Based on his stand-up and his work on Saturday Night Live, I always gathered that Colin Quinn wanted to be seen as an everyman, the sort of guy you could have a beer with and watch a football game; somebody who wouldn't be offended if you swore or cracked an off-color joke. Whether or not this also made him funny is, like anything else, subjective, but his comedy show/gabfest on Comedy Central certainly had a unique approach, though I'm not certain I watched it because I enjoyed it, or because it followed The Daily Show and I wasn't really doing anything else at the time. The basic idea of the show is that Quinn and four comedians (some regulars, some guests) would talk about current events and what annoyed them. Quinn's theory was that comedians always told the truth and never held back, which is true, and it gave the show an edginess other shows didn't have. The reason the series didn't last, I feel, is that uninformed opinions, even in the guise of jokes, grow tiresome after awhile, and the novelty of the show wore off quickly. Once in awhile a more thoughtful comedian would appear on the show, but was typically shouted down by the regulars. That's fine, since it was a comedy show after all, but listening to five guys prattle on about subjects they know nothing about gets old no matter how you dress it up.Short-Lived Shows: Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
Based on his stand-up and his work on Saturday Night Live, I always gathered that Colin Quinn wanted to be seen as an everyman, the sort of guy you could have a beer with and watch a football game; somebody who wouldn't be offended if you swore or cracked an off-color joke. Whether or not this also made him funny is, like anything else, subjective, but his comedy show/gabfest on Comedy Central certainly had a unique approach, though I'm not certain I watched it because I enjoyed it, or because it followed The Daily Show and I wasn't really doing anything else at the time. The basic idea of the show is that Quinn and four comedians (some regulars, some guests) would talk about current events and what annoyed them. Quinn's theory was that comedians always told the truth and never held back, which is true, and it gave the show an edginess other shows didn't have. The reason the series didn't last, I feel, is that uninformed opinions, even in the guise of jokes, grow tiresome after awhile, and the novelty of the show wore off quickly. Once in awhile a more thoughtful comedian would appear on the show, but was typically shouted down by the regulars. That's fine, since it was a comedy show after all, but listening to five guys prattle on about subjects they know nothing about gets old no matter how you dress it up.
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-19-2006 @ 6:42PM
Joel Keller said...
I think what killed it was when they got the regulars together, it turned into an inside-joke shout-over-each-other nightmare. Individually, Patrice O'Neal, Jim Norton, Keith Robinson, Nick DiPaolo, Greg Giraldo, Mark Maron, and Rich Vos are all extremely funny comedians. But get more than two of them together on any episode all they did was crank on each other and rip on Colin. While it was funny, it didn't really help the format of the show.
Reply
8-19-2006 @ 8:04PM
Gavin said...
I agree that the show ended up being a complete mess towards the end. Even though I didn't agree with the views of the regulars, they still made me laugh, but in the end they just tried to yell over one another and it quickly became stale. It probably would have worked better as a once a week show that ran an hour.
Reply
8-19-2006 @ 8:34PM
elf said...
Yes another reason the show didn't work it because it was not a good match with The Daily Show. Tough Crowd followed The Daily Show but did not share The Daily Show's sensibilities or style. Whereas TDS is clearly liberal, Colin Quinn quite often leaned to the right on many issues. And the humor could often intelligent, but the frequent low-brow style was a jarring contrast to Jon Stewart's delivery.
Reply
8-19-2006 @ 8:51PM
Clint said...
This was one of the best shows on television. If you weren't laughing, then you were just a little to PC. Although I greatly miss this show, the one part I could've done without were the sketches. Those were not often that funny.
As for the inside jokes, if you watched it enough you understood them. I loved this show and wish that they would've bumped it to once a week instead of canceling it.
Reply
8-20-2006 @ 5:58AM
Justin said...
Edgy is right. I found it a tad irksome after awhile especially when they just rehashed stereotypes with no real discerning opinions on each other. It got quite uncomfortable during its last season between Patrice O'Neal and Nick DiPaolo who was ganging up with Jim Norton a bit on racial issues. Perhaps I am a little too PC, but I did see some humour in it while it was on but it did hold some moments of disgust for me.
Reply
8-20-2006 @ 12:15PM
Eligio J Rosa said...
Well comedians are honest but they are also attention grabbers and they want their opnion to matter. For example Patrice Oneill begins talking about a subject and he starting getting his point across then Nick Dipaolo comes and interups the conversacion.
Another problem was Colin himself. He loses control of his panel rather easily which a no-no on panel shows.
Reply
8-20-2006 @ 11:33PM
KN Sato said...
I enjoyed watching Tough Crowd, but not because of Colin Quinn, but because of the guests. Quinn himself may be a great guy, loved by other comedians, but - call me crazy - but I personally fail to see how he makes any kind of living as a comedian. He added nothing to SNL and he added little to this show. If Greg Giraldo had instead been the host, I have no doubt it would have been much more successful. He combines the quick wit, intelligence, knowledge, sex appeal and just plain likeability-with-an-edge that Colin clearly lacked. It's too bad his replacement show never materialized because it was deemed too close for comfort to Tough Crowd.
Reply
11-09-2006 @ 8:51PM
lovelain said...
wow, i completely missed this post, but i have to comment since it's one of my favorite shows ever (next to carnivale..also canceled). i agree, mostly, w/ #3. it was a contrast to TDS, but i believe it DID work. i think comedy central just got more and more uncomfortable w/ conservative opinions being expressed on their network (and low ratings, which i can't deny) then finally decided to can it.
i noticed, as did many other tough crowd fans, that jon stewart--after awhile--stopped telling his audience to "stick around for tough crowd." way to try to improve those ratings...by not advertising it and then have its lead-in be a show w/ a largely elitist audience.
*awaiting colin's comeback*
Reply