Quinn finds the funny in race relations
"So, yo, where are the pictures?"
It's entirely possible that someone coming across stand-up comic and onetime "SNL Weekend Update" anchor Colin Quinn's The Coloring Book (*** out of four) will wonder at the outset why there's nothing to color.
Then, there's the subtitle, "A Comedian Solves Race Relations in America," which, coming at this especially fraught time in our ongoing dialogue on this perpetually delicate issue, comes across as an empty threat, or cheeky hubris, or both.
But the book isn't as inflammatory as it may sound because it really isn't about color – or, more to the point, not JUST color.
Yes, Quinn's chapters refer to specific cultural groups with titles submitting hypothetical (and somewhat implausible) Crayola colors for each ethnicity. The first chapter, purporting to focus on African Americans, is titled "Dashiki Red, Black & Green" while the second, on Italians, is dubbed "Muscle Car Chrome." In the interest of equanimity, Quinn, who is Irish, headlines the chapter on his own heritage, "Paddy Wagon Green." And think again, WASPs, if you think you're getting a pass. Your chapter title is colored "Blood Blue." You're welcome! as Quinn would likely say, if he were writing this.
And yes: If what you're expecting from the subtitle are rapid-fire generalizations about race and religion…well, in the public interest, let's submit Quinn's brief for his own defense: "If you read this book and don't find it funny, it's not because it's not funny, it's because you're brainwashed not to laugh at ethnic humor."
This sort-of disclaimer comes toward the end of the book; after readers will have made their way through such bon mots as: "Black people hate white people more than any other group, yet we are your biggest fans." "If an Asian starts to gossip, everyone looks at him like, 'Don't you have homework?' " "New York Egyptians are considered the humorous Arabs, which I understand is like being the charismatic Canadians." "Jews know that you don't have to pay off a boss when you can harass them for weeks on end." "Nobody Irish ever goes, 'Look how handsome he's getting!' If someone said that, we'd go, 'What are you, a creep?' "
Keep in mind that these are among the few such one-liners that can (probably) stand alone without setting off alarms.
Keep in mind, also, that context in such comedy is everything. And for all its stand-up patter and barroom bluster, The Coloring Book's true context is more autobiographical reverie than incendiary ramble. Its value comes in the digressive, rueful and wry anecdotes of a Brooklyn-Irish baby boomer who came of age navigating his way through the perilous, yet colorful byways of what Quinn deems "the absurdity and beauty of New York City in all its crazy glory."
Also, for all his rim-shots at the quilt of diversity, Quinn never lets you forget that he's much harder on himself than he is on everybody else. His often-bruising, self-abasing rites of passage, whether in school playgrounds or lower Manhattan bars (where he describes himself as a "method customer," posing as an aspiring Irish poet or any number of ethnic rabble-rousers) or with all the odd jobs and failed tryouts on his way to stand-up fame, account for the much of the book's charm and grace.
As for whether you'll laugh out loud…well, I have to admit that the one time that happened here was when Quinn describes a phone prank he pulls on friends when he's watching late-night cable. I thought it was hysterical. And I hate pranks. You may likewise find yourself laughing at some of the things Quinn writes, whether you want to or not.
The Coloring Book
By Colin Quinn
Grand Central, 224 pp.
3 stars out of four