Colin Quinn: Red State Blue State

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.

On Netflix this morning Honestly, I have been waiting for a new George Carlin to appear to fill a particular void in American consciousness. Found. Fabulous...

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.

I wrote this when Colin Quinn did his New York Experience show-Colin Quinn is super smart. He is also a very good stand up comedian. This intelligent and historically supported special looks at the origins and the current state of political division in the United States in the 21st Century. He does a great job of articulating, using interesting language, the problem. He doesn't;t do a great job of proposing a solution, but I am not sure that is his job. As a comedian it is his job to make us think and he really, really does that. I think it is clear he leans left, but there is no apparent hate, or contempt for the Right. His contempt is equal for ideologues. This one is very good.

This is a really well written and performed comedic meditation on the current condition of the United States. I've watched a lot of Quinn over the years and I am pretty sure this is the best thing he's done.

His conclusions that it's all basic coming to an end is depressing and I'm not convinced he's right about that, but he's right about the current state of things.

Lots of really clever observations here and his take-down of all 50 states, one-by-one is particularly memorable.