Colin Quinn: Red State Blue State

If you're launching into this expecting a rehash of Quinn's 2016 'The New York Story', or a generic, stale stand-up routine, you might be a bit disappointed. If you're ready to be entertained by one of the greatest American humorists alive, please hit 'play' and enjoy.

This guy is funny. He does tell it like it is. Today we all hide behind a keyboard, here I am, and put our 2 cents in. It's good to laugh at life and ourselves. If we don't laugh we will drop to our knees and give up. So laugh out loud and at each other because it's just funny!

It's not "stand up" comedy that you're used to. I think of his shows as a very funny history teacher. Sometimes the history gets in the way of the comedy, but there is nothing else like it around.

A Colin Quinn stand-up comedy special filmed in 2019. Quinn looks at the state of politics in the US and how it got to this.

I've been a fan of Colin Quinn since his Tough Crowd years and love his mix of cynical humour and astute observations. This comedy special channels these qualities as he comments on US politics and the US in general.

Some great put-downs and clever, astute commentary. Sometimes the observations are so accurate this feels more like a lecture than a comedy routine. He manages to do this without being biased in favour of any political party, making for an engaging experience.

Some jokes miss the mark though. That was always the one problem with Tough Crowd: the observations can be so clever or so many degrees separated from the topic that they aren't funny. It's the risk of trying to be so topical though. Some of the jokes are absolute zingers though, making up for this.

Funny while being frank. One of the few intelligent and original stand-up specials I've seen in a while. An honest and fairly accurate account of how the US is today and has been for a long time. Quinn is unafraid to let fear invade his comedy as he speaks to the state of both conservative and liberal politics alike. He points out the missed opportunities, opportunities, and how some aren't happy once they get what they want because it isn't what they thought it would be. I'll be watching this again. For those wondering about language content, I can't say he did enough to throw up my parent alert alarms. He said s**t once near the end, but I think it jumped out because it had been such a clean routine. For those who do decide to watch this great comic at what may be his most timely and much-needed routine ever, don't flinch, take the punch in the face, and be honest with yourself that he's being real and doing it for your good. Every politician, voter, activist, and reporter should watch this.