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In his 2013 showUnconstitutional, Quinn offered his take on U.S. constitutional history.
Yousuffered a heart attack last February, but youve trimmed down and look great.
Im not eating bacon.
I used to eat bacon every day.
Id feel like I had a pulsing in my arteries or in my bloodstream.
Congrats on surviving that and on the new show.
But this was the one where I was like,Oh, this is big.
People were just bugging me, left and right.
This is prelude to war talk from everybody.
Thats how I feel.
So anyway, I just wanted to make a show about that.
What were some of the things you were seeing or hearing that made you think that?
We all have that instinct of being drawn to negativity and drama.
I mean, I have it, too.
But now I hope people realize what its going to lead to.
It doesnt lead to something mellow.
ButRed State Blue Statedoes feel a bit bleaker.
You talk about how were in danger of a civil war breaking out.
Ive lost hope for the United States as weve always looked at it.
I think its time to reconfigure the place, or its going to happen the ugly way.
It happens one way or the other.
Its interesting you always wonder,How could these wars happen?
How come people dont see it?This is what it looks like.
Everybodys like, Oh, Americans are too comfortable.
That was always the line: Weve got all these creature comforts, so itll never come to that.
But now I dont feel that way.
I feel like its different than even three years ago.
They broke up into Tajikistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan … whatever the other ones are.
Uzbekistan … still more.
That was for a reason.
I just think somebody needs to go, Hey, wait a minute, what are we doing?
This is not going well.
Lets take a stab at figure something out.
They cheered in Boston.
People are done with each other.
Thats the funny thing about America you just think,The United States does not break up.
We dont break up its called United in our name.
And now it seems like we may have to.
What do you think the Battle for Six Flags looks like?[Laughs.]
It almost has the look of one of those medieval encampments.
You talked earlier about how part of your inspiration for this show was what Trump has triggered.
We dont give a shit at this point.
But Trump certainly doesnt help this.
When hes gone, its not over.
You start and stop in between thoughts sometimes.
Is this something youre aware of?
Is this something youre trying to execute?Im tryingnotto execute it.
Im trying to make it smoother.
Thats just the way its always been.
This crowd is about to turn.
Thats just a muscle you develop, and this show is not about that.
The title of the show, and the performance itself, points to your centrist views.
I know thats not in fashion now, [but] Ive just always been like that.
I feel like Im very liberal in certain ways, but in other ways not.
I think I said inUnconstitutional, Im pro-gay marriage and pro-choice, but Im also pro-death penalty.
That was my joke.
I feel like if youre not marching in lockstep with everybody whatever side youre on immediately, youre dismissed.
Thats how it is now.
Theres a realFootlooseparent in people.
Nobody tells you what to say.
But [countering that] is good for everybody, I think.
People go into comedy because its dangerous to go onstage and take a stab at get laughs.
The right only wants to see this country as this great, shining example.
The left only wants to see it as corrupt.
Cant we have a little of both?
Whatever happened to nuance?
Whatever happened to [the] layers of things?
Nobodys denying that part Im not denying that part but thats not all of anybodys whole story.
Thats just the way it is.
And then the other side, the right, is like, No, were all good.
And that bothers me when anyone does it.
Youre very critical of the left for its fight over political correctness and its impact on free speech.
And the same thing has happened with political correctness.
It started as a great thing, and then the idiots get in charge, and it gets destroyed.
For 200 years in this country, all the censorship, all that political correctness came from the right.
Then, 40 or 50 years ago, now it all comes from the left.
You seem to have this nuanced view of where we should be on the free speech debate.
Youre critical of anyone who limits speech.
Can you explain that?Yeah.
Im a contradictory hypocrite, just like everybody else in this country.
I think Im special.
I think Ive done the work.
Thats the only explanation I can think of.
Its true, thats the sad part.
I think its irreparable.
People who are just true believers, zealots, are the ones setting the tone in each party.
And thats beneath us.
Social media has definitely enhanced that, or sped that up, right?Yeah.
The fastest typists and the people with the most time on their hands set our national tone.
Speaking of,on Twitteryou seem to play a version of yourself.[Laughs.]
you’ve got the option to be boastful, but then you retweet shit-talkers.
Then people started retweeting; people started cursing me out.
It just made me laugh so hard.
The man did a lot of bad things, did a lot of good things, too.
A lot of friends left behind … just giving him a send-off.
And people were like, Whats your fuckin problem?
So I just kept feeding into them because Im a natural ball-breaker anyway.
Then I said Will Ferrellwas using and dealing heroin.
I just thought it was funny because Will Ferrell is like the nicest, most clean-cut guy ever.
So I go, Look, he stole my script forAnchorman.
I had a script, it was calledNewsman, or something.
People were calling me a bitter fuck.
Im retweeting them, going, You say Im bitter, but you werent there.
It was so much fun.
And it would pull some people back, which was funny, too.
In those days on Twitter, Id threaten to stab people.
Id be like, Guess what, when I stab you, well see how funny it is then.
Imagine doing that today?
People would be like, Oh my God!
This guy threatened to stab people.
It was a different time on Twitter, too.
