The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #1418 - Don Gavin

00:00:03.000 Hello, Don Gavin.

00:00:05.000 Hello, Joe Rogan.

00:00:06.000 Good to see you, sir.

00:00:07.000 It's good to see you.

00:00:08.000 It's been a long time.

00:00:08.000 Yeah, it's a pleasure to get you on here, man.

00:00:10.000 I'm thrilled to be here.

00:00:11.000 We've talked about you, I don't know how many times.

00:00:14.000 Many times.

00:00:14.000 I've heard that from my son.

00:00:16.000 He says, you mentioned my name glowingly.

00:00:18.000 Yeah, well, hey, man, you were a giant inspiration to me when I was coming up.

00:00:23.000 That's good to hear.

00:00:24.000 Well, you know, I've talked about this so many times, but that era of Boston comedy, when I started in 88, and you guys had already been through the ding-ho, and all that had been gone, and it was the heyday of comedy.

00:00:38.000 It was an amazing time.

00:00:39.000 And, you know, I was very fortunate to be able to see guys like you, and Sweeney, and, you know, and all those guys.

00:00:46.000 Mike Donovan, and Kevin Knox, and I mean, you go down the list over and over and over again.

00:00:50.000 Lenny Clark, and Just an amazing time for stand-up back then.

00:00:55.000 Yeah, that was certainly the heyday.

00:00:57.000 I came in, I started it around 79. And it had been going on for one or two years.

00:01:02.000 But going on meaning not much going on.

00:01:05.000 And then it built and built and built.

00:01:07.000 And then to the point that that explosion, as you said, wow.

00:01:13.000 And I always like to think people talk about a Boston style.

00:01:17.000 It wasn't a Boston style, other than being very aggressive, maybe.

00:01:20.000 Yeah.

00:01:21.000 But everybody had different ways of doing it because we didn't know.

00:01:24.000 It wasn't like an L.A. style or New York style.

00:01:27.000 There was just all different approaches coming out to the same end.

00:01:30.000 Yeah, you started in 79, so that was really like the beginning of comedy clubs, right?

00:01:36.000 Yeah, well, they weren't even comedy clubs.

00:01:38.000 You mentioned the Ding Ho. 0.92

00:01:38.000 Ding Ho used to be like a saloon, and the guys that were sitting at the bar when we first went in there, they refused to leave. 0.92

00:01:46.000 So they stayed at the bus, and all they would do is, when we put somebody up on the stand, you know, they'd turn around and say, shut the fuck up, we're trying to drink here! 0.94

00:01:55.000 We couldn't get rid of it, so finally we willed it out because they got so tired of hearing the microphone. 0.94

00:02:01.000 But that was just a drink, that's all you can say, and it became a Chinese restaurant.

00:02:08.000 So it wasn't a Chinese restaurant at first?

00:02:10.000 It was just a saloon, I think.

00:02:12.000 And then Shun Lee, this guy came in.

00:02:14.000 It was supposed to put comedy in there. 1.00

00:02:16.000 And Barry Crimin was one of the guys originally.

00:02:18.000 Lenny, myself, Sweeney, as you mentioned.

00:02:20.000 DJ Hazard, people like that.

00:02:22.000 Jimmy Tingle.

00:02:24.000 There was a bunch of us that came in at that time.

00:02:26.000 And once again, no particular one style.

00:02:30.000 Other than the fact that we kind of created the headliner.

00:02:34.000 Would be the host.

00:02:35.000 Yeah, that was a weird Boston style.

00:02:37.000 Like when you have the Don Gavin show, you would go out there and host and you do a few minutes in between each comic.

00:02:42.000 Right.

00:02:43.000 Well, we didn't know it was weird.

00:02:46.000 Because I wanted to be in charge.

00:02:48.000 And if Joe Rogan went on and you're supposed to do 15 and you do great, great.

00:02:52.000 Now, if Bill Johnson comes on and he blows, I'm going to go up and take the mic after about six minutes.

00:02:57.000 Yeah, that was Bill Johnson.

00:02:58.000 Yeah.

00:02:59.000 And then go on to the next cut.

00:03:01.000 And then at the end, that headliner would close the show.

00:03:05.000 Yeah.

00:03:05.000 So you had that much control over it.

00:03:06.000 But when you started doing more and more shows, like I started Knicks in Boston.

00:03:11.000 Initially, it was a joke.

00:03:13.000 It was supposed to be a tax write-off.

00:03:15.000 They tried to sabotage it.

00:03:16.000 That used to be a stake joint.

00:03:18.000 Really?

00:03:18.000 Yeah.

00:03:19.000 And so when we did it, one week the stage would collapse.

00:03:23.000 Next week there'd be no sound.

00:03:25.000 Next week no lighting.

00:03:27.000 The doors would be locked.

00:03:29.000 But then eventually more and more people coming in.

00:03:31.000 Then they got upset because we were getting in the way of the people going to the state park.

00:03:35.000 And then they said, well, maybe we can make money of this.

00:03:38.000 We'll go upstairs.

00:03:39.000 There was an upstairs there.

00:03:40.000 And that was used only on one night of the week for Greek belly dances.

00:03:45.000 Wow.

00:03:46.000 Where they were paid $200, the next was, $200.

00:03:50.000 In fact, these Greek, the production, they brought in their own liquor.

00:03:54.000 So they only made $200 for the liquor.

00:03:56.000 So once we went up there to one show, then the show, and eventually, and around the time when you came in, we were doing five shows, my night on Saturday night, five shows in the same place, upstairs and downstairs.

00:04:07.000 Yeah, I remember that.

00:04:09.000 That was before I was getting paid, so I was really an amateur, but I remember watching, there was a show in the upstairs room, and then there was a smaller downstairs room, and then there was another time where they did it in the disco, right?

00:04:23.000 It is a disco now, I think, right?

00:04:25.000 Well, if it is, it's a very sad disco.

00:04:28.000 Well, it was sad then, too.

00:04:30.000 Yes.

00:04:30.000 But it was strange that everyone was cycling from room to room.

00:04:34.000 Right, and you go from upstairs to downstairs.

00:04:36.000 And again, the first week we tried that with the fire show, you were trying to host.

00:04:41.000 It was impossible to go.

00:04:42.000 I mean, the guy on the side of the stage would go, you're supposed to be on downstairs.

00:04:46.000 I go, well, I just started up here.

00:04:49.000 And it was so confusing that you'd get on stage and you'd say, good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

00:04:54.000 Have I already said that?

00:04:58.000 It got to the point, and also with the few drinks involved by the fifth show, yeah, with some repetition sometimes.

00:05:05.000 Well, that was the thing that was also about, that was interesting about Boston comedy, was that the partying. 1.00

00:05:11.000 Like, you guys were a bunch of fucking savages. 0.99

00:05:14.000 I mean, that's what I remember. 1.00

00:05:16.000 Yeah, it was pretty widespread at that point.

00:05:20.000 But again, we didn't know.

00:05:23.000 And almost all of us got in trouble with the IRS because you get paid in cash.

00:05:27.000 And then you just kind of forgot.

00:05:29.000 That's what I said to him when I got called in.

00:05:31.000 I hadn't paid taxes in seven years, and I got called in.

00:05:35.000 And I said to the guy, I thought it was humorous.

00:05:36.000 I said, well, I forgot.

00:05:37.000 And he didn't think that was that humorous at all.

00:05:40.000 So that went on and on and on and on and on to finally get that cleared up.

00:05:44.000 How did they catch you on something like that?

00:05:47.000 How did they calculate?

00:05:47.000 Because I was on the cover of a calendar magazine in the Boston Globe.

00:05:51.000 There was a group shot of about eight, ten of us.

00:05:54.000 And there was my picture.

00:05:55.000 And this guy had the picture when he confronted me.

00:05:58.000 He goes, how come we don't know anything about this?

00:06:01.000 Do they pay for this?

00:06:03.000 What do you do for me?

00:06:04.000 Used to be a teacher.

00:06:05.000 Where's that money?

00:06:06.000 So yeah.

00:06:07.000 So that was how I got caught.

00:06:08.000 So the little bit of infamy, of fame, I guess, that I had, is what...

00:06:13.000 Yeah, everybody got done in with the IRS. Donovan, he got done in.

00:06:19.000 Oh, the whole crew.

00:06:20.000 How do you clear that up?

00:06:21.000 How do they decide how much you owe?

00:06:23.000 Oh, that's certainly a give-and-take type of situation.

00:06:47.000 How many years did it take to clear it up?

00:06:50.000 For me, it was quite about four or five years, I think.

00:06:53.000 Wow!

00:06:55.000 Jesus Christ.

00:06:56.000 How much did they hit you for overall?

00:06:58.000 At one point, I was a little behind.

00:07:00.000 I think it was $128,000.

00:07:03.000 That was the figure that they came up with.

00:07:05.000 But 80% of that was in Interest on the fact that they didn't pay them the $400.

00:07:11.000 That $400 finally would go up to $1,500.

00:07:14.000 So that's how the deal was.

00:07:16.000 But somebody thought it was a gold mine to attack the entertainers, and that was us.

00:07:21.000 Once they got one, they got another and another, and the dominoes kept flowing.

00:07:24.000 Did anybody skate?

00:07:26.000 Did anybody wind up actually paying their taxes?

00:07:28.000 Almost all of us are still.

00:07:30.000 But did anybody not get in trouble?

00:07:32.000 Oh, yeah.

00:07:33.000 There were a few of us.

00:07:34.000 Intelligent people.

00:07:35.000 Literally.

00:07:36.000 Like who?

00:07:37.000 Well, the ones that had families.

00:07:39.000 Oh, okay.

00:07:40.000 Yeah, the normal ones, I guess.

00:07:42.000 That actually paid.

00:07:43.000 Yeah, the ones that were not at those parties.

00:07:46.000 There was a thing about you guys, though.

00:07:48.000 For us young guys coming up, You guys were like Peter Pans.

00:07:54.000 You were living this life.

00:07:58.000 Boston's a very blue-collar place, right?

00:08:00.000 Very hard-working place, all of New England.

00:08:03.000 And we stumbled in as amateurs, as open-mikers.

00:08:09.000 To this environment that, you know, where you guys were the kings. 1.00

00:08:12.000 And you guys were fucking wild men. 0.99

00:08:14.000 Like, we heard those stories. 1.00

00:08:15.000 Nicks would pay you in Coke.

00:08:17.000 And it's just everybody was drinking all the time.

00:08:19.000 And it was like, everyone was laughing and yelling.

00:08:22.000 And I was like, how is this possible?

00:08:24.000 How do these men get to live this life?

00:08:27.000 And what I was doing when I first started, I was a high school teacher.

00:08:30.000 Yeah.

00:08:30.000 So I was teaching and doing this, getting out of the clubs at 3 or 4 in the morning and then attempting to be a teacher about 3 or 4 hours later.

00:08:38.000 When did you quit?

00:08:40.000 I got out of teaching in 84, I think.

00:08:42.000 So I maybe crossed over the two together.

00:08:45.000 And that was a rough patch there.

00:08:49.000 Because I knew something I had to give.

00:08:51.000 Yeah.

00:08:52.000 And I tell the story that...

00:08:54.000 I was coming home from teaching.

00:08:55.000 Not from the clubs at night, but teaching.

00:08:58.000 And I fell asleep at the wheel, and this was on the highway, and I was hitting the stanchions on the side of the highway, bang, bang, bang, bang.

00:09:05.000 And eventually, as I'm going down this gully, You know, are they passing in front of you?

00:09:11.000 No.

00:09:11.000 What passed in front of me was, how am I going to make it to the show tonight?

00:09:14.000 And my head went through the windshield, the whole deal.

00:09:16.000 I came up, climbed up out of the gully.

00:09:19.000 I'm trying to thumb to get home.

00:09:21.000 I've got blood running down his face.

00:09:22.000 I had no idea how bad it was.

00:09:23.000 Then I had to go to the hospital.

00:09:25.000 So I go, my friend, we go back.

00:09:27.000 I was going to get the car out of the gully.

00:09:28.000 The car was total.

00:09:30.000 I mean, beyond total.

00:09:31.000 And there's hair and blood on the windshield.

00:09:34.000 And I said, oh, I better pick one job or the other.

00:09:37.000 So...

00:09:38.000 So the comedy won out.

00:09:40.000 Did they have open mic nights in 79?

00:09:43.000 Oh, no.

00:09:43.000 In 79, no.

00:09:44.000 When you first started, what was it like?

00:09:46.000 Well, the first night, there was only one place in existence, and that was the Comedy Connection.

00:09:51.000 The little one?

00:09:52.000 The one on Warmington Street?

00:09:54.000 Yeah.

00:09:54.000 Yeah, probably, yeah, 150 seats.

00:09:57.000 Yeah.

00:09:58.000 And two guys ran that. 0.97

00:09:59.000 Yeah.

00:10:00.000 I think Sean Morey was the guy that had been on The Tonight Show.

00:10:03.000 So that's, in our days, that was like, oh my god.

00:10:06.000 So he ran a comedy class and two guys took the class, Billy Downs and Paul Barkley.

00:10:11.000 And they decided that, you know, maybe we'll do this comedy thing.

00:10:15.000 But again, people didn't know what a comedy club was.

00:10:18.000 You mentioned that, like when Jay Leno was way before us, There were no comedy clubs.

00:10:22.000 He worked at maybe strip joints or at an auto place or this or that.

00:10:27.000 There was no place to go.

00:10:29.000 And even people would say, what's a comedian?

