Joe Rogan Experience #1547 - Colin Quinn

1. 0:02 – 1:55

   Colin finally comes on the podcast + New York lockdown reality check

   1. NANarrator0:02

      (drum music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Colin Quinn, I had to move to Texas to get you on this podcast. I tried forever to get you in LA. You said, "No chance."

   3. CQColin Quinn0:19

      Not true.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      Oh, okay. I- every time we see each other, we just- yeah. (laughs)

   5. CQColin Quinn0:23

      I was always like, "Ah, I'll get out there one of these days," but I- I'm glad I waited this long. It's kind of- I can savor. I can appreciate it.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:29

      Ah, I'm savoring it right now.

   7. CQColin Quinn0:30

      If I was on one of the first podcasts, I'd be like, "Yeah, I was on Joe's and I was on this one." This is like, you know, you're getting, you're getting the respect you deserve now.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:38

      I see. Um, what- what is it like in the lockdown for you? You still living in New York?

   9. CQColin Quinn0:43

      Yeah, I live in New York.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       Is it weird?

   11. CQColin Quinn0:45

       Yeah, I mean, it's- I was telling everybody, it's, uh, you know, it's- it's very... It's not like- people are like, "Oh, it's like New York in the '70s." No, the '70s was a whole different vibe and- but now, it's all boarded up stores. The store on my corner, like the corner bodega, basically, just closed and it was, uh, you know, it was around for a long time and, you know, it's- it's depressing. Like you're on the subway, there's only a few people on and it still smells. It smells as bad. They've been cleaning it every day and it still stinks. It doesn't even smell better. That's how ingrained it is. And, um... You know, the- the pigeons are homeless 'cause ANTIFA took down all the statues, so they have no place to live.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:27

       (laughs)

   13. CQColin Quinn1:27

       And, um... Yeah, it's- it's a very, it's a very, uh, weird place.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       You can't say, like people that say it's like the '70s, like no, the '70s it was like, it was the '50s and the '60s and the '70s, like, it didn't change much. It was seedy and weird.

   15. CQColin Quinn1:41

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:41

       But it was always like that. This is a-

   17. CQColin Quinn1:43

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:43

       ... drastic change from six months ago. You can't say it's like the '70s, because it's not. It's like, uh, something has deteriorated. There's a collapse.

   19. CQColin Quinn1:52

       Right.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:52

       And then there's all this weirdness that comes along with that.

2. 1:55 – 2:55

   70s/80s New York stories: Times Square crime, survival vibes, and romanticizing the past

   1. CQColin Quinn1:55

      Well, the '70s was kind of a collapse, but it was a different type. So like in the '70s, all the stores at night would be locked up, but they were open during the day.

   2. JRJoe Rogan2:03

      Mm.

   3. CQColin Quinn2:04

      So at night, if anybody was out after 9:00 at night, that was on them. But I mean, but it was not like now where it's just 20- you're walking down deserted streets, there's nobody out, you know what I mean? It's just-

   4. JRJoe Rogan2:13

      Have you always lived in New York?

   5. CQColin Quinn2:13

      ... depressing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan2:14

      So w- so it was sketchy in the '70s?

   7. CQColin Quinn2:18

      Oh my God, yeah. I mean, I did a whole, I did a whole show about it basically, but I mean, it was basically like, in part, one of the jokes from my old New York story was that, and it wasn't a joke, it was if you walked down your block, 'cause there's no cell phone, so if you walked down the block from the train after 9:00 at night, people would lean out the window and be like genuinely surprised, like "Good for you. You made it home," if you stayed out after 9:00.

   8. JRJoe Rogan2:40

      (laughs)

   9. CQColin Quinn2:41

      Like Times Square, people would go to Broadway shows, by 11:00 it was deserted except for criminals, because people would leave a Broadway show, they wouldn't go out for a drink or dinner, they would get in their car and get out immediately.

3. 2:55 – 7:13

   Giuliani’s cleanup, Times Square becoming a mall, and why mayors suddenly matter again

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:55

      And Giuliani is the one who cleaned all that shit up?

   2. CQColin Quinn2:56

      Giuliani cleaned it up, yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:58

      Isn't that amazing?

   4. CQColin Quinn2:58

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan2:58

      That guy gets no respect now.

   6. CQColin Quinn3:00

      No, I know. You know, he went a little crazy, but he really, he- he did what no politician has ever done in- in any- in history, which is he said, "I'm gonna transform this," and he did.

   7. JRJoe Rogan3:11

      He turned it around.

   8. CQColin Quinn3:12

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan3:12

      He really did.

