Episode 1105 - Don Gavin
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what the fuckadelics what's happening how's it going it's mark maron it's me who'd you call you called me it's mark you called me
Marc:No, you called me.
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:Are you in quarantine?
Marc:This is a special show for those people who have been quarantined.
Marc:I hope you have enough water, enough canned foods, enough fresh foods.
Marc:It's going to be okay.
Marc:I don't know how it works to quarantine.
Marc:Is it self-quarantine?
Marc:I know some people are on lockdown, but I hope this is an entertaining show for you.
Marc:You know what you could do?
Marc:While you're being while you're under quarantine is my new Netflix special.
Marc:End times fun is now streaming and people are fucking loving it.
Marc:They're loving it.
Marc:I went out of my way to do some other, not too many podcasts, but I did Bert Kreischer's podcast.
Marc:I did Brian Cowan and Brendan Schaub's podcast.
Marc:I wanted to get the word out to the bros that they should come, that maybe we can bridge a gap.
Marc:I don't know that my mother loves it, but she took a little hit.
Marc:She took a little hit.
Marc:You know, what are you going to do?
Marc:It happens.
Marc:It's tough being the mother or the lover or the friend of a comic.
Marc:Sometimes you're going to get a little, you're going to take a little hit.
Marc:But a lot of people and a lot of things took hits in this special.
Marc:And I don't want to say it was prescient.
Marc:But it is relative to what we're going through.
Marc:And I do hope you're holding up.
Marc:I hope you're OK.
Marc:Those of you who are handling the virus, I hope you're all right.
Marc:I mean, I don't know anybody with it.
Marc:I've read about what it's like or what it could be like.
Marc:And I guess the real issue is the numbers.
Marc:It's most people are going to live through it.
Marc:But the people that don't, that number gets bigger the more people that get it.
Marc:And when it's this big of a spread and this quick of a spread, the pandemic model, if it does go as bad as it could go, even if it's 2% to 3% mortality rate, if the number of people that have it is 50 million,
Marc:That's a big number, and we want to try to avoid that.
Marc:Obviously, we want to try to avoid it altogether, but it does seem that many people will get this in one form or the other.
Marc:I hope you're taking care of yourself.
Marc:I hope you're doing the best you can, and I hope you enjoy my special.
Marc:Because it is the time to do that.
Marc:These are the end times.
Marc:And my special is called End Times Fun.
Marc:It's very specific.
Marc:It is entertainment for the times that we are living in.
Marc:Though the prophecy or the speculation in the special was a burning sky.
Marc:Not a bad Bad Company album.
Marc:Actually, a pretty fucking good Bad Company album.
Marc:I think that might be their last one.
Marc:It might be the last Bad Company album, if I'm not mistaken.
Guest:The sky is burning.
Guest:I believe my soul's on fire.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:But so not the virus, but the burning sky.
Marc:But nonetheless, the sentiment is there.
Marc:So enjoy the special.
Marc:I made it for you to enjoy.
Marc:What else can I tell you about what's happening?
Marc:I went to last night.
Marc:What a fucking night, man.
Marc:I'll tell you, we did the Bon Scott tribute at the Avalon here in or over in Hollywood.
Marc:And it's like a few comics.
Marc:It was me and Dean and Burr doing about 15 to 20 each.
Marc:And then, Dean, we do ACDC music.
Marc:The last one we did was a couple years ago.
Marc:We did the entire Power Ridge album.
Marc:And this one, Dean put together from a live set of, you know, Bon Scott era ACDC.
Marc:And it was...
Marc:It was amazing.
Marc:Look, you know, I get nervous with this stuff, but there are a lot of Dino fans, a lot of ACDC fans, a few of my fans, maybe our collective fans, but they were definitely there to rock.
Marc:And the band was amazing.
Marc:And the people that played were amazing.
Marc:But this guy, Phil Oliveri, whose company Solo Dallas, he makes pedals, but he also brought all the marshals.
Marc:He brought all the equipment that ACDC plays through, and he makes these pedals that make you sound more like ACDC.
Marc:Certain type of boost.
Marc:I don't understand that shit, but he plugged me into one.
Marc:He gave me one last year, but he's great.
Marc:He was very excited.
Marc:He loves ACDC.
Marc:So...
Marc:The lineup, the basic band lineup was Steve Gorman on drums from the Black Crows and it was Josh Z on guitar and Billy Rowe
Marc:on the other guitar and mike inez on bass mike inez from uh i guess he played with allison chains ozzy and um josh has played with a lot of people used to play with dean had a band called mother trucker it was just so solid folks it was so solid they did fortunes just that lineup the the backbone of the band and it was almost like why are we even going to go out there they were in such a fucking groove
Marc:And man, like the musicians that played on some of this stuff, it was crazy.
