Looking like Harvey Keitel – and killing like him.

Deconstructionist Instructionist.

Standup comedian Colin Quinn flexes his brain bone – and incites Americans to flex theirs – in this refreshingly intelligent take on the U.S. constitution. Now all we need is for Congress to grow a brain and listen to him.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL finds the Noo Yawk raconteur in his finest form. Ever. Always been a fan of Colin Quinn’s scattershot comedy; have followed his career as generally as anyone with a cable and internet connections, but this feature has cannoned him above the morass of his contemporaries who pule about girlfriends and pets and being stuck on planes with screaming kids.

Please observe the Fasten Seat Belts sign; Colin Quinn is entering George Carlin airspace.

He has a love for it, but knows it is not sacred. He’ll abide by it, but knows it can do with improvement. He reminds us the United States constitution was written during a convention – a four-month bar crawl in Philadelphia. Therefore likens America’s psyche to a forgetful, boastful, irresponsible drunk. Respectfully. He has done his research, he is no stranger to this arcane document, and quotes it freely, fluidly, not by rote, but through an abiding comprehension, interweaving it with the flow of jokes, diversions and analogies; paraphrasing THE GODFATHER, taking jabs at Jeff Foxworthy, the Kardashians, Wayne LaPierre, megachurches… Quinn’s style has always been tangents and peripherals to the main topic, we can see his mind working faster than his mouth, yet this set is a tight, cohesive juggernaut of educative hilarity. And Quinn is the perfect instigator for this political discussion because he is neither left nor right politically, but so Middle that any way he turns will be more Middle: “…pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-death penalty, pro-gay marriage. What do they add up to? Anti-overcrowding.”

Quinn reminds us the Founding Fathers prohibited the press from attending the brainstorming sessions, as they foresaw it would devolve to Reality TV – or the 1780’s version thereof. It was time to get serious, time to get real, time to break with England. Yet Quinn is not averse to admitting the idealism got lost somewhere along the way: “It used to be MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, now we’ll take a scene from RESERVOIR DOGS…”

Quinn’s rapid-fire extolling of the constitution’s underlying concept – to get rid of the class system that America left behind in England – echoes the current call to arms that an Englishman (Russell Brand) is now making to world societies (in his insightful book Revolution). It goes to show that those Founding Fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Adams and the rest of the Ringos) actually got the concept right, but the reality of power and the avarice and privilege of leadership just kinda got in the way.

Whenever a comedian’s “observational humor” tilts into actual “sociological issues,” in my book, they’ve won. If they do it artfully enough, they extricate themselves from the engine pit and deep-gouge their name in history books.

Filmed sometime in 2013 somewhere in New York (y’know, I’m sick of doing web searches that won’t specify dates, times and locations – fuck you, Internet!), Quinn brings it full circle to end this one-man show with a solution. Citing Canada as a suitable referee to step in and give America a pep talk, he advises the Land Of The Free to take some time to work things out… eat, drink… take four months…

In Philadelphia. No press.

Spotlight cut to black.

Quinn 2016.

END

And now for something completely ignorant…

The Comedian Formerly Known As Dennis Miller.

Dennis Miller is smart. I used to record THE DENNIS MILLER SHOW on VHS (that’s an olden-days DVR, chillun) and marvel at the way his mind spiraled headlong into esoteric references to rail against ignorance.

In his 2014 standup special, AMERICA 180 DEGRESS (a one hour routine, filmed in Irvine), Miller is now using his enormous vocabulary and esoteric spiraling to rail against everything democratic, using his intelligence to – ironically – rail against intelligence.And I don’t get it.

What I don’t get is how an obviously smart person like Miller could have been bought off by corporate shills so completely. If he was not bought off, then I ponder on how insular and lazy he had to become to drink so deeply of the Kool Aid provided by the rich crowd he waddles with, and not bother educating himself on what is truly politically happening in America. If you’re a Republican, this standup show is laugh-a-minute. If you have even an inkling of how the country, the economy, or the climate actually works, then you’ll watch with your jaw open, as Dennis Miller pisses his pants trying to denigrate intelligence and democrats with his vaunted obscure references.

If there were one titter to be found in this feature that is not predicated on hating the Obama administration, it would be rate-able; as it is, unless you go into this show with Obama Derangement Syndrome, you’ll see it for the slanted agitprop it is, which makes it unrate-able. It is perpetuating ignorance for the ignorant wrong-wing masses to lap up. That being the case, there is literally NO edifying humor in this supposed comedy show.

Now I’ve known for awhile that Miller has been playing for the arrogant uneducated anti-science team, having seen him spout his political inanities as a regular guest on the Fox News network. (To think he was once the Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live.) But I figured he might redeem himself in his own standup special, where he would have the freedom to extemporize on political topics surely too nuanced for his Fox demographic. Sadly, not the case; what he says bluntly on Fox News is, in fact, what this once-great thinker actually believes now…

Dennis Miller: Too smart for his own stupid.

In his first five minutes, Miller launches into a tirade about climate change. Even as he thinks he’s needling climate scientists, asking them to explain how “global warming makes the weather colder” (I got a suggestion, Dennis: Google it. I’m sure you’re not that anti-technology that you don’t have this worldwide search engine), and then mocking them by explaining, “One day it’s hot, the next day it’s cold – that’s called “weather”!” he doesn’t even realize he has shot himself in the foot. Because the first thing environmental scientists explain to dullards who bring up “weather” is that vagaries in day-to-day heat or cold has nothing to do with the macro phenomenon we call Climate Change. That is, in fact, simply called weather. And – they will tell you – if you’re going to look at daily weather to use as defense for disbelieving climate change, instead of weather patterns over eons, you’re not even looking at the correct data.

In another bit, Miller accuses President Obama of trying to “slip the burden of calling it Obamacare, and now calling it the Affordable Heathcare Act” — Sigh, where do we start educating this once-bright mind that slipped and fell and hit its head on Republican? It was  always called the Affordable Health Care Act, you dummy! It was the mean-spirited Republicans who believed the AHA would fail as a social program (and did everything to try to make it fail) and thought to “burden” Obama with the blame by calling it “Obamacare.” Turns out that American society embraced the AHA and people gladly called it Obamacare, because they wanted to credit the man who saved their lives. Even Obama embraced that Republican “insult” because, he says, he DOES care.

Smart Dennis then goes on to hit ALL the Republican talking points, chastising governor Jerry Brown, a snide reference to Michael Bloomberg, jabs at Gore’s climatology, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and of course, President Obama. (An indication of how low and unoriginal he has sunk – he resorts to critiquing Obama over using a teleprompter; firstly, he’s criticizing Obama for something that every president uses, as if Obama is the only one who uses it; secondly, it’s already been done to death, Dennis – by that network that pays you to be a pearl amongst swine. Not only that – MILLER HIMSELF is using a teleprompter! He qualifies that he is using a teleprompter because he’s only a comedian – hey, Chris Rock doesn’t use one! Neither does Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Joe Rogan, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle… get off your low horse, Dennis.)

The tragedy in this routine is that it’s not like the old days, where Miller would call out any politicians’ stupidity, no matter their party; now, he is actually disparaging physical attributes of these democratic politicians like a shrewish girlfriend. He also hits Solyndra, immigrant amnesty, MSNBC, homosexuality, Christianity, Benghazi (fer cryin’ out loud!) – and why the hell is he defending DUCK DYNASTY and Creationists?!

I’ve read his books, I’ve revered his shows, I’ve envied his mind. And after all that time as a smart person, who could foresee that Dennis Miller would do a complete 180?

END