The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1547 - Colin Quinn
CHAPTERS
- 0:02 – 1:55
Colin finally comes on the podcast + New York lockdown reality check
Joe opens by joking that moving to Texas is what finally got Colin into the studio. Colin describes what NYC feels like during lockdown: boarded-up stores, empty subways, and a general sense of decay rather than the familiar ‘old gritty New York.’
- •Joe/Colin banter about why Colin avoided doing the show in LA
- •Colin’s on-the-ground description of NYC closures and emptiness
- •Why today’s NYC doesn’t feel like the 1970s—it's a sudden collapse
- •Humor riff: “homeless pigeons” after statues come down
- 1:55 – 2:55
70s/80s New York stories: Times Square crime, survival vibes, and romanticizing the past
They compare present-day NYC to the dangerous New York of the 70s/80s, with Colin recalling how quickly streets emptied and how normal it was to fear being attacked. Both emphasize how people glamorize gritty eras in hindsight, forgetting how brutal it felt while living through it.
- •What late-night NYC felt like before cell phones
- •Times Square after Broadway: deserted except for criminals
- •How nostalgia distorts memories of crime-ridden cities
- •Colin’s personal memories walking through dangerous areas alone
- 2:55 – 7:13
Giuliani’s cleanup, Times Square becoming a mall, and why mayors suddenly matter again
Joe and Colin credit Giuliani with a historic transformation of NYC crime and governance, while also noting the downside: a sanitized, corporate Times Square. They pivot to how COVID lockdowns made local leadership (mayors/governors) feel newly consequential to everyday life.
- •Giuliani’s role in NYC’s 90s turnaround
- •The tradeoff: safety vs. bland corporate “Applebee’s Times Square”
- •Lockdowns spotlight mayoral competence and accountability
- •De Blasio criticism and the sense NYC may be in deep trouble
- 7:13 – 9:48
Is New York ‘dead’? Migration out of the city and what “gritty” really means
They discuss the Seinfeld/Altucher spat about NYC’s future and why both optimism and pessimism can be true. Joe and Colin mock the fashionable idea that ‘grit’ is desirable, pointing out that real grit includes violence, stabbings, and lasting trauma—not movie aesthetics.
- •Arguments for/against NYC being “dead” post-COVID
- •Shock at how many people moved to suburbs
- •The myth of ‘grit’ as cultural fuel vs. actual danger
- •Taxi Driver nostalgia vs. real-life consequences
- 9:48 – 16:35
Policing, viral outrage, and the Trump ‘stand down and stand by’ debate moment
The conversation shifts to policing and perception: Joe argues social media amplifies rare horrific incidents into a generalized view of all cops. They then dissect the absurdity and political damage of Trump’s ‘stand down and stand by’ line, joking about what a real debate moderator would need to do.
- •Social media selects for viral ‘worst-case’ police footage
- •Why nuanced views get labeled as ‘apologist’ or worse
- •Comedic breakdown of the debate moderation failure
- •Idea: UFC ref Big John McCarthy as debate moderator
- 16:35 – 20:16
From Vikings to psychedelics: berserkers, mushrooms, and performance enhancement
Joe and Colin free-associate into Viking history, strongmen, and whether berserker rage could be drug-induced. The topic becomes modern psychedelics and performance, including claims that some fighters use mushrooms to compete and that psychedelics can sharpen perception in certain contexts.
- •Berserker origin theories (Amanita muscaria vs. other substances)
- •How environment might steer psychedelic experiences toward violence or calm
- •Joe’s claim: fighters using mushrooms to compete (micro/low-dose idea)
- •Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter on LSD as a cultural reference point
- 20:16 – 24:51
Colin’s wild acid-era Brooklyn story: Sweet 16 brawl and ‘karma’ for hecklers
Colin tells a long, vivid story about tripping on acid at a mob-run Brooklyn venue, trying to defend a girl, starting a fight, getting kicked and beaten, and being thrown out onto the street. The punchline becomes personal karma: he later connects the chaos to what comics endure from hecklers and hostile crowds.
- •Teenage Colin ‘white-knighting’ over a $5 bag of weed
- •Brawl breaks out; grandmother kicks him and his ear bleeds
- •Mob guys beat him and toss him outside
- •He notices a standup on stage mid-chaos—later frames it as karma
- 24:51 – 28:15
Bad gigs, small rooms, and why tiny crowds are comedy’s truth serum
Joe and Colin talk about early-career gigs: corporate-ish events, daytime shows, and situations where clean material evaporates. They praise small crowds as the most honest feedback loop—where even famous comics can’t rely on celebrity momentum to generate laughs.
- •The nightmare of being forced clean with no clean material
- •Small shows reveal ‘fat’ and bad habits in an act
- •Chris Rock’s tactic: drop in late to perform for 15 people
- •Why tapes can sound worse than the in-room experience felt
- 28:15 – 36:29
Pandemic comedy workarounds: outdoor shows, drive-ins, Zoom bombing, and rapid testing ideas
They review the strange new comedy ecosystem: park shows, parking-lot shows, gazebo benefits, and massive drive-in events like Bert Kreischer’s. Both agree Zoom comedy is especially brutal, then brainstorm rapid COVID testing as a path back to real, mask-off club experiences (waivers included).
