Comedian and podcaster Theo Von surprised American troops at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Thursday with a comedy set to warm up for President Donald Trump‘s appearance.
The troops applauded his arrival as he took the stage with a large ‘Peace through Strength’ sign behind him.
‘I feel like I’m guilty of something,’ he joked. ‘I didn’t know I was going to be here either, promise you this is definitely court ordered.’
He explained that Trump team called and asked him to perform for the troops ahead of the president’s speech which surprised him.
‘Yeah, if you’re hiring me to over there and help with peace, than things are not good,’ he joked. ‘I’m on TMZ right now having a bar fight in Nashville so I think you guys caught me on a tough week for peace, man.’
The troops laughed and applauded wildly, as TMZ published video Wednesday of Von grabbing a man by the throat and pushing him away from him after a confrontation.
‘I was in New York when I got the call, people are so mean in New York man I said hello to a guy, he said, ‘no,’ he added.
Von said he did not know who the United States was fighting in Qatar, but joked ‘I realized it’s pretty much dehydration, that’s the number one enemy.’
Podcaster and comedian Theo Von takes pictures with service members at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar
Donald Trump takes the stage at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar
Podcaster and comedian Theo Von takes pictures with service members at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar
‘I saw a lieutenant sergeant I did with pistol in his mouth, it was a water pistol, and he was shooting electrolytes right into himself,’ he added.
Von admitted he knew that the United States was in the Middle East because of oil resources, but added, ‘I don’t give a sh*t about the oil dude what about the sunblock how much for a barrel of crude sunblock,’ he said.
‘One of the most famous suntans in the world is here today, Donald Trump, oh yeah that dude’s got the best one,’ he said. ‘He’s got a tone of his own, he sunbathes as a Sherwin Williams dude they tried to impeach him, he was like, ‘Impeach? I’m peach.’
‘If he hates those jokes, Tony Hinchcliffe wrote them,’
He referred to Qatar’s low crime rate, explaining it was believable because they were all named Mohammad and wearing white robes.
‘It’s like a Klu Klux Sandsman,’ he added as the surprised troops reacted.
He commented that Qataris told him he could be ‘gay’ in their country.
‘I’m not gay in my home country, I’m not going to fly across the whole world just to be gay, I’m not in the Navy,’ he joked.
‘Where do you think the next 9/11 should happen?’ he asked as the the troops reacted with surprised laughter.
‘Ok now I got your attention,’ he added. ‘Look I know you guys are the ones that are here to stop it and I respect that but every now and then one might fall through the cracks.’
President Donald Trump pumps his fist on stage at the Al Udeid Air Base
President Donald Trump does the ‘Trump Dance’ backdropped by an MQ-9 Reaper drone at the Al Udeid Air Base
Von mused it might be in Gary, Indiana or somewhere in Michigan but added, ‘That’s not going to get it done,’
‘I been thinking about it man I’ve been charting it out and I kind of think, New York City again right?’ he said.
New York City, he explained, already experienced 9/11.
‘You don’t want somebody where it’s their first 9/11. You want someone who’s been through 9/11, you want someone who knows how to nine who knows how to 11 right?’ he added.
Von acknowledged his set was not going well, and that he felt ‘weird’ but the troops applauded to encourage him.
‘I came over here to support you guys, this is the worst,’ he said.
Donald Trump and Theo Von in a podcast interview
Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Theo Von, and Alex Bruesewitz
Theo Von, left speaks with Jake Paul in Emancipation Hall at the 60th Presidential Inauguration
He moved on to jokes about his hometown and being drug free for two years.
He said he enjoyed doing cocaine, but it took him to some strange places.
‘I’ve done cocaine off a baby’s back I’m not proud of myself but welcome to Michigan dude,’ he said, recalling that he did so with a friend who had a baby in the house where they were partying.
‘I’m just huffing off this kid like I’m Joe Biden dude,’ he said.
He also joked about being in special education classes in public school.
He concluded by thanking the troops for supporting freedom of speech.
‘Even as hectic as today was, it wasn’t my best day, I’ll five you that, my job is I get to say what I want, I get to speak freely whether you agree or not but I don’t have that right if people don’t stand up for it and so I just want to say that I wouldn’t even be able to come here and do my job not well today if you guys weren’t here sacrificing your job and your commitment so I just want to thank you guys for giving me freedom of speech , and we’ll use those freedoms a little be better next time.’
Trump thanked Von after he took the stage, noting that his son Barron encouraged him to do a podcast interview with the comedian during the campaign.
‘I said, ‘who the hell is Theo Von? he said, Dad, he’s such a big guy, you gotta do an interview, so he knew all the names,’ Trump recalled. ‘We had a good time right? I think Barron was right.’
Von is close to the Trump family, as he attended the president’s inauguration in January and spent time last week with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in Miami.
