Colin Quinn: The New York Story

Comedian Colin Quinn presents the history of New York, in particular its inhabitants and their unique character. Filmed live off-Broadway in 2016.

I've been a fan of Colin Quinn since his Tough Crowd days and really enjoy his cynical, quick-witted, knowledge-filled sense of humour and biting delivery. He employs these traits well in this homage to his beloved hometown.

You'd think a comedy routine that relies on stereotypes of the different ethnic groups that make up a city would be quite cringy and not-done, especially in this over-PC, being-offended-as-a-hobby day and age. Yet it works.

The trick is that while Quinn points out the traits of all the groups that combined to make the modern New Yorker, he doesn't put them down, celebrating them and showing how they contribute to the diversity of the city. It's funny without being mocking.

Not perfect though. Quinn's quickfire delivery is often too quick: you hardly have a chance to digest what he's said and in some cases it's difficult to even make out what he says as sometimes blurts out the punchline. That's the problem with having so many jokes and ideas running through your head: you just want to get them out all at once.

Tough Crowd also had this problem, especially as it was largely unscripted as he would deliver his joke before it was fully formed in his head. Here the jokes are fully formed but his delivery is so fast and intense that the audience can't always keep up.

It's a trade-off though. One of the best things about his stand-up routine is the intensity and if he slowed down to let the audience savour his jokes he would lose that edge.

It probably doesn't help that I'm not from New York so can't immediately relate to what he's talking about. The crowd, being from New York, would have had less of a problem.

Overall though it's still very funny and entertaining.

This Netflix Special, however missed the mark completely. His delivery for a lot of the anecdotes felt too anger- fuelled and it felt he was trying too hard. One of the funniest traits he had in his earlier shows was his carefree attitude and laidbackness. In this Netflix show it seemed like this was lacking. I hope his next standup show is better! this is boring

Not today folks! That's right! What you got to see was all that she was, a thief and a hack who, when tries to be a comedian of her own material, falls flat on butt.

The truth is out, and while he is blaming trolls for all the negative comments and one-star ratings, many of them (most if not all) come from her own followers. he was horrible and unwatchable. Many reported lasting only 5-10 minutes into his nightmare special before turning it off.

Don't waste your time or effort trying to watch this. There is no comedic value past the fact that he is shown to be the failure he has always been when forced to rely on her own wit.

Apparently the previous comments are from those who either 1) never lived in NYC or 2) lived there too long and think NYC is flawless.

Having lived in NYC for over a decade and married to a born and bred NYer...now after serving time and living free somewhere in the US, we both found Quinn's observation side splitting funny and spot on. Its a town that is full so many characters and oddities, they don't realize they are doing those very things that set them apart and makes special from the rest of the country.

I hope Netflix/Quinn does a part 2. My team will support it!

Colin Quinn goes through some history and what makes a New Yorker played off of stereotypes of immigrants who moved there. Being from New York himself, it's interesting to see his comedy perspective on what made a character from the city.