   10. CQColin Quinn3:13

       He really did.

   11. JRJoe Rogan3:14

       Maybe a little too far. Like at a certain point-

   12. CQColin Quinn3:16

       He may have been a little too far.

   13. JRJoe Rogan3:17

       ... Times Square became like a mall.

   14. CQColin Quinn3:18

       Yes, Times Square is very, uh, (laughs) uninspiring.

   15. JRJoe Rogan3:21

       It became like a big Applebee's.

   16. CQColin Quinn3:22

       But that's- Yeah, that's exactly, that's exactly what it's like. And- and, you know, even though like now I look back and I'm like, "Oh, Taxi Driver, New York, it was edgy, it was fun," but at the time it was no joke. People, you know- I glamorize it through rose colored glasses, but it was serious.

   17. JRJoe Rogan3:39

       Yeah, that's the thing about crime and crime ridden areas, like people always glamorize it after the fact, but if you're living there while it's going down, it's fucking terrible. (laughs)

   18. CQColin Quinn3:47

       Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean most people loved New York once he took over in the '90s, people forget that.

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:52

       Yeah.

   20. CQColin Quinn3:52

       That everybody was just like, "Oh, I can go out at night? Oh, I can work? I can..." You know what I mean? Before that, it was- it was crazy. And I used to bartend around Times Square and, I mean, the stuff you saw, you know, was just brutal, you know what I mean?

   21. JRJoe Rogan4:06

       Well, one of the things we're finding out from this lockdown is that it really is important who your mayor is.

   22. CQColin Quinn4:11

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan4:11

       It used to be important, he didn't really care. People didn't care who the mayor of LA was. Half the people didn't even know.

   24. CQColin Quinn4:17

       That's right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan4:17

       And now they're like, "Who is this motherfucker that's keeping everything closed?"

   26. CQColin Quinn4:20

       Yeah. Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan4:21

       And the same thing with New York, right?

   28. CQColin Quinn4:23

       Oh, yeah. Well, de-

   29. JRJoe Rogan4:23

       De Blasio.

   30. CQColin Quinn4:24

       ... de Blasio from day one, a lot of people were like, "Ugh," and now everybody hates him, you know?
4. 7:13 – 9:48

   Is New York ‘dead’? Migration out of the city and what “gritty” really means

   1. CQColin Quinn7:13

      You never know. I mean, nobody likes to think of New York that way. But it's like a- a lot of people ... So many people moved that I was shocked, moved to the suburbs-

   2. JRJoe Rogan7:21

      Yeah.

   3. CQColin Quinn7:21

      ... that I was like, "Wow, this is serious." Like, I didn't really believe it. Just 'cause I'm so New York, like, I just, I don't even think in terms of leaving New York, even, even though, you know, it's irrevocably changed to me before any of this happened. But so many people moved out, I was like, "This is getting serious."

   4. JRJoe Rogan7:38

      What did you think about that, uh, Altucher, Jerry Seinfeld little f- feud about New York is dead, fuck you know it's not.

   5. CQColin Quinn7:45

      Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, look, you can argue either side of it and be right.

   6. JRJoe Rogan7:49

      Yeah.

   7. CQColin Quinn7:49

      You know what I mean? Like, I don't want it to be dead, but at the same time, I'm not gonna pretend it's not in deep trouble.

   8. JRJoe Rogan7:55

      Yeah.

   9. CQColin Quinn7:55

      You know?

   10. JRJoe Rogan7:55

       I, I don't know how it gets out. That's what my worry is.

   11. CQColin Quinn7:59

       I know.

   12. JRJoe Rogan8:00

       Unless COVID gets cured and then ... Ari Shaffir thinks artists are gonna start moving in again. But that's ... He's one of those guys.

   13. CQColin Quinn8:07

       Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan8:07

       He's got that, you know, "Because it needs to be gritty. New York City needs to be gritty."

   15. CQColin Quinn8:11

       Right. And now-

   16. JRJoe Rogan8:12

       He's one of those guys.

   17. CQColin Quinn8:13

       Yeah, but I mean-

   18. JRJoe Rogan8:14

       Never been mugged, that's why.

   19. CQColin Quinn8:16

       (laughs) Never s-

   20. JRJoe Rogan8:16

       Never really had the fuck beat out of him.

   21. CQColin Quinn8:18

       (laughs) Yeah. You do need a couple of those in life.

   22. JRJoe Rogan8:21

       You just need to know that it's possible.

   23. CQColin Quinn8:23

       Just need to be like, "Ow!"

   24. JRJoe Rogan8:25

       What does gritty mean to you?