00:10:31.000 Other than watching TV, you didn't know really what stand-up comedy was even.

00:10:37.000 So the beginning of it started off slow.

00:10:39.000 And I remember my first paycheck, once I got paid, $8.

00:10:44.000 That was your first?

00:10:45.000 $8, yeah.

00:10:46.000 Wow.

00:10:47.000 And I still have that.

00:10:48.000 I have a copy of the check.

00:10:50.000 Do you really?

00:10:50.000 No, a copy of it.

00:10:51.000 I actually cashed it.

00:10:52.000 I needed the $8.

00:10:53.000 Of course.

00:10:55.000 So that was what Billy Downs and Barclay did there.

00:10:58.000 And in those days, you auditioned instead of an open mic night.

00:11:03.000 So it was just the two of them.

00:11:04.000 And I had to go in front of them.

00:11:06.000 And I looked at the two of them.

00:11:07.000 I said, I don't really like this.

00:11:10.000 Because I said, I know at least one of you two are not going to understand what I'm doing.

00:11:14.000 Because you really don't look like a brain trust yet.

00:11:16.000 And I got hired, and I immediately was really good.

00:11:20.000 And the next show I did was really good.

00:11:22.000 I'm doing the same 10 minutes because I was a bartender and had some patter.

00:11:26.000 And the third one, they called me like a night before and said, you know, somebody fell out, can you come in?

00:11:31.000 And what I had done, I had written 15 minutes of comedy that day.

00:11:36.000 Sure we have.

00:11:36.000 But in my mind, that's what I thought.

00:11:38.000 And it was the worst death of the world.

00:11:42.000 I got about two minutes in, and people always say, you know, what happens when you bomb?

00:11:46.000 Well, you don't really bomb after you've been doing this for a while.

00:11:50.000 But that two or three minutes seems like an eternity.

00:11:54.000 It seemed like hours.

00:11:55.000 And then I just went back into some of the old stuff, and I got out.

00:11:58.000 And I actually got into a fistfight with Lonnie Clark about it because he kept on saying to me, you know, do you work in New York?

00:12:06.000 I said, I've never been on a stage before in my life, you know?

00:12:09.000 And so we weren't not friends at all at the beginning.

00:12:11.000 And we got into a little to-go over that.

00:12:15.000 He said, oh, that was a great set. 0.89

00:12:17.000 He was shitting on me and his friend saw – he was witness to the fight and broke it up and he says to Lenny, he goes – he said, what's all about this? 0.98

00:12:25.000 He said, you just said he had a good sugar. 1.00

00:12:27.000 He sucked. 1.00

00:12:28.000 He knows it. 1.00

00:12:28.000 And you're being an asshole to call him out. 1.00

00:12:31.000 And then maybe he became fast friends after that. 1.00

00:12:33.000 That's hilarious.

00:12:35.000 Yeah, Lenny was the second guy I ever got paid to open for.

00:12:40.000 Really?

00:12:41.000 Yeah, the first guy was... 0.99

00:12:42.000 God damn it. 0.99

00:12:47.000 Warren... 1.00

00:12:47.000 McDonald? 1.00

00:12:48.000 McDonald, yes.

00:12:49.000 Wow.

00:12:49.000 Right.

00:12:50.000 Bill McDonald's brother.

00:12:51.000 It was George McDonald's brother, yeah.

00:12:53.000 Wasn't there Bill McDonald?

00:12:55.000 No.

00:12:56.000 George McDonald was the host of the open mic night.

00:12:59.000 He could have been.

00:13:00.000 Yeah.

00:13:01.000 Wasn't there a Bill McDonald too?

00:13:02.000 Didn't he have another brother named Bill?

00:13:05.000 Not that...

00:13:05.000 No.

00:13:06.000 No, I'm fucking it up. 0.98

00:13:07.000 Kevin. 0.96

00:13:08.000 Kevin was a fighter.

00:13:10.000 Kevin McDonald.

00:13:11.000 That's right.

00:13:11.000 Kevin wound up going away for a little bit.

00:13:14.000 Yeah, he visited a couple places.

00:13:15.000 A couple places.

00:13:16.000 Yeah, that's right.

00:13:17.000 That's right. 0.99

00:13:18.000 Okay, I fucked it up. 0.93

00:13:19.000 Right. 0.97

00:13:19.000 But I opened up for Warren. 0.97

00:13:21.000 Opened up for Warren in a Norm LaFoe gig in Western Massachusetts.

00:13:24.000 Very good memory.

00:13:25.000 Yeah.

00:13:25.000 Yeah, Warren was one of the original way back guys.

00:13:28.000 Yeah.

00:13:29.000 And then another Norm LaFoe gig was the one I opened up for Lenny.

00:13:32.000 Wow.

00:13:33.000 That was Jay's in Pittsfield.

00:13:34.000 Did you ever do that one?

00:13:35.000 I don't remember that one.

00:13:36.000 No?

00:13:37.000 That was a good one.

00:13:38.000 Really?

00:13:38.000 Yeah, it was a good one.

00:13:39.000 Three and a half hours away.

00:13:41.000 And well worth it.

00:13:42.000 Yes!

00:13:43.000 Well, it was for me, because I got to know Lenny and Mike.

00:13:46.000 Yeah, and just to get on, just stage time.

00:13:48.000 Yeah.

00:13:48.000 Just get on the stage.

00:13:49.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:13:50.000 Because there were so few places that were, in effect, doing comedy.

00:13:54.000 But during the time when I was an open miker, things exploded.

00:13:57.000 I was very fortunate.

00:13:59.000 That was when there was three clubs on Warrington Street alone.

00:14:02.000 Right.

00:14:02.000 Right?

00:14:03.000 There was Nick's, there was The Connection, and then there was a comedy club at the Charles above The Connection.

00:14:07.000 Yeah, the Duck Soup.

00:14:08.000 That was across the street.

00:14:09.000 Right.

00:14:09.000 Yeah.

00:14:10.000 But do you remember when Mike had the Comedy Club at the Charles above the Comedy Connection for a brief period of time?

00:14:15.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:14:15.000 So there was three, and then there was Duck Soup that was on the other side.

00:14:19.000 So it was four.

00:14:19.000 All within like 100 yards.

00:14:20.000 It's crazy.

00:14:21.000 And they were all packed.

00:14:22.000 Yeah.

00:14:22.000 And their lines would be out on the street.

00:14:25.000 In the middle of winter, I remember going out at my show on a Saturday.

00:14:28.000 There were people out there with two inches of snow on their head.

00:14:30.000 And I'm going, you ever actually waiting to see me?

00:14:33.000 There's something wrong with you people.

00:14:34.000 Well, it was something magical about those times because comedy clubs...

00:14:39.000 Just overall, we're only a couple decades old in the whole country.

00:14:45.000 I mean, you had the earliest ones were like Comedy Magic Club, Comedy Connection, Catch Rising Star in New York.

00:14:52.000 Right.

00:14:55.000 You know, before the Boston explosion, but this is all real recently.

00:14:59.000 So, like, imagine an art form that takes over the entire country, and it really only started in the year 2000. Yeah, from the inception to the explosion, it was not a mature art form, maybe 10 years,

00:15:15.000 12 years.

00:15:16.000 Right, you got Lenny Bruce in the 50s, George Carlin in the 60s, prior...

00:15:21.000 And then, all of a sudden, you're in the 1980s.

00:15:24.000 It's a couple of decades. 0.99

00:15:26.000 And these clubs were fucking packed! 0.95

00:15:29.000 I mean, I really wish somebody had done a documentary on it back then, because it was such a strange time. 0.94

00:15:35.000 If you could get real footage...

00:15:36.000 I know Fran Salamita had that one documentary when stand-up stood out.

00:15:40.000 But I would like to have just shown how crazy it was.

00:15:45.000 But people were scalping tickets.

00:15:46.000 Yeah.

00:15:48.000 I said, oh my god.

00:15:49.000 But it wasn't anywhere else like that.

00:15:51.000 Chicago never had an explosion like that.

00:15:53.000 Boston had the weirdest explosion.

00:15:56.000 And there was a multitude of people that were touted.

00:15:59.000 Yes.

00:16:00.000 It wasn't just, you know, a few.

00:16:02.000 Because I used to go down to New York, and New York had a scene, and L.A. had a scene, but nothing as expansive as that.

00:16:10.000 And Oz started after those two had already been done, you know?

00:16:13.000 Yeah, the Boston scene was a different animal, because you could work everywhere.

00:16:18.000 The thing is, you could work in town, and you can get paid in town.

00:16:21.000 You could do...

00:16:22.000 You know, there's all the different places.

00:16:25.000 Played Against Sam's, right? 0.90

00:16:27.000 Stitches.

00:16:27.000 All those different clubs.

00:16:28.000 But then there was all these satellite rooms, all the Dick Doherty rooms, and all the Connection had rooms, and Boston Comedy had rooms.

00:16:35.000 They were everywhere.

00:16:35.000 There was hundreds of rooms.

00:16:37.000 And they were good rooms.

00:16:39.000 And then I think that the demise, at least from the real apex, I think, came when the comedians were no longer running the clubs.

00:16:48.000 You know, as owners came in, and the greed factor, and every corner store, you know, a tire company would go out of business.

00:16:55.000 Oh, that's a comedy club now, or a gas station, a bowling alley.

00:16:59.000 How many bowling alleys did we work in? 0.98

00:17:02.000 I think what happened was it gets so diluted that people would go to a show and say, I don't know what all this is all about.

00:17:11.000 They didn't get to see the good community.

00:17:14.000 Well, there was about 12 of you.

00:17:17.000 You know, there was like 12 murderers who would just run around.

00:17:20.000 And to this day, I swear, I tell everybody, I think they're the best comics I've ever seen in my life.

00:17:25.000 To this day.

00:17:25.000 There was moments at Nick's Comedy Stop and at Stitches where I'm like, that is about as good as stand-up comedy ever gets.

00:17:34.000 And some of those moments, like the comedy stop, Nick's Comedy Stop used to do a dirty trick when a famous comedian would come into town.

00:17:43.000 Yeah.

00:17:44.000 An outsider. 0.99

00:17:45.000 They would have some poor bastard like, you know, like, you know, Phil in the Black. 0.99

00:17:50.000 You don't even need to name it. 0.97

00:17:51.000 Just someone who didn't do comedy that often.

00:17:54.000 Richard Lewis, let's say him.

00:17:56.000 And he would be the headliner.

00:17:58.000 Right.

00:17:58.000 But before him would be you and Sweeney.

00:18:03.000 And Kenny Rogerson.

00:18:04.000 Kenny Rogerson and Donovan. 1.00

00:18:06.000 And it would just be a murderer's row of fucking savages. 1.00

00:18:11.000 Yeah, Mike McDonald. 1.00

00:18:12.000 Yes, yes.

00:18:13.000 This guy, yeah. 0.99

00:18:14.000 And these poor bastards, I came to Nick's Comedy Stop right after Billy Crystal had bombed. 0.99

00:18:20.000 I came up the stairs and they were talking about it. 1.00

00:18:23.000 You guys had set him up.

00:18:25.000 And people were saying, you've never seen nothing like it in your life. 1.00

00:18:28.000 This poor guy's a movie star and he went on stage and just ate plates of shit. 0.99

00:18:33.000 After five people had just been destroyed. 0.99

00:18:35.000 Destroying for an hour, right?

00:18:36.000 Like, so you got, like, each guy's doing 15 minutes, and you've got all these guys going up there just killing.

00:18:41.000 And it wasn't unintentional.

00:18:42.000 It was, you know, why is this guy in our town?

00:18:45.000 Yes.

00:18:45.000 Yeah, that's it.

00:18:46.000 Well, that was the thing about Boston.

00:18:48.000 Like, they...

00:18:49.000 When a guy came into town...

00:18:51.000 Like, if you do stand-up in any...

00:18:53.000 Like, you do stand-up in Philadelphia.

00:18:55.000 Like, if you showed up in Philadelphia, people would go, oh, let's go see Don Gavin.

00:18:58.000 They would want to go see you. 1.00

00:19:00.000 If you do stand-up in Boston, you're from out of Boston, everybody's like, fuck this guy. 1.00

00:19:04.000 They just set them up. 0.99

00:19:05.000 And the club would set them up.

00:19:07.000 That was so crazy.

00:19:09.000 Well, the reason they would bring these other outsiders in, they would get plugs possibly on The Tonight Show or something like that.

00:19:15.000 None of us were on the scene or on the radar.

00:19:19.000 So they would bring in like George Miller was the guy, I remember.

00:19:22.000 You know, a nice sweetheart of a guy.

00:19:24.000 But he was just, what you said, running the gauntlet before he got off.

00:19:30.000 What did those guys think when they watched that? 0.99

00:19:33.000 They must have been fucking terrified. 0.96

00:19:34.000 Richard Lewis went on TV, almost in tears, complaining about, and they put all these guys in there, and they cut all these guys in there, and they did it the first night, and then they did it the second night, and I don't understand what they have against me. 0.97

00:19:45.000 And I think she said, well, maybe they're funnier, you know, is one of those comments.

00:19:50.000 Yeah, well, it was a dog-eat-dog world there.

00:19:54.000 You had to be able to survive in Boston.

00:19:55.000 And the tension span, like the way the stand-up was, it's like they didn't let you guys, like I should say they, you didn't let anybody breathe.

