STAGE TUBE: Behind the Scenes of Colin Quinn's HBO Special

Taped before a live audience at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York City in February, Colin Quinn LONG STORY SHORT showcases the comedian's keen observations in an uproarious history of the world, juxtaposing modern-day human behavior with the rise and fall of empires. From his personification of Caesar as the original Italian mobster to his complaints about ancient Greece and Antigone giving way to Costco and Snooki, Quinn is at his satirical best, taking on the attitudes, appetites and bad habits that have toppled the world's most powerful nations. Go behind the scenes of the special below!

Quinn contrasts grocery shopping with territorial disputes, Plato's cave allegory with the World Economic Forum, and the Silk Road with talk radio, emphasizing that no matter how much technology and innovation evolve, people will always be the same.

A native of Brooklyn, Colin Quinn began his career in New York as a regular on the comedy show circuit, making his TV debut as co-host of MTV's popular game show "Remote Control." Following five years on "Saturday Night Live," he starred in the Comedy Central series "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn." His first one-man show, "Sanctifying Grace," was staged off-Broadway in 1994 and later produced as "Colin Quinn An Irish Wake" on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre. More recently, Quinn appeared in the 2010 Adam Sandler feature film "Grown Ups."

The HBO special was produced by Moffitt-Lee Productions in association with Brillstein Entertainment and CQE, Inc.; executive producers, Colin Quinn, Jerry Seinfeld, Brian Stern, Sandy Wernick; producers, Pat Tourk Lee and John Moffitt; director, John Moffitt.

Opening to critical acclaim on Nov. 9, 2010, and scheduled to run through March 5, the stage production "Colin Quinn Long Story Short" was termed "brisk and Seinfeldian," by New York Magazine, while TIME magazine raved, saying "Quinn nails it! A polished act."

The Broadway presentation of "Colin Quinn Long Story Short" was produced by Eva Price, Richard Martini, Bruston Kade Manuel & Will Dombrowski, Richard Winkler, George Shapiro, Matthew Salloway, Jack Thomas, Bisno/Frankel/Fireman, Dan Frishwasser, Avram Freedberg & Mary Beth Dale and Allen Spivak; director, Jerry Seinfeld; general managers, Richard Martini and Eva Price.