   25. CQColin Quinn8:26

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan8:26

       Let me tell you, it's, it ain't a fucking ... It's not Midnight Cowboy.

   27. CQColin Quinn8:29

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan8:29

       That's a movie.

   29. CQColin Quinn8:30

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan8:31

       Real gritty is you get stabbed-
5. 9:48 – 16:35

   Policing, viral outrage, and the Trump ‘stand down and stand by’ debate moment

   1. JRJoe Rogan9:48

      The thing about it is, though, the, the disrespect to the police right now-

   2. CQColin Quinn9:52

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan9:53

      ... it leads it to a very difficult situation of trying to bring it back. It's like, that didn't, that wasn't the case in the '80s and the '90s. People respected the police. Like, when they, when Giuliani brought it back, there wasn't this overall nationwide resentment of the police force like we're having now, which is pretty unprecedented.

   4. CQColin Quinn10:10

      Well, I mean, there sort of was in New York, actually, at that time. There was a couple of incidents where, you know ... But yes, not like this. Not-

   5. JRJoe Rogan10:17

      This is a different level.

   6. CQColin Quinn10:17

      This is a, uh, a luxury that people are able to indulge themselves by-

   7. JRJoe Rogan10:23

      Yeah.

   8. CQColin Quinn10:23

      ... by putting all, you know, lightning rod, sort of. You know what I mean? Like, the police, to me, it's like a proxy war. You know what I mean? Everybody knows cops, everybody knows cops are nuts. We all had the friend that you grew up with, you're like, "Whatever happened to him?" He became a cop, he became a cop. Jesus.

   9. JRJoe Rogan10:37

      (laughs)

   10. CQColin Quinn10:37

       But, but, you know, no one denies that part. I'm s- even cops know that-

   11. JRJoe Rogan10:43

       Yeah.

   12. CQColin Quinn10:43

       ... about themselves. But that being said, it's easy for everybody to just go, okay, like I say, proxy war. So all the bottled up racial resentment in the country and it's like, the people that have to actually go and say, "Hey, listen. Here's what has to happen," they're gonna be the f- they're gonna be the fall guy for that.

   13. JRJoe Rogan11:01

       Mm-hmm.

   14. CQColin Quinn11:01

       And that's ... You know what I mean? That's what this is, in my opinion.

   15. JRJoe Rogan11:04

       Well, you know what it is? It's like social media only captures the things that are viral, right? What ... The, the things that you're gonna watch are only gonna be viral. And, uh, the ones that go viral are the ones that are really bad.

   16. CQColin Quinn11:13

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan11:14

       I mean, nobody wants to see ... No- there's no viral videos of a cop pulling a guy over and having a laugh with him.

   18. CQColin Quinn11:19

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan11:19

       And so, uh, "Listen, man, you're going 63 in a 55." "Just do me a favor, slow it down." "All right, sir, I'm a big fan of the police." "Thank you, sir. I appreciate you. Appreciate. Sh- shake your hand. Bye, take care." No, you, instead, you have some-

   20. CQColin Quinn11:32

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan11:32

       ... asshole grabbing some Black woman and pulling her out of the car and body slamming her and you're like-

   22. CQColin Quinn11:37

       Right, right.

   23. JRJoe Rogan11:37

       "These motherfuckers, they keep doing this."

   24. CQColin Quinn11:39

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan11:39

       But you could have millions of interactions with cops-

   26. CQColin Quinn11:43

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan11:43

       ... and you're only gonna see one, and you decide that all cops are pieces of shit, when there's th- these hundreds of thousands of cops that are great guys.

   28. CQColin Quinn11:50

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan11:50

       They're just doing a really difficult job and trying to keep it together. But one or two a week-

   30. CQColin Quinn11:57

       Yeah.
6. 16:35 – 20:16

   From Vikings to psychedelics: berserkers, mushrooms, and performance enhancement

   1. JRJoe Rogan16:35

      You ever go to... You ever see those people in Iceland that win those strongman competitions?

   2. CQColin Quinn16:38

      Yes.

   3. JRJoe Rogan16:39

      They're the remnants of the Vikings.

   4. CQColin Quinn16:40

      They are as-

   5. JRJoe Rogan16:41

      Enormous human beings that live in the frozen north where the Vikings lived.

   6. CQColin Quinn16:46

      The only thing I know is that the word berserk comes from them. Berserkers.

   7. JRJoe Rogan16:50

      Yeah.

   8. CQColin Quinn16:50

      They used to come down and go berserk.

   9. JRJoe Rogan16:52

      And you know what they used to do? They used to take mushrooms.