00:20:04.000 There's a Boston style of comedy. 0.94

00:20:06.000 It's like, here's a fucking punchline, here's another punchline, here's another punchline, take a breath, boom, there's another one. 0.98

00:20:10.000 And these other guys that would come in from out of town were not accustomed to that style of performing. 0.99

00:20:16.000 More laconic and more like this.

00:20:18.000 And I was told that I talked 70 words a minute, gust to 100. And I have, you know, those VHS tips, and I play some of those one time recently, and I'm going, I have no idea.

00:20:32.000 Oh, I know there's people laughing, but I have no idea what I was saying.

00:20:36.000 I'm going, oh my God, yeah.

00:20:38.000 Well, you had sneaky punchlines.

00:20:40.000 You would sneak punchlines in.

00:20:41.000 Yeah.

00:20:41.000 It would look like you were done and the sides would come in and boom.

00:20:45.000 Or a tag here and a tag there and move over there. 0.63

00:20:47.000 Did you just develop that style on your own?

00:20:50.000 Yeah, I didn't.

00:20:51.000 Again, what don't I know about style?

00:20:53.000 That's just the way it was.

00:20:54.000 I was always a fast talker.

00:20:56.000 You know, you come from big Irish families and if you don't talk fast, you're not going to get the bread or you're not going to get the food, so.

00:21:01.000 So I had three brothers, and downstairs my cousins lived, and there were six there.

00:21:07.000 So it was always bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

00:21:10.000 Everybody was an Irish Catholic, basically, on the comedy scene.

00:21:14.000 It was certainly not homogenized by any means.

00:21:17.000 Well, that's also interesting, too, because in a lot of places it was more of a Jewish thing.

00:21:22.000 Sure.

00:21:23.000 But Boston, it wasn't.

00:21:24.000 Boston, it was like a lot of, and big guys, too.

00:21:28.000 That was the other thing.

00:21:29.000 Everybody was like six foot three. 1.00

00:21:31.000 Everybody's a big-ass fucking gorilla. 1.00

00:21:33.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:21:33.000 And they were all doing coke and drinking, and it was like, whoa, this is a crazy place. 1.00

00:21:37.000 It was almost like, well, you better be funny, and also, if a fight breaks, you better be good at that, too.

00:21:42.000 Yeah.

00:21:43.000 Or just be sort of good at it, but certainly you're not backing down.

00:21:46.000 But that was the thing about it.

00:21:47.000 It's like comedy, in a lot of people's eyes, is thought to be something that, like, nebishy, you know, sort of insecure people get involved in. 1.00

00:21:56.000 You guys were all fucking savages. 0.96

00:21:58.000 So it was weird for me, because, like, people would say, oh, I always felt like comedians hated themselves, and they're all real insecure. 1.00

00:22:04.000 I'm like...

00:22:05.000 I didn't really see that.

00:22:07.000 Like, not where I started.

00:22:09.000 I can remember Battle at the Ding Hall.

00:22:11.000 I mean, it was a pretty good brouhaha.

00:22:13.000 I think it started outside the club as they were coming in, and it emanated that it was inside and outside at the same time.

00:22:21.000 And at the end, we ran and finished doing the show, and at the end, all people were talking, but nothing about the show was just about, hey, man, that tingle really held its own, didn't it?

00:22:30.000 You know what I mean?

00:22:38.000 There was a lot of brawls.

00:22:40.000 I remember brawls.

00:22:41.000 I remember a lot of brawls breaking out of clubs.

00:22:44.000 To me, I didn't realize how lucky I was to start there in 1988. I really didn't.

00:22:52.000 At the beginning, I always thought when you came in, I'd say, wow, this guy has got something.

00:22:56.000 But I thought it was a little too dirty.

00:22:58.000 I thought that wasn't going to work for you.

00:23:00.000 But you knew kind of – you had it in your head what you had to do.

00:23:05.000 You knew that you had to measure up or you could be pushed to the side when you came in.

00:23:10.000 Don't you agree with that?

00:23:11.000 Well, there was not much room.

00:23:13.000 You had to be good.

00:23:16.000 If you wanted to go from being an open-miker to hosting or to getting a gig on the road, you had to be good.

00:23:23.000 Boston didn't leave you any room for scrubs.

00:23:27.000 There was too many.

00:23:28.000 Too many good comics.

00:23:30.000 Yeah.

00:23:31.000 I was definitely dirty.

00:23:32.000 But that's all I was interested in. 1.00

00:23:34.000 When I was 21, I was a fucking savage. 1.00

00:23:36.000 All I cared about was sex. 1.00

00:23:37.000 Sex came from fighting. 0.86

00:23:39.000 So that's all.

00:23:41.000 I didn't know anything.

00:23:42.000 It would fit in, though.

00:23:44.000 Yeah.

00:23:44.000 What I thought was funny was...

00:23:46.000 And I was talked into doing comedy by guys that I trained with.

00:23:51.000 So I didn't think that I was funny.

00:23:53.000 I didn't think I was going to be funny. 1.00

00:23:54.000 I made them laugh, but I thought, well, you guys are fucking psychos. 1.00

00:23:57.000 Of course I'm making you laugh. 1.00

00:23:59.000 My sense of humor is wrong. 1.00

00:24:01.000 It's all fucked up. 1.00

00:24:02.000 They're going to think I'm an asshole. 1.00

00:24:03.000 So I was talked into doing it. 0.99

00:24:05.000 And the first comedy show that I ever saw, I went to Stitch's open mic night.

00:24:10.000 And I went and watched, and I remember sitting there watching all these guys go up on stage and seeing people doing it for the first time. 0.99

00:24:16.000 And I realized, oh, a lot of people suck. 0.99

00:24:19.000 Like, you could do this. 0.99

00:24:21.000 Yeah, I'm better than that guy.

00:24:22.000 I'll probably be better than some of these people, at least.

00:24:24.000 Yeah, when I first came in, that audition thing I talked about, I went in.

00:24:28.000 A number of those people we're talking about were on stage.

00:24:31.000 And I was prepared to do this audition.

00:24:33.000 I was with this girl all the time.

00:24:34.000 And she goes, what about the audition?

00:24:36.000 I go, no.

00:24:37.000 No, I don't think so.

00:24:37.000 So I just left.

00:24:39.000 I didn't even explain it.

00:24:40.000 And I went back the next week.

00:24:41.000 And again, real good guys.

00:24:43.000 But there was one guy.

00:24:44.000 I won't mention the name.

00:24:45.000 You wouldn't know the name.

00:24:46.000 But I'm going...

00:24:48.000 Oh, finally!

00:24:49.000 Someone I know that I'm better than this guy.

00:24:51.000 And that's when I auditioned that night.

00:24:52.000 But he got me in the show business.

00:24:54.000 I will mention his name.

00:24:55.000 Gene Franz was his name.

00:24:57.000 He may still be alive.

00:24:58.000 I don't know.

00:24:59.000 But he has no idea that he got me into comedy.

00:25:01.000 Well, Richard Jenny said that once.

00:25:04.000 That's the purpose that really bad comedians serve.

00:25:06.000 They inspire people to try it.

00:25:08.000 Oh, it were.

00:25:08.000 There's something real to that.

00:25:10.000 But I remember my first open mic night.

00:25:14.000 When I went up, you know, it wasn't very funny.

00:25:17.000 But...

00:25:18.000 I got to see Teddy Bergeron. 0.97

00:25:20.000 Teddy Bergeron performed that night, and he fucking lit that place on. 0.96

00:25:24.000 Jonathan Katz was the host. 0.98

00:25:25.000 Wow.

00:25:26.000 Yeah, Jonathan Katz was the host.

00:25:27.000 Now, there's a guy you talked about that was kind of, you know, a different direction.

00:25:32.000 Different style.

00:25:33.000 Smooth and slow, easygoing.

00:25:36.000 Yes.

00:25:36.000 And yet he was a fan favorite.

00:25:37.000 Yes.

00:25:38.000 Hilarious.

00:25:39.000 Great comic.

00:25:40.000 And then went on to do that cartoon, Dr. Katz.

00:25:42.000 Yeah, which I did that.

00:25:43.000 That was fun, yeah.

00:25:45.000 But watching Teddy go on stage, Teddy was in his prime.

00:25:49.000 It made me want to quit.

00:25:51.000 I was like, oh, Jesus Christ.

00:25:52.000 He had already been on The Tonight Show and The Gold Diggers with Dean Martin and stuff.

00:25:58.000 So when he was sober and on his game, wow.

00:26:03.000 Oh, my God.

00:26:04.000 To this day, one of the best I've ever seen.

00:26:07.000 He was so smooth.

00:26:08.000 Yes.

00:26:09.000 Yeah, I'm a polished where a lot of the other guys were rough-edged.

00:26:12.000 Yes, it was different, and he had more pauses, and he was a slow pace.

00:26:17.000 And he dressed well, and yeah, he almost stood out just because of that, but kind of classy.

00:26:22.000 He looked like he could do no wrong.

00:26:24.000 So when he would have a problem with drugs and alcohol, I was so confused.

00:26:28.000 I was like, wow, that guy?

00:26:29.000 Yeah.

00:26:30.000 I was like, that guy's the smoothest ever.

00:26:32.000 Yeah.

00:26:32.000 Because, you know, when I saw him, he was like in his 30s.

00:26:34.000 He was young and just fucking on top of it. 0.97

00:26:38.000 Right. 0.95

00:26:39.000 I got a chance to work with him a bunch of times.

00:26:41.000 Weird gigs, like the Mattapoisette Inn.

00:26:44.000 How do you remember all these names?

00:26:45.000 I don't know.

00:26:46.000 It's my curse.

00:26:48.000 There's a bunch of strange names for places stuck in my head.

00:26:51.000 Well, we had all the places down the Cape and the One Night Is.

00:26:54.000 Yes, yes.

00:26:55.000 Those were great, though.

00:26:57.000 I mean, boy, you talk about seasoning. 0.98

00:26:59.000 You would get a lifetime's worth of seasoning on the road just traveling all these different places and seeing all these different weird bar crowds and standing on a fucking milk crate doing stand-up into a shitty microphone. 0.99

00:27:10.000 All those gigs. 0.96

00:27:11.000 And once I got into it full time, that encompassed, that was your whole life.

00:27:16.000 And you were working six nights, maybe seven nights a week, in probably five or six different venues.

00:27:21.000 Sometimes three or four venues in the same evening.

00:27:24.000 You get in the car and go over here and go over there and go over there.

00:27:26.000 I mean, I don't know how many years it was before I realized you could date someone that was not a waitress.

00:27:31.000 I wasn't even aware of that.

00:27:34.000 Yeah, that was a weird ecosystem, right?

00:27:37.000 Comics and waitresses, hand in hand.

00:27:39.000 Yeah.

00:27:40.000 You know, we're just so fortunate that we're from, that we started our comedy in Boston, because it was a magic time.

00:27:48.000 And when I would talk to people that are from, like, Arizona, like, how'd you start out?

00:27:53.000 Like, well, I had to drive two hours to Tucson. 1.00

00:27:55.000 Like, fuck! 1.00

00:27:57.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:27:57.000 There was nothing. 1.00

00:27:58.000 I was told that when I moved out here for a brief period of time, I lived in Studio City.

00:28:02.000 I was told that I would be driving sometimes two hours to make $100.

00:28:06.000 I go, yeah, right, right.

00:28:08.000 And four months later, I'm driving two and a half hours to make $75.

00:28:12.000 I'm going, wow, somebody knew what was going on here.

00:28:15.000 Yeah.

00:28:16.000 When I thought I was coming out and signed with an agency, Spotlight was the name of the agency.

00:28:21.000 Oh, I remember that.

00:28:22.000 Everybody was supposed to be Spotlight.

00:28:24.000 They're the people that ripped everybody off, right?

00:28:25.000 Yes, they promised everything and never delivered on the word.

00:28:29.000 And so I was one of the few that owed them money because I heard something was going south.

00:28:34.000 So when they finally called me in to get lawyers involved, and I sent them a note back.

00:28:51.000 I think they beat Milano for over a million dollars.

00:28:57.000 Yes, they beat Seinfeld, they beat everybody.

00:29:00.000 Seinfeld too, that's right.

00:29:00.000 Yeah, they beat everybody.

00:29:02.000 Yeah, there was one agent that was a dirty agent that was pocketing all the money.

00:29:06.000 Yeah.

00:29:06.000 There was a bunch of those situations like that though, right?

00:29:09.000 Bob Williams, who's still in the business.

00:29:13.000 No.

00:29:13.000 Out of Branson.

00:29:15.000 Oh, Branson, that's right.

00:29:16.000 Lenny told me about this, that's right. 1.00

00:29:18.000 Yeah, fucking Jesus Christ. 0.99

00:29:20.000 I don't know if he changed his name or whatever. 1.00

00:29:21.000 He should.

00:29:21.000 He changed the industry, but he's in Branson, apparently he's doing quite well.

00:29:25.000 He never paid everybody back?

00:29:26.000 No, no, no.

00:29:28.000 Wow.

00:29:28.000 How is that?

00:29:30.000 Clean.

00:29:30.000 Oh, my God.

00:29:32.000 If somebody owed me a million dollars, ooh.

00:29:34.000 Yeah, but they used to have this thing, you know, do you like money?

00:29:37.000 You want the same with this?

00:29:38.000 We'll give you, you make this and this, and they, you know, it was contractually written.

00:29:43.000 How old were you back then?

00:29:44.000 Oh, I didn't start comedy until I was 33. Wow.

00:29:47.000 So that was much later.

