Honestly, he's too smart for most people but he doesn't have the reputation as such. So, all the stupid people who can't keep up with ironic composition and sarcasm are embarrassed or uncomfortable around it. They can't tell if they are the ones being made fun of. So they stay away. If Colin had the rep to accompany his intelligence the assholes who wanted to appear smart would show up just to be part of the smart crowd. See: Dennis Miller. His comedy is smart but his references leave the majority of the audience in the dust. If you ever see him live look around at the confused faces. Bill Maher falls into that category too. People see them to be seen seeing them. If Colin had the rep, he'd pull that crowd. People are stupid, and people don't like to be challenged. They like mainstream. It's not necessarily a condemnation either. People have lives and taking the time to get to know comedy, a certain comic, and taking the time and effort to see them live just isn't in the schedule. Being a fan of stand up comedy just takes more time and effort than turning your brain off and watching a TV show once a week.

I also really like him, but we have to admit the way he talks takes some getting used to. Until you learn that he is really smart, he doesn't sound like he is, and it still isn't always easy to understand him. Dennis Miller sounds smart, so he doesn't start off with a disadvantage, and have to prove anything.

So this. A Buddy of mine thinks he's dumb because he'd stumble words in tough crowd. But he never actually listened long enough to Listen to WHAT he's saying

This sounds right to me. It was a weird dynamic in the room. It was this kind of rednecky casino crowd who seemed to like him, but were a little confused, too. "He's making fun of Obama, but wait, he just made fun of Bush. He just bashed immigrants, but wait, he's from New York. Isn't everyone from New York a communist?"

I tweeted him a screencap of this thread and Colin retweeted it hahaha: https://twitter.com/CARLTONISBACK/status/409724487471337472/photo/1/large

Nice..

wow, that was a pretty accurate analysis brotha, mad props.

"Anthony looks like a back alley Tunisian knife fighter"

   -CQ

Colin's my favorite comedian of all time. I really do think he's brilliant. Over the years, I've realized people just don't get it.

Being a "comic's comic" (which he certainly is) usually doesn't fill theaters. But guys like Burr and Louie are as respected as Colin among comedians, but for some reason their appeal runs the gamut.

His twitter nauseates me and I absolutely love it. Hopefully the super team with Bobo gives him the exposure he deserves.

If he'd hired PR people, played the gossip game he would've been Whitney successful too. His twitter humor got him hits on CNN and he was outraged like this is what our culture has gone down to that he can fake shit on will ferrell and legitimate people think it's newsworthy. Will Ferrell's not even that successful. Anchorman & Elf were his highest grossing films. But Ferrell played the game, kissed Lorne's ass so he keeps getting handed movies. If Colin had lost weight, done some kind of gossip rag bullshit, showed up with a hot chick on a beach and talked about how he's "still going strong" after all these years on SNL instead of talking about goodfellas and long island & the constitution he wouldn't be colin. Haters aside, Jay Mohr had the same problem. On Mohr Stories he described going to a studio head meeting with his manager where the studio exec showed them a photo of teens in south america he'd banged for money. Jay couldn't hold it in and made a joke out of it. After 8 minutes of silence, the meeting was over. Colin's whole being is anti-PC, true humor, saying the things as a comedian which others aren't allowed to say in polite company, which is why we love him and we loved tough crowd. But that is exactly why tough crowd was cancelled b/c studios are OK with faux-edgy comedians who hold and espouse progressive elitist views but not genuine mockery of mainstream shibboleths. I'm not putting Colin inside some ideological cage, or other comedians like Mohr or Patrice who are arguably progressive but don't do progressive humor. I'm not saying Colin's a conservative so he doesn't get gigs from liberal hollywood. But....he also doesn't do the obvious standup comedy where half the jokes are retreads of how conservatives americans are secretly racist inside. And that is why he's overlooked. So yeah...you can blame the old people who hate "noo yawk with dem joos" for not liking Colin. I blame the "fuck the midwest" old people in charge and give Sarah Silverman and Whitney Cummings every chance and then some.

It's hard to talk about without sounding snobbish, but echoing what others have already said, Colin is just far too smart to be mainstream.

