A not-so-funny thing happened when Tony Hinchcliffe practiced the racist shtick he told at Donald Trump s rally during a club gig the night before: Nobody laughed.

Thats the word from NBC , which detailed Hinchcliffes workshopping of his controversial material at the Stand in Manhattan on Saturday. An NBC News producer who was in the audience and three other spectators spilled the tea on Hinchcliffes trial run.

Hinchcliffe invited widespread scorn and a disavowal from Trumps campaign by calling Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage at his Madison Square Garden campaign event on Sunday. He used the same line on Saturday at the club.

The joke did not draw laughs, just a handful of awkward chuckles, NBC wrote.

An undeterred Hinchcliffe repeatedly told the audience that his bit would get a better reception at the rally, the network reported.