00:29:48.000 I had been a teacher and a coach, and I had two kids, and so I got into this much later than most people.

00:29:55.000 What brought you into it?

00:29:57.000 I think probably because I was usually reasonably funny in life, and then as a bartender, I was a wise guy bartender.

00:30:05.000 Like, for instance, people would sit, I only had 22 seats, four guys would sit and say, what's your cheapest beer? 0.99

00:30:11.000 I said, root beer, get the fuck up, screw. 0.99

00:30:14.000 I said, those seats. 1.00

00:30:15.000 I said, if you tip me $20 before you order, then you can sit there.

00:30:18.000 And then people would do it.

00:30:20.000 So that kind of mushroomed that way there.

00:30:23.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:30:23.000 Yeah, it was, again, the same aggressive bullshit thing. 0.99

00:30:27.000 So it was easy to carry that on to the stage. 0.99

00:30:30.000 But I had never been on a stage.

00:30:31.000 I thought it was kind of, like you were, feebish-type people, you know, doing stage stuff, you know?

00:30:38.000 Yeah, I like how you danced around the words there. 0.93

00:30:42.000 Feebish.

00:30:42.000 I think I made a word up, even.

00:30:45.000 Yes, it was effeminate.

00:30:48.000 Yes, it was not for manly men.

00:30:50.000 Yes, not at all.

00:30:51.000 I was playing basketball in college and I was waiting either to get picked up to go to the gym or whatever.

00:30:57.000 And there was a play going on in rehearsals at this college.

00:31:03.000 I'm watching them going, and it really pissed me off that two of the actors didn't seem to be putting their effort into it.

00:31:09.000 And I don't know why, but I'm going, I can do better than that.

00:31:11.000 So that was one of the things in the back of my head about being on the stage.

00:31:14.000 But I had never had a mic in my hand, and I used to wear loose pants because they could see my legs shaking.

00:31:22.000 And that's why, you know, my act, I sit on the stool most of the time.

00:31:25.000 So that way they wouldn't see me, you know, in effect being, you know, for the first year or so being.

00:31:30.000 You shook that much?

00:31:31.000 I think so, yeah.

00:31:32.000 No, not in the drugs.

00:31:36.000 And, but the, and taking the mic out of the mic stand, I thought they, the rattling.

00:31:42.000 There's nothing worse than seeing a community, you know, if they're doing, you know, this thing, bang, bang, bang.

00:31:45.000 Were the drugs there from the beginning?

00:31:49.000 Let me think.

00:31:51.000 Pretty much, yeah.

00:31:52.000 Yeah, pretty much.

00:31:53.000 It's like in the old days, you know, the story about your mother says, if somebody offers you a drug, don't take them.

00:32:00.000 I said, well, they don't offer you.

00:32:02.000 You have to buy them.

00:32:04.000 But initially, you didn't have to buy them.

00:32:06.000 That was the thing.

00:32:07.000 Everybody was doing it.

00:32:09.000 It's like smoking.

00:32:10.000 When I was growing up as a kid, 95% of people smoked.

00:32:14.000 And why?

00:32:15.000 Because nobody ever smoked.

00:32:16.000 You know, I stopped smoking at 2000. Mike Clark and I had a bet.

00:32:20.000 And none of us, we haven't had a cigarette since.

00:32:22.000 So apparently I wasn't addicted, but everybody smoked.

00:32:24.000 So the same thing in those days.

00:32:26.000 Everybody was either a drinker or doing the blow or smoking the bones.

00:32:31.000 You had at least two or three vices.

00:32:33.000 A lot of deck chairs to throw off, you know.

00:32:36.000 Did you have any of those vices before you got into stand-up?

00:32:41.000 No, I think it grew.

00:32:42.000 It pretty much blossomed once I get in there.

00:32:44.000 Now that I think of it.

00:32:46.000 Yeah, I used to smoke, but nothing else.

00:32:50.000 Drinking?

00:32:50.000 Not heavily at all.

00:32:52.000 Not heavily.

00:32:53.000 And I covered up for it.

00:32:55.000 I made up a lot of ground.

00:32:57.000 I can see it.

00:32:58.000 I mean, now all the guys are AA. I'm like the only one left drinking, and I notice there's much more liquor everywhere I go.

00:33:04.000 There's always liquor now.

00:33:05.000 Yeah, everybody cleaned up.

00:33:07.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:33:07.000 Yeah, they're looking at you like you're the last Mohican.

00:33:10.000 Yeah, it's like Bobby Nickman, the comedian and the writer, and he said that he first got into AA because he needed the stage time, you know, to take it up and talk in front of a crowd.

00:33:20.000 But he was one of the first guys that kind of cleaned up, and then this guy, and then this guy, and there's very few of them now.

00:33:27.000 Well, a lot of guys came from AA, and that's how they got their start.

00:33:30.000 Do you remember Dave Fitzgerald?

00:33:32.000 Oh, sure.

00:33:32.000 Funny guy.

00:33:33.000 Yeah.

00:33:33.000 He got into comedy from Alcoholics Anonymous, because he would go up on stage and tell these crazy old drinking stories, and people would laugh, and then he'd polish those stories up, made them tighter, and then started doing stand-up.

00:33:48.000 But when you, we'll say in the mid-80s, the early 80s, if you weren't a drinker, you were the exception of the rule, again.

00:33:56.000 Wow.

00:33:57.000 So you weren't a drinker before.

00:33:58.000 Not really.

00:33:59.000 You just started hanging out with these guys.

00:34:01.000 I'm not blaming any of them on it.

00:34:02.000 No, hey, look, I'm not even.

00:34:04.000 But was it right away?

00:34:05.000 You walked into this lion's den of people doing drugs.

00:34:09.000 Who was patient zero?

00:34:13.000 Because it wasn't that many of you, right?

00:34:15.000 Well, I think that it came to a culmination at the Ding Hole because we basically ran and owned the place and we'd stay there until...

00:34:27.000 I can remember walking out of there many times going, ah, beautiful, it's not even light out yet.

00:34:31.000 You know what I mean?

00:34:32.000 It'd be 6.30 in the morning.

00:34:34.000 Right.

00:34:34.000 But we were serving drinks.

00:34:35.000 And half the people, there'd be 10, 12 comedians sitting around and four or five other guys.

00:34:41.000 And the other guys are cops.

00:34:42.000 They're in there drinking with us, too.

00:34:44.000 So we weren't going to get busted or anything.

00:34:46.000 I mean, Kenny Ryden first got there.

00:34:47.000 He walked in the door there.

00:34:49.000 He got there, I don't know how, but he got there around two in the morning.

00:34:52.000 And there's six or seven of us, you know, they're either smoking joints, doing some wine, drinking, and we're up on the stage playing cards, you know, for money.

00:35:00.000 And he goes, what is this place?

00:35:05.000 Paradise.

00:35:05.000 Yeah, he had no idea.

00:35:06.000 He goes, someone said, well, we went for a drink.

00:35:08.000 He goes, well, who are the tequila drinkers?

00:35:10.000 And everybody goes, nobody you are.

00:35:12.000 So then he's getting into other stuff.

00:35:14.000 And he made up for lost time, too.

00:35:16.000 Cool.

00:35:16.000 That was what we'd always heard about the Ding Ho like it was like some legendary place.

00:35:22.000 You know, when we were starting out, it closed in like 84 or something?

00:35:26.000 I don't know.

00:35:28.000 Maybe, yeah, right around there.

00:35:29.000 I started in 88 and we had heard about the Ding Ho. 0.99

00:35:33.000 It was like it was spoken in hushed tones.

00:35:35.000 It was like, you know, that's where it started.

00:35:38.000 Well, it closed in a heartbeat because the owner lost the club playing Chinese dominoes.

00:35:44.000 No, he lost $240,000 in one night.

00:35:46.000 And it was my night.

00:35:48.000 Then I had my show there on Fridays.

00:35:50.000 I come in and I never saw chains or padlocks bigger than that on the front and back door.

00:35:55.000 Never to be reopened as a comedy club.

00:35:57.000 It became an Indian restaurant or something.

00:36:00.000 But it just went...

00:36:02.000 Playing Chinese...

00:36:03.000 I don't even know what Chinese dominoes are.

00:36:05.000 That's good, probably.

00:36:08.000 God, I mean, it's crazy how something like that can happen where there is just this one place and one core group of people, and then the comedy club scene branches out from that.

00:36:19.000 Like, Houston used to have this place called The Laugh Stop.

00:36:21.000 Did you ever work there?

00:36:22.000 Sure, I did, yeah.

00:36:22.000 Yeah, that was the same thing for Houston.

00:36:25.000 Houston had a great scene.

00:36:26.000 Houston was a little crazy with people, too.

00:36:28.000 It was wild.

00:36:29.000 Yeah.

00:36:29.000 Yeah, and when I first went there, it was when it was at its wildest.

00:36:33.000 It was after Kinnison had gone, and Bill Hicks had left, and all those guys were gone.

00:36:37.000 Yeah, Calabo was another guy.

00:36:39.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:36:40.000 Jimmy Pineapple.

00:36:41.000 Jimmy worked with me the first time I ever did a weekend there.

00:36:44.000 And the first time I was ever there, I was like, wow, this place is a lot like Boston. 0.99

00:36:49.000 These are a bunch of wild fucks. 0.94

00:36:50.000 They had a show going on in the main room, and then in the bar area, they had another stage, and the open mic night started at 8, went until 2 o'clock in the morning. 0.99

00:36:58.000 So you'd get done with your show, the show would be over at 10, and you'd go out to the bar, and you'd be fucking hanging out there for another four hours because the show's still going on.

00:37:06.000 It was crazy. 0.58

00:37:08.000 I remember a good story there.

00:37:09.000 You used to walk from the hotel to the venue, and it was all the cowboys basically down there.

00:37:16.000 So I'm walking, I get hit in the back with a water balloon, but you would have thought I was shot by a rhino gun.

00:37:24.000 Bang! 1.00

00:37:25.000 I was soaking wet.

00:37:26.000 When I get there, I had to put on one of their t-shirts.

00:37:28.000 And I'm going, I can't believe how this guy hit me that could.

00:37:33.000 But when I get to the club, I see the car.

00:37:35.000 It was recognizable.

00:37:37.000 I go, oh, they're coming to see me.

00:37:39.000 So I went inside, got a hammer, and went out during the show and the opening.

00:37:43.000 I broke every window in their car, including the directionals, the side thing, and stuff like that.

00:37:48.000 And I commented, I understand you, but I got hit by this water balloon.

00:37:50.000 I said, whoever did it, and nobody took time.

00:37:53.000 I said, what a great aim you had.

00:37:55.000 But I didn't mention about their car.

00:37:56.000 That's hilarious.

00:37:58.000 Did you go out and watch?

00:37:59.000 Oh, yeah.

00:38:00.000 Check what they do.

00:38:01.000 They were not.

00:38:03.000 I mean, I brought those little tiny, you know, directions on the side of the car.

00:38:08.000 I mean, every window.

00:38:09.000 Because anybody can flatten their side.

00:38:11.000 Yes.

00:38:12.000 If you break every single window, that's an accomplishment.

00:38:14.000 Yeah.

00:38:14.000 That is an accomplishment, and it's a lot of work to get that fixed.

00:38:17.000 Yeah, it was.

00:38:18.000 Especially with no lookouts.

00:38:19.000 You could change a tire pretty quickly.

00:38:20.000 Yeah, you had no lookouts, right?

00:38:24.000 But that scene, the Houston scene was similar in that there was a lot of drugs involved and a lot of really funny comics.

00:38:29.000 And aggressive, too.

00:38:30.000 Yeah, very aggressive.

00:38:31.000 Yeah, well, Texas, you know? 1.00

00:38:33.000 Wild fuckers down there. 1.00

00:38:35.000 But when that club closed... 1.00

00:38:38.000 That scene died out for a long time.

00:38:41.000 Apparently, it's got a resurgence now.

00:38:44.000 The scene's coming back.

00:38:45.000 There's some real good comics coming out of there right now.

00:38:47.000 But that scene was dead for a long time.

00:38:51.000 There wasn't much going on down there.

00:38:52.000 I was like, that's interesting how a scene, like a place as good as Houston, could close down with one club.

00:38:59.000 One club goes under and the whole thing just throws water in the fire.

00:39:03.000 I believe that happened in Chicago.

00:39:04.000 Chicago used to be a terrific...

00:39:06.000 It was my favorite city to travel to.

00:39:08.000 It's a folk comedy.

00:39:09.000 They had an improv.

00:39:10.000 They had a catch.

00:39:11.000 They had the Laugh Factory.

00:39:14.000 They had, you know, not just Second City because that's different.

00:39:18.000 And that was the same thing.

00:39:19.000 Zanees, I think, is the only one that's still in existence there.

00:39:22.000 And that went off the cliff right away, too.

00:39:25.000 And again, I blame owners, you know, greed and not paying people and things of that type.

00:39:30.000 Yeah.

00:39:31.000 Well, they start treating it like any other business.

00:39:33.000 Yes.

00:39:33.000 Comedy clubs are...

00:39:34.000 It became that, a business.

00:39:35.000 It's an asylum that needs to be run by the inmates. 0.89

00:39:38.000 Yeah, that's exactly it.

00:39:39.000 And when we ran it, when I booked all these shows, it didn't seem to be any problem.

00:39:43.000 And again, we weren't making much money, but we didn't seem to care.

00:39:47.000 Whatever you made, you spent.