   10. CQColin Quinn16:54

       They did?

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:54

       Yeah, that was their big thing. They would take mushrooms and, and slaughter.

   12. CQColin Quinn16:58

       Now, wait a minute. Where they get mushrooms up there? I thought mushrooms were from South America.

   13. JRJoe Rogan17:03

       No. Mushrooms are from all throughout Europe. Mushrooms are all throughout North America. They're native to a lot of different climates.

   14. CQColin Quinn17:11

       Well-

   15. JRJoe Rogan17:11

       They would preserve them too. They would get them in the summertime and then they'd preserve them in the wintertime, but I'm 99% sure that was a part of the history of the Vikings, is that they would, uh, they would take a lot of mushrooms.

   16. CQColin Quinn17:22

       Well, when, when I was growing up, I mean, I consider myself the early-

   17. JRJoe Rogan17:26

       Here we go.

   18. CQColin Quinn17:27

       Uh.

   19. JRJoe Rogan17:27

       "Fly agaric mushroom." Yeah, that's the Amanita muscaria. "The first account of Vikings going berserk because they ate magic mushrooms was hypothesized in 1784 by a Christian priest named Odmund. He came to a conclusion that connected the Berserkers to the fly agaric mushroom because he read that Siberian shamans did the same thing when they were healing." Hmm. That m- that show Vikings?

   20. CQColin Quinn17:52

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan17:52

       You ever see that show?

   22. CQColin Quinn17:53

       No.

   23. JRJoe Rogan17:53

       Good show. Fun show. They, they take mushrooms in that show.

   24. CQColin Quinn17:56

       But the, um-

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:57

       Did Vikings eat mushrooms? Let's see that. See, that, that's they connect it to the Amanita muscaria, red and white mushroom. So that's not the same mushroom. In the Viking movie, or the Viking television show, it looks like they're taking psilocybin. "Some scholars propose that certain examples of the Berserker rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria or massive amounts of alcohol."

   26. CQColin Quinn18:25

       But here's my problem, is that when I was growing up, we ate a lot of mescaline, which is basically mushrooms and orga- you know-

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:31

       Sort of.

   28. CQColin Quinn18:31

       ... it was like chemical... What's that?

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:32

       Sort of. Mescaline is actually peyote.

   30. CQColin Quinn18:35

       Well, we ate mushrooms too. Yeah.
7. 20:16 – 24:51

   Colin’s wild acid-era Brooklyn story: Sweet 16 brawl and ‘karma’ for hecklers

   1. CQColin Quinn20:16

      Well, I'll tell you, uh, I'll tell you a story. When I... I'll tell you, the, I, probably the third time I took acid maybe, I was 16. And this is a fight... It's, it's got violence in it, but it's not that I was, uh... So I was at a ch- I was at a Sweet 16 in Brooklyn, you know. It was a mob, it was a mob-run place, by the way. So you do a Sweet 16, this has a lot to do with my whole life when I really look back on it. So I was 16, I was in love with this girl. She wasn't dating me, but she was at the party. But the way they set it up, so it's like, here's a Sweet 16, here's an after-party. They're all in the same room. And then there's this stage down at the bottom and here's, you know, some guy that, you know, just got his, you know, he retired from the, you know, job, whatever his job. Then you have, you know what... So it's like 15 different events of two tables each at this place, Palm Shores Club it was called, in Brooklyn. So I'm at the party with my friends and there's this girl I'm in love with but I haven't dated. Yet. And we ended up going out for a couple years after this, but... So she... I'm tripping on acid and then the, one of the other groups that was with our group, because the girl at the Sweet 16 had... Our other friends there too, one of these guys sold pot to the girl I loved. Sold her a bag of weed. So she's like, you know, at a party, she's like, "Uh, look at him. He beat me on this weed. He sold me like four joints."

   2. JRJoe Rogan21:37

      (laughs)

   3. CQColin Quinn21:37

      "What a ripoff are you?" So me, uh, the shit knight in shining armor, you know what I mean? I go up to him. I don't know the guy. It was a long table, there's two, three little ta-... "Excuse me." Tap him on the shoulder, you know. "Excuse me. Um, she feels like you shorted her." I'm not dating her. I'm just, you know, I'm, I'm in love with her. "She's shorted you on, uh, you shorted her on this weed. So, you know, you might want to give her a couple more joints." Guy's like, "No, I didn't." Turns away. (sighs) "Listen." "Excuse me." "You know, he, she feels you did. You gave her four joints." Whatever. In those days you get like six joints for a bag of, $5 bag, right? Maybe seven, you know. I said, "Yeah, I kind of shorted her." I'm still not sure to this day if he shorted her by the way, I didn't count the... you know.

