joined by Onion CEO Ben Collins explained his vision for Alex Jones’ flagship site Infowars is to bring back old Comedy Central and Adult Swim creators.
“What the world needs right now is a home for the people who used to make shows on Adult Swim and Comedy Central and are now scattered around social media making great stuff that isn’t curated and certainly not funded,” Heidecker said in an interview published Monday. “Could the ultimate joke — the ultimate beautiful conclusion to this saga — be that this turns into a place for thriving creativity and humor and goodwill?”
Asked if Infowars would be “the new Adult Swim or Cartoon Network,” Heidecker replied, “Certainly a place for comedically left-of-center, outsider, individual — I don’t want to say political, but progressive — experimenting.”
“Not pieces of shit,” chimed in Collins, not specifying any excluded comics.
“Yeah,” echoed Heidecker, without mentioning any comics by name. “Not hack-y standup specials, not rambling four-hour conspiratorial podcasts by people who do sets at the Comedy Store. Good shit.”
A quick look at the Comedy Store’s lineup this week shows scheduled performances by comedy legends such as Bobby Lee, Howie Mandel, Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, Jeff Ross, Greg Fitzsimmons, Frank Quiñones and Whitney Cummings, as well as Marc Maron, Jim Norton and Caroline Rhea.
In other words, well-known figures in the comedy sphere. Are these comics aware of Heidecker’s animosity toward them?
Heidecker had previously commented he wanted to make Infowars a place for transgender comedians, not a place for people in the “Dave Chapelle network” anti-trans jokes.
“Which feels like a really funny overall joke at the end of the day, if Infowars is the premier source of trans comedy,” he stated, according to trans news site “Them.us.”
Elsewhere in the Hollywood Reporter interview, Heidecker said he didn’t feel it’s a dangerous time for comedy, confessing, “There are consequences for your actions and your speech, but I’ve said terribly inflammatory things in the guise of humor and I don’t lose sleep over it.”
Collins added that “There’s a cottage industry of saying there’s no more dangerous time to do comedy [than right now]. If you say ‘I’m being canceled for my beliefs’ — congratulations, here’s your 90-minute special on Netflix. It’s a very easy thing to say.”
The pair also butted heads on whether the website name “Infowars” was stupid or genius, with Heidecker admitting he didn’t know what the term meant.
You’re sticking with the name Infowars forever?
HEIDECKER Oh yeah. It’s a fun name. It’s a stupid name. It doesn’t mean anything except that it has this great story you can tell people: “Oh yeah, that used to be that lunatic’s website. Now it’s where I go to see good shit.”
COLLINS The one cool thing Alex ever did was come up with the name Infowars — because it actually does a very good job of explaining what we’re going through right now, which is an information war at global scale. It’s the No. 1 economy of the United States right now: just building data centers to try to control the path of information. The name’s great, but Alex is so one-note. It’s just: get afraid of this thing, take this supplement, it’ll make you stronger for the day they come and take all your stuff. I’m sorry, I’m bored by it.
Heidecker also refused to elaborate on his contention with comedian Sam Hyde, whose own former Adult Swim show, “Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace” was canceled with Heidecker’s help.
“I choose not to really talk about that, because it’s too complicated and riles up too many actual psychos. So I’m going to maintain my focus on Alex.”
Heidecker claimed the new Infowars would mock Alex Jones “for a little while,” saying the plan was ultimately to “start producing original content that isn’t really connected to Infowars or the satirical side of that — just what we think is funny. We’ll start rolling it out under that brand.”
“Eventually, let’s say in five years, you’re going to have to take a second to remember what Infowars was before we got involved,” he added.
The Comedy Store did not respond to Infowars’ request for comment as of publication.
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