00:39:48.000 So if you had $800 in your pocket, wow, I got $800.

00:39:53.000 Not thinking about, I guess I might want to eat next week, too.

00:39:58.000 Yeah.

00:39:58.000 Next week is next week.

00:40:00.000 Yeah, that's way in the future.

00:40:01.000 The way the Comedy Store works is essentially that way.

00:40:03.000 I mean, Mitzi obviously ran it, but she let the comedians run it for the most part.

00:40:08.000 Right.

00:40:08.000 You know, she let everybody work out their own issues and solve their own problems, and she would just book you.

00:40:14.000 Right.

00:40:14.000 She'd just tell you where to go up, and there was just a madhouse.

00:40:16.000 Yeah.

00:40:16.000 And to this day, it's still very similar.

00:40:19.000 Is it still the same? 0.99

00:40:19.000 Oh, it's packed every fucking night now. 0.99

00:40:21.000 Wow. 0.99

00:40:21.000 Now it's crazy because of the internet. 0.99

00:40:23.000 Now people hear about it, and they know about it, and they've got people flying in from Australia and England and Ireland.

00:40:28.000 Just to come down and see comedy all the time.

00:40:31.000 Always meeting people there.

00:40:32.000 They basically have comedy tourism from Europe.

00:40:35.000 They fly in to the comedy store any night of the week.

00:40:40.000 Because the comedy store on Monday, they'll post the schedule for the week.

00:40:44.000 And so people read the schedule and they go, alright, let's fly in on Tuesday. 0.93

00:40:46.000 So they'll fly from fucking England, 11 hour flight, and come and see comedy. 0.98

00:40:51.000 Wow. 0.99

00:40:51.000 Because there's no comedy club. 0.99

00:40:53.000 They have a comedy store over there in London, but it's not affiliated.

00:40:56.000 They just stole the name and they skirted it into international law.

00:41:00.000 It's like they made their own 7-Eleven.

00:41:02.000 We're 7-Eleven too.

00:41:04.000 It's not the same thing.

00:41:06.000 I don't know what the comedy is like over there in terms of the comedy store, but when they want to come here, they fly.

00:41:12.000 And so on any given night, you run into people that are from all over the world.

00:41:15.000 Wow.

00:41:16.000 Yeah, it's crazy.

00:41:17.000 You should come.

00:41:18.000 You should come just to see it.

00:41:20.000 I didn't work years ago, way back, but I haven't been around these times.

00:41:23.000 It's different now. 0.98

00:41:23.000 It's fucking madness. 0.98

00:41:25.000 Lines around the block. 0.99

00:41:27.000 I mean, in a lot of ways, it's like Nick's in the heyday.

00:41:29.000 Three rooms.

00:41:30.000 There's the original room, the belly room, and the main room.

00:41:32.000 All three of them are going at the same time.

00:41:34.000 Multiple shows a night. 0.99

00:41:36.000 Fucking madness. 1.00

00:41:37.000 Wow. 1.00

00:41:37.000 Yeah, it's nuts, but without the coke. 1.00

00:41:40.000 There's no coke, no fights.

00:41:42.000 Really?

00:41:42.000 Yeah, it's pretty tame.

00:41:43.000 Because that used to be a pretty scary denizen out in the back there.

00:41:47.000 Yes, it used to be.

00:41:49.000 Yeah, it's much more common.

00:41:50.000 There's a lot of marijuana.

00:41:51.000 That's about it.

00:41:52.000 Okay.

00:41:52.000 A lot of weed.

00:41:53.000 Sometimes mushrooms, but that's about it.

00:41:55.000 Oh, okay.

00:41:55.000 Yeah, so nothing too crazy.

00:41:58.000 Yeah.

00:41:59.000 But it's funny that when we were doing it, Even though we were doing it for a living, it seemed like it wasn't a business.

00:42:07.000 That's why I'm promoting this album that I have.

00:42:10.000 I had this album done before, and it was great, but I never had anybody produce it, just made some copies of it.

00:42:18.000 It's called Don Gammon Live with the Manhattan.

00:42:22.000 Live with the Manhattan.

00:42:23.000 And I was almost like a bootleg.

00:42:25.000 I sell them, you know, maybe a few after a show at the back of my trunk.

00:42:29.000 But finally, we're releasing it.

00:42:31.000 That's one of the reasons about it now.

00:42:32.000 When did you record it?

00:42:33.000 I recorded it in 2011. Whoa!

00:42:36.000 10 years old.

00:42:38.000 But my material, hopefully, doesn't get stale.

00:42:41.000 Because I don't do a lot of current events and I don't do politics.

00:42:45.000 So it's still...

00:42:46.000 I mean, I have some jokes that are older than some of the people that come to see me.

00:42:51.000 Now, did you, like, when you put that out, is that the first thing that you've ever put out?

00:42:55.000 Yeah, that's the only thing.

00:42:56.000 And I owned it, but I didn't do anything with it.

00:42:59.000 So now, when I get to a virtual comedy network with Jimmy Serpico, he...

00:43:07.000 We did another album, a compilation of guys in Boston.

00:43:12.000 And he saw...

00:43:14.000 Someone says about my album.

00:43:16.000 He goes, I know you had an album.

00:43:17.000 And he got a copy of it.

00:43:18.000 He says, oh my god, this is something like discovering something.

00:43:21.000 So he kind of came into my life to help out and see if we can produce this thing.

00:43:26.000 And now it's on Sirius XM now and Pandora.

00:43:29.000 And then it's going on all the streaming devices starting next week.

00:43:33.000 But right now it's a...

00:43:35.000 I think they have the rights just for those two stations.

00:43:39.000 So if somebody wants to get it, how do they get it?

00:43:41.000 Right now, they can get it on Sirius XM or Pandora.

00:43:44.000 And I think next Thursday, it's streaming live.

00:43:47.000 Okay, because if it's on Sirius, you have to wait for it to air, right?

00:43:52.000 Sirius doesn't stream, right?

00:43:54.000 I've got to be honest, I'm not good about any of this stuff.

00:43:57.000 I don't think so.

00:43:57.000 Do they stream, Jamie?

00:43:59.000 You can probably search it.

00:44:00.000 They have downloadable stuff and whatnot.

00:44:02.000 Oh, okay.

00:44:02.000 So on the app as opposed to on the actual thing in your car?

00:44:06.000 Okay.

00:44:06.000 Yeah, I am so...

00:44:07.000 Anything mechanical.

00:44:09.000 Well, I'm proud that I think you sent me your first text ever.

00:44:14.000 Which took me almost an hour and a half.

00:44:16.000 Okay, here's the T. Here's an H over here.

00:44:20.000 That's how slow I was in doing that.

00:44:22.000 But you used to teach.

00:44:23.000 You don't know how to type?

00:44:23.000 No.

00:44:24.000 Now I had girlfriends.

00:44:26.000 I went through a bunch of them because I had to write a lot of papers.

00:44:30.000 No, I never typed one letter.

00:44:32.000 So that's legitimately the first text message you ever sent?

00:44:34.000 And you thought it was a joke.

00:44:37.000 No, Mike Clark was telling me.

00:44:38.000 Yeah, it was my first.

00:44:39.000 And then I sent the next one, I realized you could use the microphone thing, and it came out in some foreign language. 1.00

00:44:47.000 Well, it's because of your fucking accent. 0.99

00:44:50.000 I know, but the iPhone's probably like, what the fuck is he saying? 1.00

00:44:53.000 That's probably it, yeah. 0.98

00:44:54.000 And they said, well, eventually they'll get used to your voice.

00:44:57.000 Apparently not.

00:44:58.000 No, it's never going to figure out your voice.

00:45:00.000 That's for regular voices. 1.00

00:45:01.000 Oh, shit. 1.00

00:45:02.000 The accent's just too crazy. 1.00

00:45:04.000 I still have an accent.

00:45:05.000 Oh, yeah.

00:45:06.000 A little bit.

00:45:08.000 But the thing about all those guys from that day is very few guys put things out.

00:45:15.000 Barry put out a couple specials, and Louis C.K. produced one of Barry's specials.

00:45:21.000 Lanny, of course, had a few things.

00:45:22.000 He was on the Dangerfield special.

00:45:25.000 He did some stuff.

00:45:26.000 But a lot of...

00:45:26.000 Like Donovan...

00:45:27.000 Like, how do you go find Donovan's best stuff?

00:45:30.000 Like, you gotta go see him.

00:45:31.000 Yes, yes.

00:45:33.000 That's the craziest thing about Boston.

00:45:35.000 It's like, these guys are world-class stand-ups, some of the best that have ever done it.

00:45:39.000 And there's no recordings.

00:45:41.000 There's no specials.

00:45:42.000 I think I was not unique in the fact that I was not a businessman.

00:45:45.000 Yeah.

00:45:47.000 We did it not just for the love.

00:45:49.000 We enjoyed the money and spending money.

00:45:52.000 But it really never answered my mind.

00:45:55.000 Jimmy was asking about how did I release this thing.

00:45:58.000 I don't know what you mean released it.

00:46:00.000 I just made a thousand copies and I saw a few after a show and never did anything with it.

00:46:05.000 You never thought once. 1.00

00:46:07.000 No, I'm an idiot. 1.00

00:46:09.000 But you must have seen all these HBO specials and all these different things. 1.00

00:46:13.000 Oh, yeah.

00:46:13.000 Yeah, eventually.

00:46:14.000 But you're never like, yeah, I should do one of those.

00:46:15.000 Yeah, maybe I'll get discovered.

00:46:19.000 At the age of 106. Yeah.

00:46:22.000 So now that you've done this and now that you're releasing this, do you think you'll put out more?

00:46:26.000 Oh, I plan on this, hoping this is going to make a difference, you know, because for years I was called the best kept secret in Boston and in comedy.

00:46:35.000 And I'm going, you know what, I'm kind of tired of that term.

00:46:38.000 I'd rather not have a secret anymore.

00:46:40.000 I'd like to maybe get out there.

00:46:42.000 Well, you can still get out there, 100%.

00:46:44.000 I plan on it.

00:46:45.000 The whole thing about the internet is just content.

00:46:48.000 Just keep putting content out.

00:46:51.000 You're a hilarious comic, so I'm sure your album's awesome.

00:46:54.000 People get a hold of it, and then they'll go, hey, where's the next one?

00:46:57.000 Put out another one.

00:46:58.000 Next thing you know, you could tour nationally.

00:47:00.000 Yeah.

00:47:00.000 I really firmly believe that.

00:47:02.000 I hope you're right.

00:47:03.000 Oh, I guarantee I'm right.

00:47:05.000 It's just a crazy thing about that scene is that no one did that.

00:47:10.000 Everybody stayed involved because the money was so good.

00:47:12.000 There was so much work.

00:47:14.000 And you didn't have to.

00:47:14.000 Yeah, you basically didn't have to go to work because you had work there.

00:47:17.000 Yeah.

00:47:18.000 So in a way, it spoiled you, but in a way, it spoiled you rotten, you know?

00:47:23.000 Right.

00:47:24.000 You never really attempted to make it into it, you know?

00:47:27.000 Some guys did get their gumption to go up to, you know, to New York, and some came out to L.A., but as a rule, a lot of us just stayed in Boston.

00:47:34.000 How long did you stay out here when you came out here?

00:47:36.000 Oh, just about nine months.

00:47:38.000 And people said, what'd you like about it?

00:47:39.000 I said, the weather, and that was about, oh, that was my only answer.

00:47:42.000 What was it like going back?

00:47:43.000 Did it feel like home?

00:47:44.000 Like, ah...

00:47:45.000 I felt like I really hadn't left, you know.

00:47:47.000 I just moved to Florida a couple weeks ago.

00:47:49.000 Did you?

00:47:49.000 That's the first time I've ever moved.

00:47:51.000 What are you doing in Florida?

00:47:53.000 Getting warm.

00:47:56.000 It's a good time to move to Flora, middle of January.

00:47:58.000 Yeah, well, it's going to be, hopefully once I get things unpacked, I'll enjoy it there.

00:48:03.000 But the, you know, there's a lot of clubs down there, and there's a lot of corporate stuff, and I do a lot of the golf things, and that kind of stuff.

00:48:09.000 And I do a lot of cruise ships, and then most of them go out of there, so it's about time I moved.

00:48:14.000 And the weather primary, that's the primary one.

00:48:15.000 The weather, yeah, it's a big difference.

00:48:17.000 But I would think that after all these years, you're going to miss headlining the Boston clubs.

00:48:22.000 I will.

00:48:22.000 I will, yeah.

00:48:23.000 But I've been working less and less in the Boston area because I do a whole lot of these cruise ships things, you know.

00:48:30.000 And the cruise ships, that industry has become bigger and bigger and bigger.

00:48:33.000 I mean, I just got off a ship, the Royal Caribbean, 6,100 passengers on it.

00:48:39.000 Whoa.

00:48:40.000 Yeah.

00:48:40.000 That's a big boat.

00:48:41.000 I live in a town in Manhattan, I remember that, near Marblehead.

00:48:45.000 Yeah.

00:48:46.000 3,000 people live in the whole town.

00:48:47.000 Just double that on the ship.

00:48:49.000 That's insane.

00:48:50.000 Yeah.

00:48:51.000 Do you like doing those cruise ships?

00:48:52.000 I enjoy it.

00:48:53.000 A lot of downtime you can read and write, and like you said, maybe a second of them.

00:48:58.000 Yeah, I've got material for me, so we'll see if we can get that first one up and running.