   4. JRJoe Rogan22:20

      You were just being a white knight.

   5. CQColin Quinn22:21

      I was just being a white knight. So he goes, "No, I didn't. Get the fuck out." You know, just basically like, you know, he has to show his pride too. He's letting this guy tap him on the shoulder a couple of times. He's with his friends, I'm with my little friends. And I go... And he goes, "Get the fuck out of here." Like, you know, just, you know. And now I'm, I'm starting to annoy him, you know, and he's like, "Was this bad?" You know, he had to do that. So I was like, (clicks tongue) "Ah." "Bah!" Jump on him.

   6. JRJoe Rogan22:44

      (laughs)

   7. CQColin Quinn22:44

      Start punching him (laughs) .

   8. JRJoe Rogan22:46

      (laughs)

   9. CQColin Quinn22:46

      In the middle of this giant event.

   10. JRJoe Rogan22:48

       Oh, no.

   11. CQColin Quinn22:49

       Jumping, punching him. Then when he... You know, a ru- a ruckus erupts, you know. It's like a, a whole place. So our table's going crazy. Screams, you know, fights and, uh, the grandmother... My friend wrote a song about it, by the way, the next day. And because the grandmother kicked me in the ear and my whole blood-

   12. JRJoe Rogan23:07

       (laughs)

   13. CQColin Quinn23:07

       My whole ear was caked with blood because I'm ruining her granddaughter's sweet-

   14. JRJoe Rogan23:10

       (laughs) The grandmother kicked you in the ear?

   15. CQColin Quinn23:11

       Yeah, the grandmother 'cause I-

   16. JRJoe Rogan23:12

       While you were scrambling on the ground?

   17. CQColin Quinn23:13

       While I'm on the ground.

   18. JRJoe Rogan23:14

       Oh my God.

   19. CQColin Quinn23:14

       I had... My ear was caked with blood because, you know, I'm ruining her granddaughter's sweet 16. I don't blame her, you know. And they're breaking up, but meanwhile... Oh, so anyway, long story short, I'm still... I'm tripping. So I was like... This is like the third time I've tripped maybe, maybe the second. I was... I... on acid. I had done mescaline and everything else. So I'm tripping. So finally they drag me out. I'm picked up like bodily, but it's a mafia place, remember? Downstairs in the basement these two guys, a couple of young, the young mob guys, you know. Like I could tell they were like young, thin, you know, guys. They didn't look like, to me, like ma... And start punching me on my... (groans) And then they just look at me and I could tell they were just like, "Look at this guy, he's so pathetically pussy-whipped." They... You could just tell in my eyes. I was just... They're like, "Get him out of here." And just tossed me onto Emmons Avenue. It's a big street in Sheepshead Bay. And then my friends drove by, like I'm walking, you know, stumbling along. Like three minutes later, my friends drove by because they left too. They had to leave. And they just could not stop laughing.

   20. JRJoe Rogan24:12

       (laughs)

   21. CQColin Quinn24:12

       I'm just standing. But here's the weird part about the story, is that-... on stage was this old man who at that moment was doing stand-up comedy. And to this day, any time I have, like, hecklers, I'm like, "That's karma," because I was the guy that ruined his sh- And he's going, "Come on, fellas, calm down." I heard him say that. And at the time, I noticed because I was like, "Why is there an old, this guy's so old doing stand-up?" But he's probably a guy, you know, doing it at that time in shee- some, some knock around joint.

   22. JRJoe Rogan24:41

       Right, getting paid.

   23. CQColin Quinn24:42

       Getting paid. And then an idiot ruins his whole show with a brawl.

   24. JRJoe Rogan24:46

       Over a $5 bag of weed.

   25. CQColin Quinn24:48

       Over a bag of weed, which may or may not have been shorted.

8. 24:51 – 28:15

   Bad gigs, small rooms, and why tiny crowds are comedy’s truth serum

   1. JRJoe Rogan24:51

      (laughs) And when you think about that, like, a- have you ever done gigs like that? Did you ever have to do, like, a, a, like, a kids party or anything like that?

   2. CQColin Quinn25:00

      Oh my God, yeah. I mean, always.

   3. JRJoe Rogan25:01

      Did, did you?

   4. CQColin Quinn25:02

      Wh- wh- you mean gigs where you just-

   5. JRJoe Rogan25:04

      Yeah.

