‘Bring back McHebes’ sign reappears on ‘Barstool Rundown’

A Long Island man paid tribute to a now-closed college bar during Wednesday’s episode of “The Barstool Rundown” on Comedy Central.

While in the crowd at a taping of the talk show in Houston this week, Jorge Silva, 25, of Dix Hills, lifted a sign with a simple message: “Bring Back McHebes.”

The popular Hempstead bar was largely frequented by Hofstra University students. Bartenders at McHebes had been charged in September 2015 with serving alcohol to an underage undercover officer, Hempstead and Nassau County police said, and it later closed.

Past patrons of the bar have grieved its closing on social media ever since.

“I don’t think anyone over the age of 19 can truly claim to be from Long Island if they didn’t go to McHebes often,” Silva wrote in an email, calling it “a huge loss for the culture of Long Island.”

His sign quickly caught the eye of social media users.

Twitter user @InternRia shared a screenshot of Silva’s sign early Wednesday, and the post generated nearly 800 likes and more than 250 retweets as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Who’s holding the Bring back Mchebes sign on the @barstoolsports show right now? Props to you,” tweeted user @JoshS395 on Wednesday.

But even before Wednesday’s TV appearance, Twitter has served as a regular forum for cries of nostalgia for the bar and for those hoping it’ll return.

“RIP McHebes,” Twitter user @meaghann_carr wrote on Dec. 8, 2016, with the hashtag #bringthemallback and the names of several other area bars that have closed.

“Will this be the year McHebes comes back” @MagicKitty_316 tweeted on Jan. 1.

The bar’s memory was also celebrated in September during the first presidential debate at Hofstra after a man held up a “Bring Back McHebes” sign during a broadcast of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.

When asked why the McHebes sign has sparked so much interest, Silva said he believes it’s a “rallying cry” for Long Island millennials.

“It all comes back to how much that place meant to Long Islanders,” he wrote.