00:49:02.000 How do you write?

00:49:03.000 Do you just sit down?

00:49:05.000 Do you just sit down with an idea or do you have an idea ahead of time?

00:49:10.000 You jot them down like in little notes and then try to flesh it out?

00:49:13.000 Like this, just this thing.

00:49:15.000 Whatever, that type of thing.

00:49:19.000 This is not a whole joke, but just the other day I was thinking about stoners.

00:49:25.000 Why can't we just all get a bong?

00:49:30.000 So I thought that was fun.

00:49:32.000 Not that good.

00:49:33.000 I didn't say it was good.

00:49:34.000 You write stuff, you throw it away.

00:49:35.000 I get it.

00:49:36.000 Throw it away.

00:49:37.000 These ideas pop in your head and you write them down, and then do you flesh them out on stage or do you flesh them out on paper?

00:49:43.000 On stage.

00:49:44.000 But you know that.

00:49:45.000 Some new thing, you have to figure, where am I going to incorporate?

00:49:49.000 You're not going to put it first.

00:49:50.000 You're not going to close with it.

00:49:51.000 You've got to weave it in somehow.

00:49:53.000 Sometimes I'll open with the thing.

00:49:54.000 Really?

00:49:54.000 Yeah, you never know.

00:49:55.000 That's kind of ballsy.

00:49:56.000 Because I want to dig a hole.

00:49:57.000 I want to see.

00:49:58.000 Yeah, because sometimes I feel like I know I got some good jokes that I could do after this.

00:50:03.000 Let me just see...

00:50:04.000 But you've got the notoriety and fame, so do you feel that that is a strike against you, that they're going to be acceptable to everything?

00:50:11.000 Is that why you've... 1.00

00:50:12.000 It's a strike against you if you eat shit. 1.00

00:50:14.000 Yeah, yeah. 1.00

00:50:15.000 But if you open with something that you're not sure of, yeah.

00:50:18.000 Well...

00:50:19.000 I gotta know there's something there before I do that.

00:50:23.000 But I like to do that sometimes because... 0.96

00:50:27.000 Maybe four out of ten times, a punchline will fucking pop into my head out of nowhere and it'll be good. 0.99

00:50:34.000 One of my best bets from my last special about Harvey Weinstein came the day he got arrested, the day the shit went down. 0.99

00:50:43.000 I went on stage that day and I had a couple drinks in me. 0.98

00:50:47.000 I was feeling good.

00:50:48.000 And I just went on this rant about it and...

00:50:51.000 And this is not something you had already written out?

00:50:53.000 No, no. 0.99

00:50:53.000 I had a couple sort of ideas about where I was going to take it, and basically the gist of it was that if, like all of you, if Harvey Weinstein did this to my daughter, I'd want to fuck him up, like all of you. 0.99

00:51:09.000 I'd go, but if Harvey Weinstein was a woman, if Harvina Weinstein came to my son with a solid contract, I'd be like, dude, you're going to be Batman. 0.93

00:51:18.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:51:18.000 This is the this is the gist of the bit and I'm telling you that dude you're gonna be Batman came out Wow just came out on stage and the day he was arrested everybody's going fucking crazy it was and then I was saying like nobody nobody gives a fuck it was an ugly old lady that was fucking handsome young men nobody would be mad right nobody would be mad and it just became this giant chunk of it I'm like I'm mad at that guy he's disgusting fuck him lock him up forever but But if Harvina Weinstein... 0.99

00:51:47.000 Did the audience believe that you just...

00:51:49.000 They didn't know.

00:51:50.000 Or did they know that you just came up at that point?

00:51:52.000 Well, they knew that it couldn't be old because the thing had just happened.

00:51:55.000 But sometimes, like four out of ten times, that'll work.

00:51:59.000 And then the other six out of ten times, you go, well, so much for that.

00:52:03.000 But it's like the only way new jokes get made is chances get taken.

00:52:07.000 And the biggest chance is to go up first with it.

00:52:10.000 Just open with it.

00:52:11.000 I'm going to have to attempt that.

00:52:12.000 I don't do it all the time.

00:52:13.000 But I feel like the first couple of lines anywhere are more like just saying hi and getting to know everybody.

00:52:18.000 And every now and then you throw one out there and it sticks.

00:52:21.000 And you've got to go, ooh, I've got something there.

00:52:23.000 I record all my sets.

00:52:24.000 I'll listen to it.

00:52:26.000 Would you have trouble remembering if you did a particular thing?

00:52:29.000 Yeah, because especially if you have a couple of drinks in you and you're just riffing, you don't remember exactly what you said because you're in the moment.

00:52:34.000 You can't go, ooh, I've got to remember that because then you'll break the spell.

00:52:37.000 Yeah.

00:52:37.000 My son Chris does that to me all the time, saying, Dad, is that something new?

00:52:41.000 I go, no, I just said it. 0.99

00:52:42.000 He goes, well, you've got to write this shit down. 0.98

00:52:44.000 Well, Donovan is the guy who convinced me to record all my sets. 0.99

00:52:48.000 Donovan told me, get a tape recorder. 0.98

00:52:50.000 He had all this fucking brick that he would bring on stage with him. 0.99

00:52:53.000 He goes, you never know. 0.99

00:52:55.000 He goes, you'll have a line, just one line, and that line will make your bit ten times better. 0.97

00:52:59.000 And if you fucking forget it, it's gone forever. 0.77

00:53:03.000 It's like when you have one when you're in bed and you think of something. 0.98

00:53:06.000 If you don't get up and write it down or if you don't record it that next morning, you try to remember that.

00:53:11.000 Good luck to you.

00:53:12.000 When I'm with my family, if I get an idea in my head, I just say to my wife, got an idea.

00:53:18.000 And I just run away.

00:53:19.000 I run away.

00:53:20.000 I'll run like a block away and just start talking into my phone.

00:53:23.000 Because if I don't, it'll go away.

00:53:25.000 Because I've had so many times, like, ooh, that's a good idea.

00:53:28.000 And then my daughter's like, stop touching me! 1.00

00:53:32.000 They'll fight with each other.

00:53:33.000 My wife will say, what are we doing?

00:53:35.000 And I'm like, hold on, I got an idea!

00:53:36.000 Stop, stop, stop!

00:53:37.000 So now when I get this idea, I just go, I got an idea!

00:53:40.000 I just go.

00:53:41.000 And then I come back, I got a good idea.

00:53:42.000 This is a good idea.

00:53:43.000 This is solid.

00:53:44.000 Okay, I'm back.

00:53:44.000 I like it.

00:53:45.000 And then I'll put my phone in my pocket. 0.99

00:53:46.000 But having a phone is the best because you got a notebook, you got a fucking recording device. 0.99

00:53:51.000 I used to keep a real notebook, but it takes too long to write shit down. 0.99

00:53:55.000 You lose it sometimes. 0.93

00:53:56.000 But if you say it into the voice notes, you actually say the idea, then you can keep it.

00:54:02.000 You can capture it.

00:54:03.000 But that means you have to carry a phone.

00:54:04.000 Yes.

00:54:04.000 You don't carry a phone?

00:54:05.000 I'm an idiot. 1.00

00:54:06.000 You don't carry a phone at all? 1.00

00:54:07.000 I do now, but now that I'm trying to be aware of what's going on.

00:54:11.000 I mean, up until two years ago, I had a real deluxe flip phone.

00:54:15.000 There's something to be said for those, too, though.

00:54:17.000 The flip foams are nice.

00:54:19.000 You can certainly avoid people.

00:54:20.000 Yes.

00:54:21.000 That's one.

00:54:21.000 Yeah, avoid text messages.

00:54:23.000 Ari Shafir, he has a flip phone.

00:54:26.000 Well, actually he doesn't now.

00:54:27.000 He actually went back to an iPhone, but he put a timer on it so he could only use his phone for an hour.

00:54:31.000 Yeah, because otherwise he starts playing with his phone and going on the internet and going to social media apps.

00:54:37.000 You don't have any social media, do you?

00:54:39.000 We will soon.

00:54:42.000 We're in the process now.

00:54:44.000 That's the deal.

00:54:45.000 2020. Making moves.

00:54:48.000 I'm kind of a slow mover.

00:54:50.000 Like a turd of races by me. 0.92

00:54:52.000 Are you going to do it all yourself? 1.00

00:54:54.000 Are you going to post tweets and all that shit yourself? 1.00

00:54:56.000 Oh shit, I don't know about that. 1.00

00:54:57.000 I just found it on Instagram today. 1.00

00:54:59.000 I thought there was a pill that you took.

00:55:01.000 I'm on Instagram now as of yesterday.

00:55:04.000 Oh, what is it?

00:55:04.000 Just Don Gavin?

00:55:07.000 Comediendongavin.com How many pictures you got up there?

00:55:09.000 Oh, at least four.

00:55:10.000 Is there a regular Don Gavin other than Comediendongavin?

00:55:13.000 You mean to reach me?

00:55:15.000 No, a different person that has the regular Don Gavin.

00:55:18.000 Jamie says yes, a different guy.

00:55:20.000 Well, somebody, yeah.

00:55:20.000 In the old days, people would buy your names.

00:55:23.000 Yes.

00:55:23.000 And I contacted the guy.

00:55:24.000 He wanted $7,500 for my name.

00:55:26.000 Really?

00:55:26.000 And I'm going, my name's not worth that.

00:55:28.000 So I never paid him.

00:55:30.000 Oh.

00:55:30.000 Yeah.

00:55:31.000 Is that how that works?

00:55:32.000 Yeah, I had to pay for mine.

00:55:34.000 I bought mine.

00:55:35.000 Somebody had mine.

00:55:36.000 I bet you make money.

00:55:37.000 Yeah.

00:55:38.000 The whole thing about the Instagram is, like everything else on the internet, it's just continual content.

00:55:45.000 Keep putting out content.

00:55:46.000 Keep putting things out.

00:55:47.000 That's the whole thing.

00:55:48.000 You've got to just be consistent, and it'll build.

00:55:51.000 I hope.

00:55:52.000 Listen, coming off this podcast, I guarantee it'll help.

00:55:54.000 I know you were on Fitzsimmons' show earlier today, right?

00:55:57.000 Right.

00:55:58.000 And I did a couple...

00:56:00.000 Who is that?

00:56:01.000 Marc Maron's another one.

00:56:02.000 Oh, okay.

00:56:02.000 Great.

00:56:02.000 And Billy, Billy Burr.

00:56:04.000 Oh, nice.

00:56:04.000 Beautiful.

00:56:05.000 You did the trifecta.

00:56:07.000 And trifecta plus one.

00:56:09.000 There it is.

00:56:10.000 Look at you.

00:56:13.000 Don Gavin Comedy.

00:56:14.000 That's what it is, folks.

00:56:16.000 Godfather of Boston Comedy.

00:56:17.000 Don't tell that to Dick Daugherty.

00:56:18.000 He'll get mad at you.

00:56:19.000 He did try to keep that title back, and I said, I actually help people.

00:56:25.000 He told me one time that you actually, a godfather, when someone came to you and said, can you give me advice?

00:56:29.000 Can you help me write?

00:56:30.000 Can you help me work out this material?

00:56:32.000 I spent time doing that.

00:56:33.000 I said, you never did in your life.

00:56:34.000 Don't ever call yourself the godfather again, and he hasn't.

00:56:37.000 Whoa.

00:56:38.000 He stopped calling himself that?

00:56:39.000 Yeah.

00:56:40.000 To you.

00:56:41.000 I don't think he goes anywhere.

00:56:43.000 Really?

00:56:43.000 Yeah, not anymore.

00:56:44.000 But that was always his thing.

00:56:46.000 Well, this thing is gone.

00:56:48.000 He gave me a lot of gigs.

00:56:50.000 I have nothing but love for that guy when I was starting out.

00:56:53.000 Yeah, he gave me a lot of gigs.

00:56:54.000 He paid my rent many times.

00:56:55.000 Well, he had a lot of little clothes.

00:56:57.000 Yeah.

00:56:57.000 Like your satellite clothes.

00:56:59.000 Yeah.

00:56:59.000 The huts.

00:57:00.000 Comedy huts.

00:57:01.000 Yeah.

00:57:02.000 The Aku Aku's.

00:57:02.000 He at one time was when he was a musician.

00:57:07.000 Yeah.

00:57:07.000 Way back.

00:57:07.000 It was already the majority.

00:57:09.000 Yeah.

00:57:09.000 And he was like the highest paid entertainer on Cape Cod that Crystal Palace he had in it.

00:57:14.000 I mean, he was big.

00:57:15.000 Yeah.

00:57:16.000 And then things went south.

00:57:17.000 And now he's big, but physically.

00:57:19.000 He's still alive?

00:57:20.000 Everything's good?

00:57:21.000 Yeah.

00:57:21.000 Big fat?

00:57:22.000 Yeah.

00:57:22.000 Yeah, kind of wide.

00:57:23.000 Like how you push your arms out like that?

00:57:26.000 I have a 36-inch sleeve, but I can't get it out that far.

00:57:29.000 I did all of his gigs.

00:57:31.000 I did all those comedy huts.

00:57:32.000 He had the Dick Daugherty comedy huts, the Dick Daugherty comedy vault.

00:57:35.000 Remember the vault?

00:57:35.000 Yes, yes.

00:57:36.000 That was another one.

00:57:37.000 The vault was right down the street from Warrington Street.

00:57:39.000 Not far at all.

00:57:40.000 Right, right across the street there.