   6. CQColin Quinn25:04

      ... where you just don't b- I mean, sure. Haven't you ever d- Haven't you ever d-

   7. JRJoe Rogan25:07

      I did bachelor parties. I did a couple of those.

   8. CQColin Quinn25:09

      But bachelor parties, they suck.

   9. JRJoe Rogan25:11

      Yeah.

   10. CQColin Quinn25:12

       But at least it's not like ... You ever do a gig where you don't, when you're first starting out where you're not, you don't have enough clean material and you walk in and you go, "I can't, I have to cut every curse out," and you have nothing left? You realize, "I have nothing to say to these people."

   11. JRJoe Rogan25:28

       Oh, yeah.

   12. CQColin Quinn25:28

       Because my act is for nightclubs, and this is not a nightclub. It's a daytime club.

   13. JRJoe Rogan25:32

       Yeah.

   14. CQColin Quinn25:33

       I've done a couple of those, like, just small events where it just, you feel like it exposes every flaw in your comedy.

   15. JRJoe Rogan25:39

       It does. It does.

   16. CQColin Quinn25:41

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan25:41

       So do small shows.

   18. CQColin Quinn25:43

       It does.

   19. JRJoe Rogan25:43

       Small sh- That's the beauty of small shows.

   20. CQColin Quinn25:45

       Yes.

   21. JRJoe Rogan25:45

       They are like a, a cleansing agent.

   22. CQColin Quinn25:47

       Yes.

   23. JRJoe Rogan25:48

       All the fat in your act...

   24. CQColin Quinn25:49

       All the fat, all the chi, all the momentum that's-

   25. JRJoe Rogan25:53

       Yeah.

   26. CQColin Quinn25:53

       ... just based on the-

   27. JRJoe Rogan25:54

       All the horse shit.

   28. CQColin Quinn25:55

       All the curses.

   29. JRJoe Rogan25:55

       Yeah.

   30. CQColin Quinn25:55

       It's just all right there, and these people are looking there, and they're dressed nice. And I did a car show when I s- I think two years in. It was, like, an afternoon show. Like, $200, which in those days you're like, "Ooh, $200, afternoon show." And I went there, and it was just maybe 50 ... And I was too new to know that I was walking ... I didn't even real- Like now, if you walked in, you'd be like, "Okay, this is a nightmare. Here's what I got to do."
9. 28:15 – 36:29

   Pandemic comedy workarounds: outdoor shows, drive-ins, Zoom bombing, and rapid testing ideas

   1. CQColin Quinn28:15

      And that's why m- my new theory, which y- you're gonna like this for the, for the, uh, Austin Comedy Club, is that down south now, because nobody can work out up north once it gets to be winter. So it's gonna be like baseball, how all the Dominicans became-

   2. JRJoe Rogan28:29

      Ah, right.

   3. CQColin Quinn28:30

      All the south is where all the great comedians-

   4. JRJoe Rogan28:32

      Because it's still warm here.

   5. CQColin Quinn28:32

      ... year round.

   6. JRJoe Rogan28:33

      'Cause the COVID is gonna hit New York City and shut everything down again.

   7. CQColin Quinn28:37

      It's, yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan28:37

      Once flu season kicks in.

   9. CQColin Quinn28:39

      Yeah. It's already shut. It's never opened. Comedy clubs haven't opened.

   10. JRJoe Rogan28:42

       But they're open outside, right? A few of them.

   11. CQColin Quinn28:44

       Outside, yeah, but, you know.

   12. JRJoe Rogan28:45

       How are they doing that? Are they on the street? Like, what are they doing? They have parking lots or something?

   13. CQColin Quinn28:49

       Yeah, on the str- On the street, well, most of the com- Well, the one comedy club is on the street, but most of them are in, like, parks or in, like, parking lots. There's a lot of parking lots.

   14. JRJoe Rogan28:55

       That's so weird.

   15. CQColin Quinn28:56

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan28:56

       So how do you get people to pay to sit in a park?

   17. CQColin Quinn28:59

       Yeah, I don't know. I mean-

   18. JRJoe Rogan29:00

       Because otherwise, I mean, people could just walk up.

   19. CQColin Quinn29:03

       I mean, that's the problem, yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan29:03

       Stand the outside and listen. They don't have to pay.

   21. CQColin Quinn29:06

       Well, yeah, in the parking lot you always just ... The problem with doing a parking lot is you, even though you could be doing great, you know there's some idiot outside the parking lot that could start screaming.

   22. JRJoe Rogan29:14

       Yeah.

   23. CQColin Quinn29:14

       Like when I was 16, I would have done, you know? Like, "Eh!"

   24. JRJoe Rogan29:16

       Just sure! Honk your horn.

