Colin Quinn: Being Edgy Means Saying Positive Things About America

Colin Quinn has been the man since his days with MTV hosting Remote Control. Yep, we're dating ourselves a bit, so what?! Whether he was running the show on Tough Crowd or being part of the cast back in the day on Saturday Night Live and most recently on HBO's Girls, Quinn always rocks it. Especially when it comes to his talent on the comedy stage. And his humor on Twitter? It's god damn legendary. With his one-man show, Unconstitutional making a stop to the Irvine Barclay Theatre on May 3rd, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to him about the show as well as completely fanboy out on everything regarding his ever crazy and entertaining life.

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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): I'm a huge fan of yours and of Opie and Anthony so let me get my O&A question out of the way first. What are the chances of your road trip idea actually happening and coming to Orange County?

Colin Quinn: [Laughs.] I appreciate that. We need some people to like us in the media! There aren't that many. I'd like to do something like that with Lady Di and Bobo. I mean, I'd like to take them somewhere in Orange County. Maybe not to Laguna Beach but some place by the beach. I think that those two in a nice beach community would ruin everyone's dream of what America should be you know?

You don't think Lady Di would get harpooned and thrown back into the ocean?

[Laughs.] Oh my god. I'd like to see her in a Gisele Bündchen bathing suit. I've seen her boobs so…her bubbs. [Laughs.] The funniest part is how mad Anthony gets. Anthony gets so pissed off. It's just crazy. Oh my god it's funny.

I can't imagine you alone in a car with those two. They'd never shut up.

Even in the car? You know, you're right. [Laughs.] Good point. OK here's the plan and I feel like Opie better pull this off. It'll be like a foreign movie kind of vibe. Just imagine me, Lady Di, and Bobo not saying a word. We're driving, you hear the car, and every once in a while we look at each other but basically we'd just be driving and you'll see whatever's in the background. Then underneath, we play a conversation that we had at dinner the night before with the three of us. So you're listening to the conversation from dinner as we drive silently. It could be really interesting you know?

Haha oh god I just can't. You're phenomenal on Twitter, I laugh tears when you post pictures and talk about how people don't know they're with a superstar.

Yeah, I was doing that last week. These people are just sitting there without even acknowledging what's going on. It's ridiculous. They're in a room with a legend and they don't even realize it.

Right? It's insane. What's up with people shitting on you via Twitter? Do you think it's because they're jealous of your skills?

Of course! They're jealous of my creative advice giving skills. Some of what they say really is true and some of it really is pretty funny so I re-tweet it. [Laughs.]

I hate to be redundant because I'm sure you get this all of the time BUT, is there any chance of a Tough Crowd resurrection?

Oh! I mean, there's not going to be another Tough Crowd. I'd have to do it for free because no network is going to do that kind of show. I would say the chances of that happening now are less than ever because the world is more politically correct than it has ever been.

That makes me sad. So break down your show “Unconstitutional” for those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing it.

I'm kind of excited to do it in Irvine, I expect the turn out to be insane. It's kind of like an explanation on how we are now. You know, how everybody has an opinion on everything. It's like the good and bad of being an American, the positive and the negative. There really is a lot of positive too because nowadays I feel like if you really want to be edgy, you should say positive things about America. Attacking America at this point is almost hack, you know what I mean?

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I'm with you. Do you also cover freedom of speech or lack thereof?

A lot of freedom of speech or lack thereof, exactly. See, you do know me very well because that's exactly it! That's what this show has transformed into. A lot of freedom of speech or lack thereof.

Have you always been interested in history?

Not really I mean, even now I don't give that much of a shit. It's not like I read a bunch of history books or go to reenactments. I'm more interested in today but then it seems like if you go back in history, that's the only way you can look at today. It's the only way you can explain today. It's like looking at it through a prism. Ohhh prism. [Laughs.]

Whoa what a fancy vocab you have! So what's next then? I mean, are you working your next special as well?

Yes. My next one is going to be all about ethnicity. If there's one subject that is kind of off the table now it's ethnicity. Now you're not supposed to ever mention anyone's ethnicity. It's like I used to say on Tough Crowd, celebrate diversity but don't point out that people are different. It's really getting ridiculous at this point. I'm actually pointing out that people have certain cultural similarities in their groups. It's going to be quite an event.

Catch “Colin Quinn: Unconstitutional” on May 3rd at Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr., Irvine, CA, 92612 (949) 854-4646 For tickets go to www.TheBarclay.org. For more info check out Colin's website www.ColinQuinnUnconstitutional.com and follow him on Twitter @IamColinQuinn.

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