Partly dictactic, mostly wry and poking fun, Quinn's one man show boasts smart, thematically cohesive dissection but the jokes don't hit quite as hard as in, say, his New York show.

Great set by the most New Yorker of New Yorkers. I preferred Long Story Short but Colin is impressive here. Intelligent but never smug or pretentious. Check it out on Netflix.

Watched in preparation for New York Story. All history lessons should be taught by Colin Quinn.

A thought-provoking, clever one-man show/history lesson on the Constitution. Quinn barely takes a breath and often trails off mid thought as he powers through history.

Set Dressing: A desk behind him with a backdrop of the Pennsylvania State House, location of the Constitutional Convention. He is in a blue suit, red jacked and a pocket square.
Open Close: Opens with him behind the desk.
Memorable Bit: Comparing Ben Franklin to The Godfather

Jokes to form a more perfect Union

This is great.

Imagine how funny Colin Quinn would be if he’d actually finish a sentence every now and then.

dnf

Look, this is a pretty funny comedy special. Got some funny moments and Colin Quinn has great stage presence. But that's not what I was thinking about while watching this. There was one audience member who was laughing so much louder than everyone else (almost every single joke you could hear this person laughing). Did someone tell this person that they were filming this for Netflix and this person really wanted to be heard so they over exaggerating their laughing to show their kids "see kids, that's me laughing on the Netflix special."

51%

Ranking Films I Saw in 2021

colm

Starts out weak and ends strong. Feel like if I knew more about history the start would have been stronger.

There is someone in the audience who is literally exploding with laughter louder than everyone else that sounds so fake that I tuned out from Colin and focused on that insufferable laugh instead. I was mildly intrigued with his New York special but this one really passed me by.
Drinking game: That. laugh.
Bottom line: Supremely American which will massively alter your enjoyment and relatability to this one.

I really like his history style specials. This one doesn’t quite hit the highs as his overs do.

Partly dictactic, mostly wry and poking fun, Quinn's one man show boasts smart, thematically cohesive dissection but the jokes don't hit quite as hard as in, say, his New York show.

Quinn's specials, I've noticed, are among the most interesting and clever anywhere in the industry. But I'm so late to that understanding that it is almost as embarrassing as it is gratifying to watch them. Didacticism has never seemed so fully winning as when Quinn embodies it in these semi-historical, themed hours. I love them a lot. This one was perhaps even stronger than the 2016 special, THE NEW YORK STORY.

A thought-provoking, clever one-man show/history lesson on the Constitution. Quinn barely takes a breath and often trails off mid thought as he powers through history.

Set Dressing: A desk behind him with a backdrop of the Pennsylvania State House, location of the Constitutional Convention. He is in a blue suit, red jacked and a pocket square.
Open Close: Opens with him behind the desk.
Memorable Bit: Comparing Ben Franklin to The Godfather

An analysis of the Constitution with wit and education. I don't understand how Colin is doing a one-man show and not what he was born to do: a show like the much-missed and underrated genius that was Tough Crowd. Well, I do: it's because Quinn's comedy is thought-provoking and communication-provoking, and he's not a sensationalist and argument-provoking blowhard like Bill Maher. Quinn is tackling something important, and he doesn't have to be on the edge or poke his audience with a stick to do it. All he has to do is talk about it. I'm happy to listen.

Thief of Attention: noticing the careful subtitle design that accurately transcribes Quinn's segmented speech patterns, often just throwing away sentences mid-word.

Thief of Quality: Quinn goes on for the entire run of the act, with barely a breather except during the laughter. He mumbles as well, stammering through as if he's already had a few drinks.

Thief of my heart: His characterization of the founding fathers was great, in particular Benjamin Franklin as The Godfather Don Corleone