In late August, HBO Max announced that it had ordered three new stand-up specials, including a COVID-era drive-in special from Colin Quinn now titled Colin Quinn & Friends: A Parking Lot Comedy Show. Directed by Quinn, the part-documentary, part-stand-up showcase special was taped at a live drive-in show in Brooklyn on September 1 and features Quinn alongside a lineup of other stand-ups. The list includes Rich Vos, Rachel Feinstein, Bonnie McFarlane, Keith Robinson, Chris DiStefano, Marina Franklin, Dan Soder, Bobby Kelly, and SNL’s Sam Jay, whose own stand-up special 3 in the Morning debuted on Netflix August 4. Jay, for her part, seems thrilled to be there in the trailer: “I don’t know why I said yes to this, because I’ve been doing good in life.”
As the trailer also reveals, most of the comedians at this show admit to being just a little bit rusty owing to COVID-19, like when Franklin tells the crowd of cars, “Colin wanted us to do new jokes, which is really kind of an asshole thing to do.” Even weirder is the fact that there is a ton of honking instead of audience laughter. We’re going to assume for now that all the honks are positive honks, and they’re definitely, at least, a safer way for an audience to express approval these days than being packed inside an indoor comedy club laughing.
Colin Quinn & Friends: A Parking Lot Comedy Show makes its debut on HBO Max this Thursday, November 12.
