Tim Pool, host of TimcastIRL and the Culture War podcast, is once again poised to bring a series of comedy debates to the DC Comedy Loft in the nation’s capital with showtimes on July 26th, August 2nd, and August 9th following an abrupt cancellation even… deletion of the event by the venue, and a rapid next-day about-face of the cancellation with reports claiming the cancellations were sent “in error.”
The guests were booked, tickets sold, flight and hotels scheduled, but on Thursday evening, without warning, per Pool, the event was canceled, and pulled from the venue’s website. With personalities such as Alex Stein, Richard “Angry Cops” Hy, Michael Malice, and Gavin McInnes, as well as more left-leaning voices, like Matan Even and Kyla Schuller, the event has been talked about for “months,” Pool said.
The abrupt cancellation and rapid walkback beg the question: Why?
The nation isn’t gripped in the throes of mass civil unrest à la the “Summer of Love” in 2020. Black Lives Matter has largely been eclipsed by anti-ICE domestic unrest, and many core Antifa groups have busied themselves doxxing and attacking officers involved with immigration enforcement in Texas, California, and Oregon. So, where does the potential threat (if any) to a Washington, D.C. comedy club lie?
Absent any information from the venue, Pool pointed to a social media post from the Antifa group “All Out DC,” a self-described “Collective of DC (occupied Piscataway land) antifascist activists, burn down the American plantation.”
In a post to X, Pool shared an Instagram post from the group in which they wrote, “We just found out Tim Poole(sic) (know(sic) fascist podcast host) is performing in dc at the comedy loft[.] Call the comedy club and tell them no fascists comedy[.]”
Warning: Language
The response from Pool was immediate, angry, and justified. He posted to X, “DC Comedy Loft just NUKED All our events over this sh*tpost[.] THIS IS NOT 2019[.] THIS IS MOTHERF***ING 2025[.] Everyone call Them and let them know HOMIE DONT PLAY DAT[.] BRING THE SHOWS BACK[.]”
DC Comedy Loft just NUKED All our events over this shitpost
THIS IS NOT 2019
THIS IS MOTHERFUCKING 2025
Everyone call Them and let them know
HOMIE DONT PLAY DAT
BRING THE SHOWS BACK pic.twitter.com/UkLSwPY7yd
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) July 18, 2025
The sudden change of heart came about five hours after the host of Timcast took to YouTube and slammed the venue. Amber Duke of The Daily Caller reported that “The DC Comedy Loft tells me they are working on putting @Timcast‘s scheduled live shows back on the website and letting ticket holders know cancelation messages were sent in error after Tim talked about the issue on his podcast.” Sharing her post to X, Pool thanked DC Comedy Loft and expressed his “Tremendous Respect for this move.”
LETS GOOOOO
THANK YOU TO DC COMEDY LOFT FOR BRINGING US BACK
Tremendous respect for this move. https://t.co/EDwWwGAwuE
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) July 18, 2025
The closest “direct action” to Washington, D.C. by Antifa-aligned criminals in recent memory was a “May Day violent direct action in Frederick, Md. on May 1,” as reported by The Post Millennial’s Andy Ngo that saw about 20 masked antifa rioters bedecked in black bloc assault a group of police officers leading to four arrests and at least two injured police officers.
Four suspected violent Antifa militants were arrested at a May Day violent direct action in Frederick, Md. on May 1.
Around 20 masked militants in black bloc began attacking vehicles with umbrellas and intimidating the public, according to the local police. Responding officers… pic.twitter.com/u7CedoDeVo
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 2, 2025
Is this what venues in 2025 are afraid of? Is this all it takes to shut down a rare and encouraging coming together of voices from the left and right to argue civilly, laugh together, and talk a bunch of smack?
The group, which boasts just over 3,500 Instagram followers and still has a failed call to arms from 2022 pinned to their profile, would hardly seem a concern when compared to some 600 paying ticketholders (assuming sold-out shows) who, at this late date, have likely already booked flights and hotel accommodations. Never mind the millions of followers that Pool can rightly claim alongside his prominent guests. In short, the last-minute cancellation looks like it was a marketing nightmare, and the blowback was almost immediate.
One of the guests, YouTube creator, US Army Drill Instructor, and Buffalo Police Detective Richard Hy, known as “Angry Cops,” gave a brief phone interview and, while not diminishing the threat of black bloc violence and Antifa rioters, said, “I think it’s more kowtowing. You know what I mean? It’s a funny political event. It’s meant to be entertaining. There’s no real like ‘What’s the threat?’ and Pool’s gonna have a guest on that says something off-color like okay? Now, I think it’s just people trying to intimidate the venue.”
Hy also noted the likelihood of “professional protestors” driving the cancellation, saying:
“I’m sure you’ve seen some of these, you know, Instagram or where it says ‘Hey, here’s the person that this product that, oh, by the way, they’re part of this organization.’ And they’ve been at 18 other protests this year for you know several different reasons. They’re political or professional protesters that travel around everywhere. Yeah, so, I don’t want to say there’s no place safe because that’s a little overdramatic, but no place can’t be reached by somebody who wants to prove a political point or push an agenda when it comes to, you know, the black blocs of protest… But I don’t see a comedy venue being the largest protest.”
Pool discussed the deletion of his event in a Timcast News segment early Friday. The live show has been months in the making, according to Pool, and will center around a comic debate questioning: “Is Trump still winning?”
Pool told his viewers:
“Now, it may be a little early, but it does appear all three events that we had scheduled and were selling tickets for have been cancelled. That is at the DC Comedy Loft. We had three live shows July 26, August 2nd, and August 9th. We have already sold hundreds of tickets. Without warning, without notice, they have deleted the show from their website, sent our fans cancellation notices. And the… my general understanding is they got a problem with our politics.
So, I say this, my friends, this ain’t 2019 no more, dudes. This is mother***ing 2025. We ain’t playing this cancel culture game with y’all. You do not contract us for three shows and then a week out, without warning and without notice, just delete them and send cancellation notices because some BS crackpot post.”
Describing the moment, he heard about the cancellation late Thursday night and teasing a now-unnecessary countermove to the aborted assault of cancel-culture redux, Pool added:
“Last night, as I’m trying to relax, we’re wrapping the show up. I see this stupid BS. Okay, DC Comedy Loft, guys.
“We were… we were putting up billboards. We’ve actually already formalized the plan with our with our agents with displays and graphics set up and ready to go to run billboard ads in DC for the shows. And they pull this. So, I’m… I’m not… You know what? I’ll put it this way. I’m going to call it a sunk cost fallacy. Well, I’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars. Might as well spend the rest!”
The Antifa group even gloated in a now-deleted post to Instagram sharing Pool’s X reaction, “Correct, the vibe shift is happening, right wing bigots aren’t welcome[.]”
Pool noted that the cancellation by DC Comedy Loft may have carried legal ramifications as well. Citing Washington, D.C. municipal code § 2–1402.21, he observed that, unlike in many jurisdictions, “In Washington, DC., it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of political affiliation. So, if they want to play games and do this to us without notice, without warning, then we can play.” Addressing his viewers directly, he added, “I will take it where it needs to go for you guys.”
He concluded his segment saying, “We can’t let this stuff fly, especially not in 2025. Okay? Trump won the popular vote. We have the culture war. We will not, I will not cede territory.”
Pool’s public stand and the outcry of ticket holders appear to have been effective, if nothing else, in alerting the venue to the problem. Or if the situation was not due to some sort of process error, helping them to see the error of their ways. As Pool noted, “We have the culture war,” and “this ain’t 2019.” It appears that the American people will no longer be cowed.
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