- •Outdoor comedy logistics and the problem of disruptions from outside
- •Drive-in shows as a surprisingly scalable model
- •Why Zoom comedy fails (timing, audio, lack of real laughter)
- •Rapid testing + waivers as a club model for ‘normal’ comedy
- 36:29 – 46:51
Comedy club ecosystems: The Comedy Store turnaround, ‘gang night,’ and the old LA scene
Colin and Joe reminisce about the Comedy Store’s rough eras and how it later became a powerhouse again. They discuss how clubs function as communities (doormen/comics, open mics, development), and how management culture and business practices shape a scene’s quality.
- •The Comedy Store in the early 90s: tense, chaotic, sometimes dangerous
- •How the Store later became a thriving comedy hub again
- •Mitzi Shore’s ‘make agents pay’ stance and controlling the room
- •Houston’s Laff Stop as an example of a serious craft-first scene
- 46:51 – 1:01:06
Boston’s brutal gauntlet: local legends, coke-era madness, and headliners set up to fail
They dive into the Boston comedy scene’s intensity: big personalities, higher pay, and an aggressive culture that often ‘set up’ outsiders by stacking killers ahead of them. Colin recounts bombing and nearly getting rushed, while Joe recalls famous comics being intentionally thrown into impossible situations.
- •Boston’s high pay and strong gatekeeping culture
- •Colin’s story: misunderstanding ‘preppy’ tough guys and nearly getting attacked
- •The practice of stacking multiple local murderers before an out-of-town headliner
- •Dom Irrera as a rare example of someone who survived and crushed anyway
- 1:01:06 – 1:03:33
Comedy craft deep-dive: crowd work, writing new hours, and why discomfort kills laughs
They get technical about what makes standup work: the audience as an editor, the danger of ‘fake’ crowd work, and why modern specials force constant creation. Colin shares a core rule—comics can be many things, but they cannot appear uncomfortable—because the crowd mirrors the performer’s emotional state.
- •Crowd work as a ‘cheat code’ (and why fake crowd work is obvious)
- •Why modern comedy demands continual new hours
- •The audience as collaborator: helps write/edit in real time
- •Key maxim: never let the audience feel sorry for you
- 1:03:33 – 1:36:28
Colin’s one-man shows and the ‘Tough Crowd’ legacy: can it return as a podcast?
Joe praises Colin’s themed shows and asks what led him toward one-man formats. They then pivot to Tough Crowd: why it worked, why it’s harder now, and Joe’s push for a podcast revival under ‘Tough Room,’ with comics who are insulated from career risk.
- •Influences: Eric Bogosian, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg one-person shows
- •Standup vs. theater: theory vs. getting ‘hit by a wave’ onstage
- •Why Tough Crowd would be risky in today’s climate
- •Concept: ‘Tough Room’ as a podcast with rotating killer comics
- 1:36:28 – 2:02:20
Conspiracy corner: Marilyn, Epstein, Maxwell, MKUltra, Manson, and JFK
The conversation veers into conspiracy and power: Monroe and the Kennedys, Epstein’s death, and concern about what happens to Ghislaine Maxwell. Joe explains Tom O’Neill’s book ‘Chaos’ and MKUltra-era LSD operations, then they dig into JFK evidence, Dallas mob angles, and why the ‘lone gunman’ story feels implausible.
- •Monroe/Kennedy speculation and the logic of political cleanup
- •Epstein in prison and Maxwell’s long wait for trial
- •‘Chaos’ and the CIA/LSD experiments linked to Manson and Jolly West
- •JFK: Zapruder film, multiple angles, witness deaths, Warren Commission skepticism
- 2:02:20 – 2:12:06
Mobsters with podcasts: Sammy the Bull, Michael Franzese, and NYC’s mob-run industries
Joe and Colin talk about the surreal modern afterlife of organized crime figures who now appear on YouTube and podcasts. They connect it back to New York history: unions, supply chains, no-show jobs, and Giuliani’s RICO-era impact on dismantling mob power structures.
- •Sammy the Bull as a social-media/podcast personality
- •Michael Franzese’s gas-tax racket and massive wealth claims
- •How the mob controlled adjacent industries (linen, liquor, meat, unions)
- •RICO as the legal weapon that changed the game
- 2:12:06 – 2:20:45
Comedy oddities and legends: Dangerfield’s prom shows, Otto & George, Little Hobo, and Norm stories
They swap stories about classic clubs and bizarre comedy experiences—especially Dangerfield’s marathon prom nights and the chaos of performing for drunk teenagers. The talk expands into ventriloquist darkness (Otto & George) and Duncan Trussell’s Little Hobo routine, then lands on Norm Macdonald’s genius and impulsive habits.
- •Dangerfield’s: empty rooms, long sets, and prom-show insanity
- •Otto & George stories (including the dummy getting stabbed)
- •Duncan Trussell’s Little Hobo as an un-followable closer
- •Norm Macdonald: secret intelligence, double-troll instincts, and compulsions
- 2:20:45 – 2:31:33
Wrap-up: Colin’s writing habits, TV vs standup, moving to Texas, and his book ‘Overstated’
As they close, Colin talks about writing daily (without strict schedules) and his love of crime/political dramas like Narcos. Joe returns to the idea of Colin moving to Texas and building a new comedy hub, then Colin plugs his new book—a comedic roast of the states—and they end with gratitude and future-collab promises.
- •Colin’s writing routine: scripts, books, daily output (imperfect discipline)
- •Narcos and the ‘banality of evil’ in great acting
- •Texas as a possible new comedy center + Joe’s club vision
- •Book plug: ‘Overstated’—a coast-to-coast roast of the 50 states
