by CHRIS BARRY

Possessing that rare gift among stand-up comedians—the ability to actually be funny—since his emergence from the New York comedy scene in the mid-’80s, Colin Quinn has weathered the years to arguably become one of the pre-eminent comedians of his generation. Possibly best known on this side of the border for his six-year stint on Saturday Night Live, Quinn currently hosts Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn on Comedy Central in the U.S., a late-night talk show of sorts that vaguely picks up where Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect left off.

Irreverent and often abrasive, Tough Crowd has been doing impressive numbers in the U.S., and with any luck will be picked up in this country sometime later in the year. The Mirror spoke to Quinn from his New York City office.

Mirror: In light of all the nonsense that went down with Bill Maher, after he made a few controversial remarks in the wake of 9/11, is Comedy Central pressuring you to cover your ass with respect to the material you do on Tough Crowd?

CQ: No, because, first of all, it’s cable—which is a whole different animal from the networks where any little thing will get them going. And second, if we have to watch our ass on any subject, then they might as well not even do the show. But Maher’s remarks were just a little bit flippant for my taste. Only because if you grew up in New York and you knew guys like firemen, family members and stuff—I’m just speaking for myself personally—that died in there, it seems a little flippant to be saying, “We’re the cowards,” you know what I mean?

Although yeah, I thought they over-reacted to him, personally. It was just typical network fear. They want to have a show called Politically Incorrect and then when he tries to be politically incorrect to get things jump-started a little with an outrageous remark they just turn on him so quickly. I mean, the show was built that way and sometimes these things happen. He’s not a politician; he’s not going to prepare a perfectly equitable statement. So if he’s flippant, I don’t think he should have to pay the ultimate price for it, especially when you admit to being flippant to begin with—like he does. So it was kind of a typical network thing to say, “Okay, you don’t like him, we’ll get rid of him.”

What happened [to Maher] doesn’t surprise me at all because that’s how they are; they just turn on somebody after all those years of him doing what he does. They’re so concerned about offending one person who buys one product in a country of millions. It’s like, “Six people who buy Procter and Gamble fucking soap might be offended, we better make sure we don’t put this on,” you know?

M: I can’t imagine doing comedy and having to worry about offending somebody.

CQ: Exactly. This comedian Jack Simmons used to do this joke in the middle of his act where he’d start moaning and go, “C’mon, folks, it’s comedy—somebody’s gotta get hurt.” And that’s it, you know? Whether it’s Bill Maher or me, somebody’s going to find me very offensive and Bill Maher not offensive and somebody else is going to find Howie Mandel not offensive or offensive, you know?

Truth in jokes

M: I’d argue that a joke is a joke, baby.

CQ: I disagree.

M: Yeah, you think certain things are off-limits?

CQ: No, no, but I don’t think a joke is just a joke. To me, it’s a serious thing. I don’t think anything’s off-limits but I don’t like when comedians try to back pedal with, “Hey man, I’m just joking.” No, you’re not. You’re trying to be funny, but, you know, back up what you say. The funny thing about a joke is the truth in it, you know what I mean?

M: Sure, no argument there. Hey, I was doing some research on you earlier today and I came across the Stormfront White Nationalist Community message board and they seem to love you. I’m sure you’ll be proud to learn you’re a big hit with the Aryan Nation.

CQ: Are you kidding me? Oh no, this is not exactly what I intended. (laughs)

M: Yeah, they’re pretty fond of you, although a few people were saying, “Well, I don’t know, Comedy Central is owned by Jews…”

CQ: Yeah, it is owned by Jews, but I think they should look past that.

M: You think so, huh.

CQ: I hope they don’t find out that my brother and my sister are both married, separately, to blacks and I’m going to get married to a Jew. I don’t think I can be their poster boy. How did you come across that anyway?

M: I don’t remember. Do a Google search with your name and the word Aryan in it and you’ll come across their message board.

CQ: (laughing) Oh God, that’s funny in itself. You know, when I joined SNL all the regulars were telling me, “Oh yeah, the message board, that can be tough,” because the SNL message boards abuse you all the time. They compliment you but you also get slammed left and right. But these guys don’t even know what pain is. When you replace Norm MacDonald as the Weekend Update anchor, you find out what brutality is. After awhile, you know, I just couldn’t read them. I wouldn’t sleep for four days after I’d read them. (laughing) They were just brutal. They killed me so hard daily. They would just ruin me. I’d think [about the other cast members], “Ah, you little punks, you don’t even know what abuse looks like. You read maybe three insults? Go do Weekend Update and see what happens to you.” (moaning) Oh, they used to kill me.

M: Well, I suppose it comes with the territory. You also get people fawning all over you because they’ve seen you on television.

CQ: Yeah, that’s true too.

Flogging ideologues

M: Do you ever consider that certain people might just be too clued out to understand where your humour is coming from? Not only those noble white warriors in Stormfront, but certain elements among the PC Village Voice crowd as well.

CQ: Look, if people are going to think I’m some kind of racist, I don’t know what to do. I just say what my opinion is on that day. And even these people in Stormfront, a lot of them are responding to the fact that on TV and in movies for the past 10 years, it has been semi-censored to say anything negative about anybody else’s race other than white males. So I do kind of understand why they would respond positively to me. It’s certainly not my point to say whites are superior and shit—obviously—but it certainly is my point to say, hey, guess what, there is a double standard racially and everybody knows it in the media and the double standard is that whites should shut up and not say anything. But I wouldn’t be a comedian if I didn’t say what I see right now. There are certain elements of what I say that any group would like—I’m sure the Village Voice would love the fact that I really do believe in the death penalty for heads of corporations that rob people of their pensions and stuff. Ultimately, I think if any group really tried to follow me ideologically, I’d disappoint them with some bit of my life very quickly because I can’t have an opinion based on someone else’s politics. We’re comedians, we’re supposed to think everything is bullshit. We can’t be ideologues. What’s worse than a sincere comedian? A true believer? That’s not funny.

Colin Quinn appears in the Just For Laughs Headliners series with Louis CK, July 17, 7pm, at the Cabaret (2111 St-Laurent), $22.50