Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn

Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn was a talk show on Comedy Central. It aired weeknights at 11:30 PM ET, immediately following The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It debuted in 2003, and was put on an "indefinite hiatus" in October 2004, with what was presumably its final episode airing on November 4th of that year.

Related Topics:
Talk show - Comedy Central - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 2003

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The show featured Colin Quinn and four other comedian guests discussing current events and issues. the emphasis was on the comedy and the debates were never settled. The show opened with a monologue by Quinn; after the opening credits, the debates happened throughout most of the show. Near the end there was usually a sketch of some sort, followed by each of the four guests doing a brief monologue on a particular topic that was discussed earlier in the episode (the comedians prepare these monologues ahead of time).

Related Topics:
Colin Quinn - Comedian - Current events - Monologue - Sketch

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Regular guests were Patrice O'Neal, Nick DiPaolo, Jim Norton, Keith Robinson, Rich Vos, and Greg Giraldo. Other frequent guests included Marc Maron, Judy Gold, Robert Kelly, Dave Attell, Jim David, Laurie Kilmartin, Dom Irrera, Kevin Hart, and Sherrod Small. Not only did the show feature many of the best working comics today, the legend George Carlin even made an appearance as well, much to the enjoyment of Quinn, the other comics, and the viewers. The guests on the final show were O'Neal, DiPaolo, Norton, Giraldo, and Keith Robinson.

Related Topics:
Patrice O'Neal - Nick DiPaolo - Jim Norton - Keith Robinson - Rich Vos - Greg Giraldo - Marc Maron - Judy Gold - Robert Kelly - Dave Attell - Jim David - Laurie Kilmartin - Dom Irrera - Kevin Hart - Sherrod Small - George Carlin

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It was frequently criticized for being low brow, racist, sexist, and so forth, often by panelists on the show itself. However, many people, especially fans of comedy, agree that the show was greatly underappreciated and the honesty that was permitted provided much-deserved exposure for many New York comedians.

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There were times when the comics would begin shouting at each other at the expense of being funny, but the panelists over time avoided this for the most part. Throughout the entire two-year run, the show featured something rarely seen on television: brutal honesty. Quinn refused to become like other hosts, wanting not only to express his own unvarnished views, but encouraging other comics to do the same. Many believe he accomplished his goal of creating an incredibly honest and funny discussion of all issues. Quinn would chastise the other comics when they would commit "hack moves" such as pandering to the audience for applause. His point was to remind them that as comedians, they are to seek laughter, not applause. One of the greatest elements of Tough Crowd was the spontaneity that occurred when the four comics and Colin, most of whom are friends, would discuss current issues without the guidelines that limit many shows. There were no limits on Tough Crowd, where the other comics, and even Colin, would be subject to insults from any of the other comedians on the show.

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Jim Norton discussed the ending of the show on his blog, where he said that Comedy Central would send down notes to the show to stop being political or racial, because they already had shows that dealt with those topics (probably meaning The Daily Show and Chappelle's Show), or that the show did not fit with Comedy Central's image it wanted to have. Near the end of the show, a website was started to try to save it. This website was created by the folks who run cringehumor.net, a New York City based comedian discussion website/blog/forum.

Related Topics:
Blog - The Daily Show - Chappelle's Show - Comedy Central

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The last show contained emotional monologues by Quinn, who attacked his detractors (such as the New York Times) as being hypocritical and elitist for their negative reviews. He also attempted to define "comedic integrity" as the ability to critique the hypocrisy of society, but to be real enough to admit that you are as guilty of it as anyone else. The implication was that many political comedians spend all their time criticizing society and others, but rarely themselves.

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