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Joe Rogan · 2024-05-03

Joe Rogan Experience #2145 - Colin Quinn

Colin Quinn and Joe Rogan riff on comedy, social media's damage, martial arts, old Times Square, true-crime liars, and the comedy business.

Joe Rogan Experience #2145 - Colin Quinn
The guest

Colin Quinn: Veteran stand-up comedian, former SNL Weekend Update anchor and Tough Crowd host, known for one-man shows and his series Block by Block.

What this episode covers

Colin Quinn joins Joe Rogan for a wide-ranging, story-heavy conversation rooted in their decades-long friendship in comedy. They dissect how social media has 'broken people's brains,' fueled mob hysteria, anti-Semitism, and campus protest culture. The talk swings through martial arts nostalgia (Bruce Lee, the Jet Center, Rogan's fighting past), the seedy old Times Square and the rise of porn, and the brutal history of the American West and Jerusalem. Quinn shares wild true-crime tales including a fake doctor who killed a patient, and they close on the corruption, theft, and grind of the comedy business plus Quinn's new psychiatry-themed special.

Recommended on this episode

BookRecommendedISBN verified

Empire of the Summer Moon

S.C. Gwynne

“you got to read it it's incredible”
“you ever read the Empire of the summer moon no oh my God I'll get it to you you got to read it it's incredible”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

Boogie Nights

Paul Thomas Anderson

“great movie great movie”
“there was a great scene in Boogie Nights when Bert Reynolds is so disgusted that he has to do like amateur porn”— Colin Quinn
MediaRecommended

The Hustler

Robert Rossen

“he was amazing he was great in the hostler”
“he was in the Hustler oh yeah he was amazing he was great in the hostler”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

The Color of Money

Martin Scorsese

“oh it was a great movie too it's a great movie too very accurate too”
“we all love monst made Itor money color money color money was a separate book well it was a sequel”— Colin Quinn
MediaRecommended

The Queen's Gambit

Scott Frank

“amazing show amazing show”
“the Queen's Gambit do you ever see that show on Netflix amazing show amazing show about that girl who's a wizard chess player”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

Kung Fu

Ed Spielman

“ited that show worked I loved that show I used to love that show yeah it was a great show”
“he was supposed to be in that TV show kung fu really yeah it was supposed to be about him”— Joe Rogan

The guest's own work

MediaBy the guest

Colin Quinn: Our Time Is Up

Colin Quinn

“what is it called Colin Quinn our time is up our time is up you therapist always go our time is up”— Colin Quinn
MediaBy the guest

Block by Block

Colin Quinn

“I've been doing this series called block by block on YouTube which is um with this guy homeless pimp”— Colin Quinn
MediaBy the guest

Colin Quinn: The New York Story

Colin Quinn

“the Constitution show is a perfect example I went every night to the creek and cave in Long Island City”— Colin Quinn

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

BookReferenced

Jerusalem: The Biography

Simon Sebag Montefiore

“I've been reading this book speaking of Cruelty Jerusalem it's about the history of Jerusalem so the early sieges”— Colin Quinn
MediaReferenced

Caddyshack

Harold Ramis

“when I saw catty Shack for the first time and I was like a young kid and I'm like oh catty Shack my heroes are in it”— Colin Quinn
MediaReferenced

Smokey and the Bandit

Hal Needham

“how about when he did Jackie gleon Jackie gleon and him with Smoky the Bandon what a combination Jackie Gleason and Bert Reynolds”— Colin Quinn
MediaReferenced

Inception

Christopher Nolan

“handdrawn plot map for Inception wow that's nuts thoughts out you know that is nuts”— Jamie
MediaReferenced

Enter the Dragon

Robert Clouse

“Chinese connection was the first one then Fist of Fury and then Enter the Dragon yeah those are the three big ones”— Colin Quinn

Big reveals from this episode

  • Colin Quinn filmed his new special in front of a psychiatrist convention and had them analyze him afterward.
  • Quinn tells a story of being on 200mg of edibles fishing in Hawaii and having a dolphin-inspired epiphany that 'me' is the same in every being.
  • Rogan reveals he fought roughly 100 times, sometimes three or four fights in a single day, losing his last kickboxing fight as the third of the day.
  • Rogan broke his nose about 20 times and finally had it surgically reconstructed around age 40.
  • Rogan trained kickboxing at the Jet Center alongside gang members in 1994 Van Nuys, sparring carefully so as not to humiliate them.
  • Quinn reveals the dermatologist who removed a cyst from his arm, Dean Faiello, was a fake doctor who later killed a patient and buried her under his garage.
  • Matthew Lawrence's account of being asked by a director to take Polaroids in a robe is discussed as industry abuse.
  • Comics including Quinn were robbed of millions by management firm Spotlight, a Bernie Madoff-style scam for comedy.

Worth remembering

  • Quinn wrote a new monologue himself every day on Tough Crowd, admitting many bombed.
  • Bruce Lee was originally meant to star in the TV show Kung Fu but was passed over for David Carradine.
  • Rogan's friend Dr. Mark Gordon specializes in traumatic brain injuries; even jet-skiing and heading soccer balls can cause CTE.
  • Dolphins have a cerebral cortex about 40% larger than a human's and have regional dialects.
  • The porn film Deep Throat was shown in mainstream theaters in 1972, with stars like Johnny Carson reportedly in line.
  • The Comanche tortured captives by hacking off limbs and throwing them on bonfires; no prisoners were taken.
  • The Black Stone at Mecca is believed to be a meteorite that 'linked Heaven and Earth.'
  • Christopher Nolan reportedly owns no phone or computer; Quentin Tarantino writes scripts by hand, as did J.K. Rowling for early Harry Potter books.
  • 'Foerster syndrome' was an early-1900s diagnosis for compulsive punning and wisecracking.
  • Comedian Lenny Bruce is credited as the first modern stand-up to 'just talk about stuff' rather than tell rote jokes.