   25. CQColin Quinn29:18

       Idiots. Yes, yes. Oh my God.

   26. JRJoe Rogan29:20

       Or just play Andrew Dice Clay really loud in your car.

   27. CQColin Quinn29:27

       (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan29:28

       (laughs) Just something to distract the community.

   29. CQColin Quinn29:29

       You're giving them a good idea.

   30. JRJoe Rogan29:31

       Yeah.
10. 36:29 – 46:51

    Comedy club ecosystems: The Comedy Store turnaround, ‘gang night,’ and the old LA scene

    1. CQColin Quinn36:29

       Well, you guys' is-... uh, crew, uh, really turned that place around. 'Cause I was there in the early '90s and The Comedy Store ... I was there working, you know, occasi- I didn't even work that much when I lived in LA but-

    2. JRJoe Rogan36:41

       It was a shithole.

    3. CQColin Quinn36:42

       Well, not only was it a shithole, Monday was considered gang night and it wasn't like, um, it wasn't an inside joke. Like, everybody knew gang night, the gangs knew it was gang night. So they would have gangs. It was just this crazy atmosphere, like this-

    4. JRJoe Rogan36:56

       Mm-hmm.

    5. CQColin Quinn36:56

       ... tense atmosphere every Monday night was gang night.

    6. JRJoe Rogan36:58

       Yeah, it was not good when I got there in '94.

    7. CQColin Quinn37:01

       Yeah.

    8. JRJoe Rogan37:01

       I got there in '94-

    9. CQColin Quinn37:01

       Yeah.

    10. JRJoe Rogan37:02

        ... it was pretty rough. But occasionally it was good. Like occasionally-

    11. CQColin Quinn37:05

        Yeah.

    12. JRJoe Rogan37:05

        ... like Damon Wayans would stop by-

    13. CQColin Quinn37:06

        Right.

    14. JRJoe Rogan37:06

        ... or Martin Lawrence would stop by. Like someone good-

    15. CQColin Quinn37:08

        Yeah.

    16. JRJoe Rogan37:08

        ... would be there and you'd go, "Wow, okay."

    17. CQColin Quinn37:11

        Yeah.

    18. JRJoe Rogan37:11

        "Now I get to see a real comic." But it, a lot of it was, like, half empty, not even, real f-

    19. CQColin Quinn37:17

        Yeah, they had some tough years.

    20. JRJoe Rogan37:17

        L- a lot of bodaks.

    21. CQColin Quinn37:19

        Oh, yeah, that's right.

    22. JRJoe Rogan37:20

        Yeah, a lot of guys that really just shouldn't have been there. And my theory was that, like, Kinison had left there, somewhere around '86.

    23. CQColin Quinn37:28

        Right.

    24. JRJoe Rogan37:28

        And when I got there in '94, eight years later, it was just still ... Like, 'cause before that it was booming, right? There was Kinison and Letterman and all these guys were there. And then when he left and he was banned from the Store, I think he took everybody with him. And I think when I got there in '94 it was like, he was already dead and it was like the echoes of that, that ... H- his generation had already kind of died off.

    25. CQColin Quinn37:53

        Yeah, well, I was ... When I was in LA, I was in LA in '89, I guess, or '90 or something, '88, '89. And The Improv was the respectable club. It was what The Store became.

    26. JRJoe Rogan38:04

        Yes.

    27. CQColin Quinn38:04

        And The Store was already crazy, you know what I mean?

    28. JRJoe Rogan38:07

        Yeah. Yeah.

    29. CQColin Quinn38:07

        And, uh-

    30. JRJoe Rogan38:08

        It was like that in '94.
11. 46:51 – 1:01:06

    Boston’s brutal gauntlet: local legends, coke-era madness, and headliners set up to fail

    1. CQColin Quinn46:51

       Well, the reason Boston was a good scene too, was a great scene when I started, you know. You know, I came in like '85, let's say, to Boston, right? First time ever. Was because Mike C- Lenny Clark-

    2. JRJoe Rogan47:02

       Yes.

    3. CQColin Quinn47:02

       ... and Mike Clark. Mike Clark, who ... The money they paid in Boston was like three or four times more than any other place. Three or four times. Like, a gig in New York pay 80 to be the middle. In Boston, it would pay 290 or something. Because Lenny and Ma-... Mike was not ripping people off like that.

    4. JRJoe Rogan47:21

       Yeah.

    5. CQColin Quinn47:21

       He's-

    6. JRJoe Rogan47:21

       Mike's a great... I'm still-

    7. CQColin Quinn47:22

       Great guy.