00:57:41.000 Yeah.

00:57:41.000 Yeah, he had a ton of rooms.

00:57:43.000 Yes, he did.

00:57:44.000 Yeah.

00:57:47.000 Yeah, that's true.

00:57:48.000 I mean, he did work a lot more comedians than other places.

00:57:52.000 Other places didn't have that many avenues.

00:57:54.000 Yeah.

00:57:54.000 Well, he would headline you early, too.

00:57:56.000 Like, where I really probably shouldn't have been headlining.

00:58:00.000 Yeah.

00:58:00.000 Really didn't really have a solid 45. It was patched up.

00:58:05.000 But Fitzsimmons and I started out together.

00:58:08.000 We were like a week apart.

00:58:09.000 We started a week apart from each other, open mic nights.

00:58:11.000 Yeah, you mentioned that.

00:58:12.000 Yeah, we did.

00:58:13.000 And you didn't know each other previous?

00:58:15.000 No, no, no.

00:58:16.000 We met each other at open mic night.

00:58:18.000 That's funny.

00:58:19.000 Yeah, both the same age.

00:58:20.000 It was fun times.

00:58:22.000 But we both have the same feeling.

00:58:24.000 We would talk about you guys, you and all the guys that are from that era.

00:58:29.000 We were very fortunate to be able to...

00:58:33.000 Because there was no hacks.

00:58:34.000 Hacks were not tolerated in Boston.

00:58:36.000 No.

00:58:37.000 Yeah, and even the audience, I always thought the audience were great, but they weren't patient either.

00:58:41.000 No.

00:58:42.000 You had to produce and produce quickly.

00:58:44.000 They had high standards, too.

00:58:45.000 Yeah, hopefully.

00:58:46.000 Because you guys were so good.

00:58:47.000 Like, the standards of comedy, the level of comedy was very high in the town.

00:58:52.000 I remember I had a friend of mine who came to visit me from New York, and he was shocked.

00:58:58.000 He was like, there's so many good comics here that nobody knows.

00:59:01.000 And I was like, dude, they know him in town.

00:59:03.000 They know him in Boston. 1.00

00:59:03.000 These guys are selling out every fucking night. 1.00

00:59:05.000 And he's like, this is crazy. 0.99

00:59:06.000 And I was like, yeah, these are like the best comics in the world and people don't know who they are.

00:59:10.000 It's funny.

00:59:11.000 Colin Quinn was one of the guys that came into Boston.

00:59:13.000 And the people, but when they introduced him, he's from New York.

00:59:17.000 I mean, he was getting booed before he said a word.

00:59:19.000 And then he's kind of, oh my God.

00:59:21.000 But the crowds did eventually like him.

00:59:24.000 But when he first worked there, there was a sound booth on the side of Nick's.

00:59:27.000 And he hid, he got off stage and hid in the sound booth until the show was over because he didn't want to have to walk through the crowd.

00:59:32.000 He was in there for over two hours.

00:59:34.000 No.

00:59:37.000 That's hilarious.

00:59:39.000 Well, the first time I saw Dom Herrera was at Nick's Comedy Stop, and he went through the gauntlet and survived.

00:59:45.000 Oh, the people loved him.

00:59:46.000 They loved him.

00:59:48.000 Well, he's lovable.

00:59:48.000 Yeah.

00:59:49.000 Well, he's a great guy.

00:59:50.000 But he was the only national headliner that I ever saw that went through there and made it through.

00:59:55.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:59:56.000 And with flying colors.

00:59:58.000 Yeah, so he killed.

00:59:59.000 And even at the end of it, he goes, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight.

01:00:05.000 I was amazing.

01:00:06.000 You guys are pretty good. 0.94

01:00:08.000 He's just a sarcastic, silly way of doing comedy. 0.69

01:00:12.000 He was the best. 0.92

01:00:13.000 He fits in any way.

01:00:14.000 Oh, yeah.

01:00:15.000 But he fit in Boston like a glove.

01:00:17.000 I mean, that's where I first saw him from.

01:00:17.000 Oh, he was a Philly guy.

01:00:18.000 Yep.

01:00:19.000 And that same kind of thing.

01:00:20.000 He was a pretty good jockey one day.

01:00:21.000 He was a pretty good basketball player.

01:00:22.000 Yeah, a basketball player.

01:00:22.000 Yeah, yeah.

01:00:23.000 So he had kind of the same type of mentality as some of the people in Boston. 0.97

01:00:27.000 He's still fucking great. 0.98

01:00:28.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:00:28.000 He's still fucking great. 0.99

01:00:29.000 He still kills the comedy store all the time. 0.99

01:00:31.000 Yeah.

01:00:31.000 And he's always on the road, too.

01:00:33.000 He's fantastic.

01:00:34.000 He's a real comic, you know?

01:00:37.000 Sure.

01:00:37.000 There's a few of those guys.

01:00:38.000 It doesn't matter where you put them.

01:00:39.000 You could put a show on the moon.

01:00:41.000 Yeah, I think I got like Rock in the Pool.

01:00:44.000 Sure, yeah.

01:00:45.000 Just, hey, how you doing?

01:00:47.000 And he gets a laugh.

01:00:48.000 Are you kidding me?

01:00:48.000 He gets a laugh for that?

01:00:49.000 And it's a good laugh.

01:00:50.000 Yeah, yeah.

01:00:52.000 I mean, when you think back on your life, could you imagine yourself, I mean, I know you were a teacher at one point in time, but can you imagine never having found comedy?

01:01:02.000 I'm very grateful that he did find it.

01:01:05.000 I think if I was teaching in a different venue where I was teaching more advanced kids, I was in a vocational school where they didn't want to do, you know, one week they'd be in shop, the next week they'd be with me, and they didn't want to be with me, you know?

01:01:17.000 Coaching was different.

01:01:18.000 I coached basketball on track, and that was terrific, and I spent most of my energy in that.

01:01:23.000 But, so I think if I was in the right surroundings as a teacher, I would have stayed in teaching, you know, and probably have done a lot less of the evil things to my body, and...

01:01:34.000 But maybe I wouldn't have found comedy.

01:01:35.000 But you've held up well.

01:01:37.000 Intellectually, you're still there. 0.99

01:01:39.000 I mean, I haven't seen you do stand-up in a long time, but I know everybody says you're still fucking killing. 0.98

01:01:43.000 Well, it's still working, yeah. 0.98

01:01:45.000 And you're the one guy that's still drinking.

01:01:47.000 That I'm aware of, yeah.

01:01:49.000 But I don't really look around that much.

01:01:52.000 Did you ever think about quitting?

01:01:54.000 No, not really.

01:01:56.000 Oh, when I was in the hospital, I had a hernia operation, but then Rodgers didn't smuggle some booze into the hospital, so that was it.

01:02:04.000 He brought in a thing of vodka and a claw and a magnet, so he was going to pull out the staples that I have, you know those steel staples you put in when you get stitched up?

01:02:15.000 He thought that was funny.

01:02:16.000 He went and stole a big magnet.

01:02:19.000 But he did bring booze into the hospital.

01:02:22.000 That was it.

01:02:23.000 How long were you in the hospital for?

01:02:24.000 Oh, just, you know, whatever, four or five days.

01:02:26.000 So you almost quit for four or five days?

01:02:28.000 Oh yeah, almost.

01:02:30.000 Almost?

01:02:30.000 Yeah.

01:02:31.000 Do you never, like, when you see all these guys going into AA and cleaning up, you never went, huh, maybe that's for me?

01:02:38.000 No, no, never did.

01:02:41.000 I mean, we stopped the blow and all that stuff.

01:02:44.000 I remember it was much of a smoke of the grass, but the drinking, that's pretty consistent with that.

01:02:51.000 You find something you like, stick with it.

01:02:53.000 When did you stop the blow?

01:02:55.000 Oh, a long, long time ago.

01:02:57.000 Yeah.

01:02:57.000 But, um, I don't even remember where that went.

01:03:01.000 80s?

01:03:01.000 90s?

01:03:01.000 But you don't see any people doing that.

01:03:03.000 I mean, I don't know.

01:03:04.000 I don't even know.

01:03:04.000 Is there still a scene where people do it?

01:03:06.000 Not comedy, no.

01:03:07.000 No, not a comedy scene with Blow.

01:03:09.000 Not that I know of.

01:03:09.000 I remember, like, we talked, you said the comedy stuff was, you know, you could, oh, don't sit there, you know, because somebody had lines under this thing.

01:03:16.000 Don't, don't, don't, don't go over there.

01:03:17.000 And I'm like, Wherever you went, you know.

01:03:19.000 Well, they would offer to pay you in blow.

01:03:20.000 Yeah, and the giggles in Tampa, Florida. 0.92

01:03:23.000 They honestly said, do you want all your money in blow or do you want some cash?

01:03:28.000 I go, I want it all in cash.

01:03:31.000 And then if I wanted to get blow, I could do that.

01:03:33.000 I mean, you can't go into a grocery store and say, you know, I got these three items.

01:03:38.000 Is this line big enough?

01:03:41.000 That doesn't work.

01:03:43.000 Is that place still around?

01:03:44.000 That Giggles? 1.00

01:03:45.000 I don't know.

01:03:45.000 I know Mike, that's where he got the name from.

01:03:47.000 You know, Mike Clouse by Giggles and Saugus.

01:03:49.000 But I don't know.

01:03:51.000 But that was another one of those real successful clubs.

01:03:53.000 At one time, as you know, there were great clubs in a lot of places.

01:03:56.000 And sadly, most of them have gone down.

01:03:59.000 Yeah.

01:04:00.000 I'm mentioning the Comedy Works in Denver.

01:04:02.000 It's a still one.

01:04:02.000 It's still great.

01:04:03.000 Oh, it's still great.

01:04:04.000 That was such a successful one.

01:04:06.000 It still is.

01:04:06.000 Yeah.

01:04:07.000 I always thought that was one of the best-run clubs in the Hall of the United States. 0.96

01:04:10.000 Well, Wendy, the lady who owns it and runs it, she's fucking awesome. 1.00

01:04:13.000 She's been around from way back. 0.91

01:04:14.000 I go to see her every time I'm in town.

01:04:16.000 And sometimes I still even work that club.

01:04:18.000 Really?

01:04:18.000 Yeah.

01:04:19.000 I work that club, too.

01:04:20.000 I'll alternate between the big theaters, then I'll go back and do her club. 1.00

01:04:24.000 I love her.

01:04:25.000 That place was electric.

01:04:26.000 Yes!

01:04:27.000 And she's got another one.

01:04:28.000 She's got a... 1.00

01:04:28.000 I rebuilt another one. 1.00

01:04:31.000 Yeah, she's got a second one. 0.99

01:04:32.000 But yeah, there's Zany's in Nashville, still really good.

01:04:36.000 There's a bunch of real good clubs still on the road.

01:04:38.000 Right.

01:04:39.000 Well, maybe I'll rediscover these.

01:04:40.000 I'll stop going out on the ships.

01:04:42.000 I've been out floating too much.

01:04:44.000 Maybe I'll come back.

01:04:45.000 Yeah, you'd enjoy it.

01:04:46.000 Now, if you did do that, would you take someone on the road with you?

01:04:49.000 Like, how do you do it?

01:04:50.000 When you do the ships, is it just you, or do you bring somebody with you?

01:04:53.000 Yeah, just me.

01:04:53.000 Just me.

01:04:53.000 How much time do you do?

01:04:56.000 Varies.

01:04:56.000 You know, usually you do like a headliner spot.

01:04:58.000 You do like a 50-55, you know, and do two of those.

01:05:02.000 But you can do the same stroke, you know, that type of thing.

01:05:04.000 So you need like an hour and a half stuff total, I guess is what it was.

01:05:09.000 But it is kind of a lazy to man job.

01:05:11.000 You can do the same sets.

01:05:13.000 I just found it interesting talking to you about incorporating something new at the beginning.

01:05:18.000 That's going to be challenging.

01:05:19.000 I'm going to try that.

01:05:20.000 It's not the best idea.

01:05:22.000 I've never tried it.

01:05:23.000 The best idea, I think, is probably to sandwich it in between established jokes.

01:05:26.000 Like you have a joke that you know is going to work, you get their confidence, and then you slip in a new one. 0.96

01:05:31.000 But every now and then I like to open with a new one just to see what the fuck is up. 0.97

01:05:34.000 I like it. 0.99

01:05:35.000 Just to fucking test it. 0.99

01:05:38.000 Take that little colt and see how it can run on those legs. 1.00

01:05:41.000 Giddy up.

01:05:43.000 No fear.

01:05:43.000 No fear, Joe.

01:05:44.000 I like it.

01:05:45.000 I've got some fear, believe me.

01:05:46.000 But sometimes that fear is what makes the punchline come out.

01:05:49.000 You know how it is.

01:05:52.000 Sometimes you ad-lib and it'll just come out of nowhere.

01:05:55.000 You're like, where is that?

01:05:56.000 Where is that coming from?

01:05:58.000 When you have an idea and it just pops into your head and makes its way, and then it gets a big laugh, and then you know it's the right thing to say right there.

01:06:05.000 You know it, and it's just out of nowhere.

01:06:07.000 You travel everywhere.

01:06:10.000 Is there one particular area that doesn't seem to click as much?

