Colin Quinn On How His ‘New York Story’ Differs From Yours or Donald Trump’s, Yet Is Also the Same

Colin Quinn realizes that New York’s story is uniquely American, so he didn’t tour it across America after his off-Broadway run – as he did with his previous one-man show, Unconstitutional – before filming The New York Story for Netflix.
“It’s only about New York,” Quinn told Decider this week. “I didn’t take it on the road, because I figured, outside of New York City, there’s Puerto Ricans in Chicago and Florida maybe, but this is an outdoor city. People would go (looking at him onstage), ‘Where would you sit? On the porch? On a stoop? What’s a stoop?'”

That said, everyone has a feeling or a vision about what America’s most populous city is and what it represents, and his show plays off of their pre-existing stereotypes.
“Hopefully, The Sopranos‘ popularity helps sell it,” Quinn joked. “It’s not a show that if people go, ‘I don’t like that show,’ I don’t blame you. I can’t really complain. But if you don’t complain about every waking moment, how could you be a comic?”

The former Weekend Update anchor for Saturday Night Live knows tough crowds, and not just because he called his popular Comedy Central panel show that. Quinn jokes that in upgrading his stage set from off-Broadway for Netflix, the bigger budget allows him “to play around” with the visual presentation, while also opening him up to criticism. “The downside is, while you’re having fun, you’re thinking about every comedian making fun of you. ‘Look at you with all these props? What a moron! What’s this guy thinking?’ All these stupid guys, judging my set. It’s all positive, though.”
But this show is personal.
“I did a show called ‘Irish Wake’ in the 1990s that was a little more personal, but this is definitely my most personal work that’s been filmed,” Quinn told Decider.
Quinn was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and has witnessed the demographic and economic changes firsthand both citywide and in his old neighborhood. His New York Story examines how waves of immigrants over the course of 400 years have influenced changes large and small, one generation to the next.

President-elect Donald J. Trump also is a native New Yorker. His New York story is much different from yours or Quinn’s, though.
“Obviously, when I think of New York, I think of neighborhood-type stuff. I don’t know where he’s going to go with all of that immigration talk. But even he could not deny where he’s from – Jamaica, Queens – immigrants saved that whole neighborhood. Also the Bronx, Brooklyn. It’s partly (former Mayor Rudy) Guiliani, too, and I know nobody wants to give him credit,” Quinn said. “And then, OK, you hipsters helped, too. You know what, Sean, I’m not going to deny it.”
“Trump’s from Jamaica Estates. But around there, Jamaica was a tough neighborhood. Being there now is being in a Sikh community, by the Punjabi, but it’s good. I do wonder if he realizes all the positives that have happened. They’d go, ‘Hey, we’re legal immigrants, so don’t lump us in!’ But as a general rule, you can’t say most immigrants aren’t bringing positive changes.”
How would you compare Trump’s New York story to your own?
“I have to think about it,” Quinn said. “It’s not as easy a question as it sounds. Part of how he won people over was by saying this guy has low energy and being correct about that. That was part of his whole thing, and it was a New York move. He said, ‘You want to listen to this guy for four years?’ and it was true. He used whatever New York energy on Jeb Bush and it worked. You could see Jeb’s eyes blink. You can’t talk like that?! But it’s definitely a New York thing.”
Your show looks back on how past New Yorkers have influenced the city and our nation. What’s the future story look like for NYC?
“I would say the future of New York is bright, but we all know the loony L train shutting down, everyone’s like, what’s going to happen? But there’s not a worse thing that could happen. There’s nothing else around there. The L and the 7 are both like that. I know the 7 has been practicing closing down for years now,” Quinn joked.”Williamsburg and Bushwick were like this moonscape like the Bronx in the 1970s, but thank goodness all these kids have bikes now.”

He also sees all of the construction going on and wonders what it’ll amount to.
“I don’t know. It’s expanding. It’s so crowded that I can’t even imagine,” Quinn said. “It’s all these high-rises that are being built and they’re empty. Who’s going to live in these buildings?”
I see that on my commute every day through Queensboro Plaza, too. And none of those apartments are affordable.
“I remember the biggest move in New York in the 80s, everyone talked about that Citibank building in Long Island City,” Quinn recalled. “Wow. They’re building a huge building. Everyone thought it was the start of the comeback of New York City…and now it’s just getting in the way of real estate. That would be a great show, to get two guys who really know real estate. Not Trump, but people who were in Tribeca in 1981 and knew to hold onto it. It’s the funniest thing. They should have been doing a reality show for the past 10 years. It’s so crazy. It’s so strange, but somebody knew what they were doing.”
“If you talked to anybody who moved out to Long Island or Florida, they’d say you can’t live there (Long Island City). They’re so programmed from the old days. ‘You can’t live there.’ But look at it now.”
[Watch Colin Quinn: The New York Story on Netflix]
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.