    8. JRJoe Rogan47:23

       ... good friends with him to this day.

    9. CQColin Quinn47:24

       There you go.

    10. JRJoe Rogan47:24

        I was texting with him yesterday.

    11. CQColin Quinn47:25

        Look-

    12. JRJoe Rogan47:26

        I love that guy.

    13. CQColin Quinn47:27

        And he... Whatever his thing was, he was just this guy that was like, "Yeah, you should get paid." And it was like this Val Hal-... You know, this-

    14. JRJoe Rogan47:33

        Yep.

    15. CQColin Quinn47:34

        And what was regulated, it was also the big four. You know what I mean? It was like the Mount Rushmore of Boston. Sweeney, Gavin, uh, Lenny-

    16. JRJoe Rogan47:42

        Rogerson.

    17. CQColin Quinn47:42

        And Rogerson.

    18. JRJoe Rogan47:43

        Yep.

    19. CQColin Quinn47:43

        And, uh, and they would just... You know, they just set a tone. Everybody's like-

    20. JRJoe Rogan47:47

        Yeah, whoa, you know, you just-

    21. CQColin Quinn47:48

        And they were big guys too. They were big guys.

    22. JRJoe Rogan47:50

        Like, Lenny Clark's a fucking gorilla of a man.

    23. CQColin Quinn47:53

        Yes.

    24. JRJoe Rogan47:53

        They were these big dudes.

    25. CQColin Quinn47:54

        Oh, yeah.

    26. JRJoe Rogan47:55

        It was-

    27. CQColin Quinn47:55

        Yeah.

    28. JRJoe Rogan47:55

        It was an interesting pl- 'cause they were men. Like, we thought of-

    29. CQColin Quinn47:58

        Yeah.

    30. JRJoe Rogan47:58

        ... comedy as being like these dweeby, like, interest b-
12. 1:01:06 – 1:03:33

    Comedy craft deep-dive: crowd work, writing new hours, and why discomfort kills laughs

    1. CQColin Quinn1:01:06

       There was a bunch of guys in New York that were just great. In the mid-80s when I started in New York, like-

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:01:11

       Like who?

    3. CQColin Quinn1:01:11

       These guys were br- so funny. Um, I was, I was, I was afraid you were gonna say that. Um-

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       (laughs)

    5. CQColin Quinn1:01:21

       Well, like a guy like Jon Haman, hilarious. He became a writer, but I'm saying he would get up and just so funny. And he was just, he was the guy that would just sit at the bar, all the other comedians just... Clever, witty guy.

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:01:33

       Mm-hmm.

    7. CQColin Quinn1:01:33

       You know what I mean? He could have been one of the greats and everybody knew it.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:01:37

       And New York had a different thing in that the clubs were smaller because space was more limited.

    9. CQColin Quinn1:01:41

       Yes.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:01:41

        So the people were on top of you. So you had a lot of guys working the crowd because they were so close-

    11. CQColin Quinn1:01:47

        Right.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:47

        ... to you, you almost felt like you had to.

    13. CQColin Quinn1:01:48

        Yeah. Yeah.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:49

        You know?

    15. CQColin Quinn1:01:50

        Yeah, well, I mean, yeah most of the clubs in New York were... It was a lot of, there was a lot of crowd work going on.

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:56

        Yeah.

    17. CQColin Quinn1:01:56

        Which was good and bad. It was good in the sense that, you know, it's funny to watch somebody be... You know what I mean? It keeps it... But it's bad in the sense that you... A lot of people just became great at crowd work.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:02:08

        Yeah.

    19. CQColin Quinn1:02:08

        I mean how many guys that are just great at crowd work?

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:02:10

        Yeah.

    21. CQColin Quinn1:02:10

        Crowd work's fun.

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:02:11

        It is.

    23. CQColin Quinn1:02:11

        And it's funny, but you got to discipline yourself. If you're not writing... When you're going to do a show and the stage is up there and you're talking to imaginary people, which a lot of people do-

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:22

        Yeah.

    25. CQColin Quinn1:02:22

        ... and you're like, "Hey, that guy..." And then after the show when you start and you're like, "Hey, that guy wasn't fat. Hey."

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:27

        (laughs)

    27. CQColin Quinn1:02:29

        "She, she wasn't... Her tits weren't out. Why's he saying she was dressed like a hook?" This guy is...

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:33

        It's just fake crowd work.

    29. CQColin Quinn1:02:35

        Yeah. (laughs)

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:35

        Yeah, there was a lot, there's a lot of guys-

Episode duration: 2:31:33