Colin Quinn
After leaving SNL, Quinn had a sketch comedy show on NBC called The Colin Quinn Show that lasted for only three episodes in 2002, after being canceled due to surprisingly strong, "edgy" racial content, critical pans, and mediocre ratings.
Quinn became host of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central in 2003. The show immediately followed The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and was one of several attempts to create a companion show for Stewart's program (eventually this was achieved with The Colbert Report). However, Tough Crowd never managed to keep the majority of its lead-in audience, perhaps because, while both shows dealt with politics, they had widely varying styles of humor, with Quinn's show being less subtly satiric and more rant-based. Although it was renewed through the 2005 television season, Tough Crowd was placed on indefinite hiatus in October 2004, with its "final" episode airing on November 4, 2004. The show featured four comedians (often his friends such as Dave Attell, Jim Norton, and Patrice Oneal) with Quinn as host, discussing various political issues. These conversations often seemed heated and almost violent, but tended to be affectionate at heart. Quinn gave many comedians exposure on the show, which ran for roughly 250 episodes over a two-year period. Quinn often complained on-air about the show's ratings, and made many self-deprecating comments about the state of his career.
Colin performs regularly at the Comedy Cellar in New York City, where many top comedians perform when not on the road. In 2004, he was named #56 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. He was also named to the Irish America Magazine list of the "Top 100 Irish Americans of the Year".
He now can be heard as the "unofficial co-host" on the Nick DiPaolo show on 92.3 Free FM in New York City, airing Monday-Friday from noon to 3pm. Nick often refers to him as "the joke fairy," due to his propensity for telling a joke and hanging up the phone before getting a response. Colin also has a top ten podcast on Myspace with friend and fellow comedian Robert Kelly.
Visit the official website: www.colinquinn.net
Visit MySpace site: www.myspace.com/colincomedy