I think you'll find most people want comedy to be a passive experience; they don't want to be engaged, they just want to laugh. Colin can't do that. Colin's too fucking intelligent for that shit. Colin loves engaging people and making them think. And making people think instantly puts a wall between him and mass appeal.

Whitney Cummings had two fucking network shows, for fucks sake. Two fucking network sitcoms. Colin, on the other hand, was the brains behind one of the greatest shows Comedy Central ever had: Tough Crowd... which got the ax and can now only be found on YouTube in shitty VHS-rip quality.

Because he hasn't been able to put out a successful mainstream product that can be cross-promoted to bring the audience to his shows. Hopefully his upcoming autobiography, Hodgepodge, can change that.

look at all the stand up specials on netflix...most people have shit taste in comedy or tv/radio/music in general.

poor col, i wish people realized how great his comic mind is.

Well you saw his show at a casino is probably one thing, you're gonna find comps and passerbys and an audience that aren't necessarily even stand-up comedy fans at all.

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I'm glad that he's not mainstream. Who wants to see him pacing around a stage in a leather jacket while the crowd hoots and hollers every time he mentions the bill of rights? Nothing wrong with being a respected niche performer in a country of retards.

I honestly think its his speech impediment, or whatever's wrong with the way he talks. He's just plain hard to understand at times, and sometimes his lines come out with weird inflections and land oddly. Its kind of offputting, his delivery takes time to get used to

he doesn't have a smooth delivery, often mumbles through punchlines, his references can be a little too specific for a lot of people, and he's VERY new york.

he's my favorite comic currently, but I also didn't really like him at first and can see why he's not a household name.

his commentary track w/ Jerry on the Comedian DVD is what hooked me on him.

I'm going to see him in New Orleans. Pretty excited.

I just realized last minute he was going to be near me. It was really great. Most comedians would have bombed in that room. It was really quite bad, but he managed to turn it around. You're in for a treat.

Why the hell was he playing a casino in Snoqualmie, Washington?

There wouldn't be any 70 year old women falling asleep if he was performing in Boston, Chicago, Philly, Pittsburg, DC, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Austin, Denver, San Fran, LA, etc.

The only thing I could come up with was that the room had the monitors to show his slides, but he really doesn't need those. The bits still work with no visual aids.

I agree, real weird crowd. I just assumed at least half them were degenerate gamblers that never heard of him and got comps. I was sitting behind the guy who yelled out "Blazing Saddles!" when Colin brought up Django. It brought the room to a grinding halt and he left out of shame 5 minutes later. I loved every second of it.

I didn't realize that guy left. That was hilarious. The guy sitting behind me was commenting on each joke like it was conversation. I wanted to tip his chair over.

Oh yeah, a minute or so afterwards he turned around to me and was like "had to try, ya know?" which was met with more silence, even though I wanted to inform him that it is a ONE man show. He left shortly thereafter. Fuck that crowd, CQ ruled!

I tweeted Colin screencaps of both your comments and he retweeted them. Someone else said he addressed that guy, what'd he say?

Quinn brought up Django, making a point about how phony people are about race and then some guy just yelled, "Blazing Saddles!"

Quinn stopped speaking mid-sentence and everyone in the room just looked at the guy.

Quinn stares at him for a second, not sure what to say, then said, "Yes, thank you. That was the perfect time and place to say that." or something similar.

Huge laugh.

Similarly, at the very end of the show, some giant Jabba-the-hutt looking bitch interrupted his closing joke. It's this long build toward his final statement and she sort of broke the flow by yelling, "Come on!" I couldn't tell if she was encouraging him or just being the fat, annoying cow she is, but it was really obnoxious.

Haha thank you man. That crowd sounds like it fucking stunk.

I don't know—did he do his bit where he paces frantically back and forth, asking who shit on the coats? Tke kids love that bit.

It's a tough call, but I'd find the 'Toosh way more engaging than the pile of heroin the audience pulled themselves out of to see him. No one recognized him from Remote Control?

i thought the Pearl Jam show also in Seattle really split his fanbase, they didn't know which show to go to

I think its probably because most people only know him from Weekend Update. He came after Norm and before Tina Fey/Jimmy Fallon. Following Norm would be tough for anyone and Jimmy/Tina were so good, you quickly forgot who came before.

I don't think his dry delivery was well suited to the format.

I never thought much of Colin until I started hearing him on O&A.

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