01:06:15.000 Connecticut. 1.00

01:06:16.000 Connecticut can eat plates and plates of shit. 1.00

01:06:19.000 All of Connecticut can go fuck off. 1.00

01:06:21.000 Really? 1.00

01:06:21.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:06:21.000 My friend Chappelle Lacey, I told him how bad Connecticut sucks and he was just there this weekend and he sent me a text message. 1.00

01:06:27.000 He goes, you weren't fucking kidding. 0.99

01:06:28.000 Connecticut. 1.00

01:06:29.000 This place is terrible.

01:06:29.000 I wasn't expecting that one...

01:06:32.000 Place from New England.

01:06:33.000 There's something about it.

01:06:33.000 Rhode Island, great.

01:06:35.000 Rhode Island's fantastic.

01:06:36.000 New Jersey, awesome.

01:06:37.000 Love it.

01:06:38.000 New York, love it. 1.00

01:06:39.000 Connecticut, eat shit. 1.00

01:06:40.000 Wow. 1.00

01:06:41.000 Wow.

01:06:42.000 When I was doing the travel, the only place I had one that they positively hated me, Memphis.

01:06:47.000 Oh, Memphis they hated you?

01:06:49.000 Well, I talk way too fast.

01:06:52.000 And I also speak English.

01:06:54.000 And they, boy, they hated me.

01:06:57.000 Yankee, Yankee.

01:06:58.000 No, I said, no, the Red Sox.

01:06:59.000 You know, they had their own team.

01:07:01.000 And, uh, They booed me again, like Colin Quinn, before we even got on stage.

01:07:06.000 And they had one of those clocks, like the ones they had that was in Back to the Future, that pink clock.

01:07:12.000 And you could see it.

01:07:13.000 And you had to do 45 minutes. 0.99

01:07:15.000 And I'm going, shit, I've got to be close to done. 0.99

01:07:17.000 I look up. 1.00

01:07:17.000 I had done 11 minutes. 1.00

01:07:18.000 I'm like, God, this is...

01:07:20.000 I got off stage and went table to table and heckled people at the stage.

01:07:24.000 And then I went back on stage and realized I still had 15 minutes more to go.

01:07:27.000 Oh, my God.

01:07:28.000 They hated me.

01:07:29.000 What year was this?

01:07:30.000 It seemed like it was a whole year when I was there just during the one week.

01:07:34.000 That was quite a while ago.

01:07:36.000 I was there for the week, that's the point.

01:07:40.000 It wasn't like anybody was saying, hey, you've got to see this guy.

01:07:42.000 People were saying, you shouldn't see this guy. 0.96

01:07:44.000 Did it suck every night? 0.98

01:07:46.000 Yeah! 0.99

01:07:47.000 Yes, it did.

01:07:48.000 Yes, it did.

01:07:49.000 Yeah.

01:07:50.000 It was so bad, and it was like a thunderstorm, and you know the ones that there's only 20 people going to be there?

01:07:56.000 We said, if it's not 20 people, we don't do a show.

01:07:58.000 Right.

01:07:59.000 So we had 16 people.

01:08:00.000 And I'm going, oh, beautiful.

01:08:02.000 We're going to get paid.

01:08:02.000 Don't have to do a show.

01:08:03.000 And two cars come up.

01:08:04.000 I went out and knocked in the windows.

01:08:06.000 They said, oh, we've got terrible plumbing problems.

01:08:07.000 See you guys later.

01:08:08.000 Come back.

01:08:08.000 Come on.

01:08:09.000 See you later.

01:08:09.000 And I forced him to leave, so I wouldn't have to do the show.

01:08:14.000 Oh my god, that's hilarious.

01:08:16.000 Boston Comics, one of the things about guys that would go on the road, they had so much regional material.

01:08:21.000 Boston Comics had so much Boston comedy, right?

01:08:24.000 Yeah, I don't.

01:08:25.000 Yeah, you don't.

01:08:26.000 I was going to say that.

01:08:27.000 Like, Sweeney has a lot.

01:08:28.000 Yes, yes. 1.00

01:08:28.000 Like, Sweeney in Boston is a goddamn murderer. 1.00

01:08:31.000 Sure, sure. 1.00

01:08:32.000 But some of that stuff he can't do in other places.

01:08:35.000 He has to kind of rearrange his acts.

01:08:36.000 Yes, yeah.

01:08:37.000 Yeah, it's always been more universal, more observational, and I don't really have many Boston, per se Boston jokes, other than something about the accent, but that's about it.

01:08:49.000 Now I have to ask you one end or the other.

01:08:51.000 Where's the other end?

01:08:52.000 Where's like a favorite?

01:08:54.000 I love Texas.

01:08:56.000 Texas is probably one of my favorite places to go.

01:08:58.000 I love Austin.

01:09:00.000 I love Dallas.

01:09:01.000 I love Houston.

01:09:01.000 I love going there.

01:09:03.000 Really? 1.00

01:09:03.000 Yeah, they're wild fucking people. 1.00

01:09:05.000 I mean, they're the remnants of the Wild West. 1.00

01:09:07.000 That's what it's like.

01:09:08.000 I mean, they're the wagon trains that made it all the way to California, and a bunch of people made it to Texas, and they went, we're good.

01:09:15.000 I'm just going to stop right here.

01:09:16.000 They're just wild.

01:09:18.000 It's just a different kind of people.

01:09:19.000 They're real friendly, real nice folks.

01:09:22.000 It's one of my favorite places to go.

01:09:23.000 Cool.

01:09:23.000 I love it.

01:09:24.000 Now, what about foreign countries?

01:09:27.000 You mentioned England.

01:09:27.000 I love England.

01:09:28.000 I've been to England a bunch of times doing stand-up.

01:09:30.000 That's great.

01:09:31.000 They're fun.

01:09:31.000 They like to drink.

01:09:32.000 Woo! 0.99

01:09:32.000 Yeah, I did it too. 0.99

01:09:33.000 I did a tour.

01:09:34.000 Yeah, they did like me, especially the drinking party.

01:09:36.000 Oh, the rowdy people.

01:09:37.000 I met a bar one time.

01:09:38.000 We were doing the shot.

01:09:39.000 I said, and I wanted some ice.

01:09:41.000 And the guy said, oh, and everybody's drinking just shots and beer.

01:09:45.000 And I'm drinking liquor.

01:09:47.000 And I said, I wanted some ice.

01:09:49.000 And the guy goes, oh, the ice machine is broken.

01:09:51.000 I said, well, and I was a bartender.

01:09:52.000 I went back.

01:09:53.000 I said, well, if you hit it, some ice will fall out of you.

01:09:55.000 He goes, well, it broke over a year ago.

01:09:57.000 I said, oh, okay.

01:09:58.000 Never mind.

01:09:58.000 Forget it.

01:09:58.000 Yeah.

01:09:59.000 They're just not interested in ice.

01:10:00.000 Yeah, if you buy a soda over there sometimes, like you get a glass of soda, it comes with no ice.

01:10:05.000 Nothing.

01:10:05.000 Like, what is this?

01:10:06.000 Where's the...

01:10:07.000 And then when I did Australia, Australia was...

01:10:10.000 That's kind of a rowdy place, too.

01:10:12.000 Oh, I love it over there.

01:10:13.000 Australia's amazing.

01:10:14.000 And they get into just...

01:10:15.000 They're willing to just show stuff out to you.

01:10:18.000 Yeah.

01:10:18.000 Not necessarily heckling, but just...

01:10:21.000 What do you mean by that?

01:10:25.000 They like to drink there, too.

01:10:26.000 Yeah.

01:10:27.000 I did a whole set over there about Halloween.

01:10:30.000 And it went absolutely nowhere.

01:10:32.000 And I kind of rewrote the next night.

01:10:35.000 Nowhere.

01:10:35.000 And I'm saying, why is this thing not working?

01:10:37.000 And a guy says to me, what is this Halloween?

01:10:39.000 In those days, they didn't celebrate Halloween there.

01:10:42.000 What?

01:10:42.000 He said, you send your kids to strangers' houses to beg for candy?

01:10:46.000 Why not for food?

01:10:47.000 Why wouldn't they go get food or money?

01:10:49.000 I go...

01:10:50.000 It's Halloween.

01:10:50.000 He didn't know what it was.

01:10:51.000 Now they have Halloween.

01:10:52.000 But as of like 20 years ago, they didn't have Halloween.

01:10:55.000 Halloween is only 20 years old in Australia?

01:10:57.000 Yes.

01:10:58.000 That's hilarious.

01:10:59.000 And you would think that would be a universal thing, but it was not.

01:11:03.000 They have a lot of comedy over there now.

01:11:04.000 Yeah.

01:11:05.000 I mean, they have really funny comics now, especially in Melbourne.

01:11:08.000 Yeah, I love Melbourne.

01:11:10.000 Melbourne's great.

01:11:10.000 They have the Comics Lounge.

01:11:12.000 I performed with Tony Hinchcliffe there when I was there back.

01:11:15.000 A lot of comics from L.A. fly over there and do that place.

01:11:18.000 Yeah, you mentioned Richie Jenner.

01:11:19.000 I worked with him over there at the Hilton, which is right across from the Tennis Center where they play the big Australian.

01:11:25.000 In Australia?

01:11:26.000 Yeah.

01:11:26.000 Richie Jenner was one of my favorites.

01:11:28.000 God damn, he was good. 0.99

01:11:29.000 Terrific. 1.00

01:11:30.000 He was so good.

01:11:31.000 He's like probably, in my opinion, one of the most underrated guys ever.

01:11:34.000 Yeah. 0.97

01:11:35.000 To this day, people forget how goddamn good he was. 0.88

01:11:39.000 And he's prolific, too. 0.97

01:11:40.000 Oh, so prolific.

01:11:41.000 You know, you remember Eastside Comedy Club in Long Island?

01:11:44.000 Yes, yes.

01:11:45.000 He worked at Eastside Comedy Club in Long Island.

01:11:47.000 I remember it was me and a couple of the other guys that were there were stunned because the host said, I go, Hey, how was Jenny this weekend?

01:11:56.000 He goes, Not only did he murder...

01:11:58.000 Was it?

01:11:59.000 Not only did Jenny murder every show, but he did four different hours.

01:12:03.000 Wow.

01:12:04.000 He did a different hour, two shows, two different hours Friday, two different hours on Saturday.

01:12:09.000 Wow.

01:12:09.000 He goes, he did four different hours.

01:12:10.000 He goes, he didn't repeat a joke, and he goes, and he was on top of his fucking game, on fire. 0.97

01:12:15.000 And that was like, I guess it was 91, 92. Yeah. 0.98

01:12:20.000 He was, if he wasn't the best in the world, he was right up there.

01:12:23.000 But he was so honest about that and said, I said, you know, something about your life.

01:12:27.000 He said, there's two things in my life.

01:12:28.000 Comedy and porn.

01:12:30.000 And I spent a lot of time on both of them.

01:12:32.000 That was a quote.

01:12:34.000 Well, that's why he was so good.

01:12:35.000 He was obsessed.

01:12:37.000 Yeah, I mean, he was an interesting cat.

01:12:39.000 It was a real bummer when he killed himself.

01:12:42.000 He was for sure one of my favorites.

01:12:44.000 I got to see him live a bunch of times.

01:12:46.000 And what I loved about that guy is he would take a subject, like save the subject with cigarettes.

01:12:50.000 He would beat that subject into the ground. 0.99

01:12:53.000 He would find every fucking angle. 0.99

01:12:54.000 He would cover every possible way you could talk about that bit. 0.99

01:13:00.000 Kind of like when George Collin would take a bit that I would have, you know, an idea, a premise, we'll say.

01:13:05.000 Right.

01:13:05.000 I could get three and a half minutes in.

01:13:07.000 He'd get 15 minutes.

01:13:08.000 Yeah.

01:13:09.000 Of gold.

01:13:10.000 Yeah.

01:13:11.000 But Jenny would be like, punchline, punchline, punchline. 0.99

01:13:15.000 Goddamn, he was good. 0.97

01:13:16.000 Yeah. 0.97

01:13:17.000 We've seen a lot of great comics in our day.

01:13:19.000 Yes, we have.

01:13:20.000 And hopefully a few more.

01:13:21.000 Hopefully there'll be more people seeing me now than I'm back out.

01:13:24.000 For sure.

01:13:25.000 So you said it's available now on Pandora and on Sirius.

01:13:29.000 That's correct.

01:13:30.000 And next week it's going to be available on Spotify and all those guys.

01:13:34.000 Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

01:13:36.000 And it's Don Gavin, Comedy Don Gavin, what is it?

01:13:42.000 Don Gavin Comedy.

01:13:43.000 Don Gavin Comedy on Instagram.

01:13:45.000 And the name of the album is Don Gavin Live with the Manhattan.

01:13:48.000 There it is.

01:13:49.000 Look at you.

01:13:50.000 Ta-da! 1.00

01:13:51.000 Ba-ding!

01:13:51.000 Handsome pastor.

01:13:52.000 All right, listen, it's been an honor having you in here.

01:13:55.000 It's been an honor being here.

01:13:56.000 I really appreciate you, and thanks for all the inspiration over the years.

01:13:59.000 And from the bottom of my heart, seeing you and seeing those guys from Boston when I was starting out meant everything for me.

01:14:06.000 Hey, your compliments mean a lot to me.

01:14:07.000 Thank you, my friend.

01:14:09.000 Don Gavin, everybody.

01:14:10.000 Bye.

01:14:13.000 Thank you sir.

01:14:14.000 That was great.

The Joe Rogan Experience - January 23, 2020

Joe Rogan Experience #1418 - Don Gavin

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Transcript