Marc:It was crazy.
Marc:Dave Lombardo, the drummer, played.
Marc:Lair Lalonde, I think is how you pronounce his name, from Primus.
Marc:And Mr. Bungle, I think, played.
Marc:But Dave Lombardo, holy fuck, what a monster drummer.
Marc:Steve Gorman's a monster drummer.
Marc:And then fucking Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine, who goes out with Juliette Lewis, who also sang.
Marc:She came and sang Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
Marc:He drummed.
Marc:Scott Holiday from the Rival Sons played some guitar.
Marc:I mean, it was fucking nuts.
Marc:It was fucking nuts.
Marc:I played on The Jack and on High Voltage, and we all played on Night Prowler at the end.
Marc:Oh, fucking Bill Burr.
Marc:Billy Burr played drums.
Marc:Bill Burr played drums on the jack.
Marc:I played with Bill.
Marc:There's a little bit of footage out there.
Marc:I put some on my Instagram of a solo I did.
Marc:And I get so nervous and I'm practicing and I'm running my, doing my scales, running my fingers.
Marc:And I get nervous playing with people because it's just, it's not so much I can't play.
Marc:It's just that I'm not used to playing with people, staying in a pocket, you know, not getting ahead of the drum or off or what, you know, just, you know, laying back a little.
Marc:And I was nervous, but I think I landed a couple.
Marc:And it was really... Can I say it?
Marc:Can I say it in this time of plague?
Marc:Can I say it in these end times?
Marc:I had a fucking blast, man.
Marc:I had a blast.
Marc:What a fucking riot, man.
Marc:Just to jam.
Marc:Makes me want to jam more, but I don't know.
Marc:I don't know if I could last a whole night of just me jamming with people.
Marc:Did I mention Don Gavin is on the show?
Marc:Don Gavin.
Marc:is on the show don gavin is a a a an old school boston comic he's got this uh his live album uh live with a manhattan has been re-released it never got the proper release when it was recorded in 2011 but you can now get it on more than a hundred streaming platforms so get go check that out don was like one of the dudes
Marc:when i was coming up in boston he was like dug in he was a legend he was a defining force of boston comedy at that time in the 80s and uh it was it was intense to talk to him because i remember you know kind of being a a a toddler a comedy toddler you know sitting at uh you know listening to don so i definitely need to uh call my mother
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Got to do that.
Marc:So I went to physical therapy.
Marc:Now entering the physical therapy part of my life.
Marc:Turns out, and I fucking knew this, my posture is garbage.
Marc:I don't think that has anything to do with how I hurt myself, but my posture is garbage.
Marc:And to be honest with you, I will tell you why it's garbage, speaking of my mother.
Marc:I'll tell you why.
Marc:And I know it because I still do it.
Marc:If you ever watch me sit on a show, even on my special to a certain degree, I need to be splayed out.
Marc:I'm low in the chair.
Marc:I'm hunched over.
Marc:And do you do you really want to know why I walk with a hunch?
Marc:it's because I was sucking my stomach in.
Marc:When I have good posture, I feel like my stomach is sticking out, and that's a no-no in the Marin household.
Marc:You don't want any tummy showing.
Marc:So I fucked my posture up.
Marc:To sort of stay tight, hide my stomach, hide my shame.
Marc:I have the posture of a body shamed person.
Marc:I'm just hunched over like guarding myself.
Marc:Don't look at that.
Marc:Don't look at my body.
Marc:Don't look at my stomach.
Marc:That's where it comes from.
Marc:That's the habit.
Marc:And the physical therapist said, you know, because you've got your head so forward, you know, these muscles in your neck and shoulders are basically, you know, carrying around a bowling ball, which I thought was a little rude.
Marc:I do not think, for one, my head weighs as much as bowling ball, although I don't know.
Marc:but it was not flattering, but I get the idea.
Marc:It's about weight.
Marc:So all these muscles that aren't used to carrying the weight in that way are doing it.
Marc:And so when you need them to sort of buttress, whatever damage I did to my spine, they're not really even situated properly.
Marc:I had no idea.
Marc:So I'm going to start doing that and I'm going to start walking properly.
Marc:Mark my words, people.
Marc:My posture will be impeccable.
Marc:I'll probably have to get new shirts, new suits.
Marc:Everything I own has been fitted for a slouching, slumping person, for a hunched man who can't even sit properly because he's uncomfortable.
Marc:This is it, man.
Marc:This is my time.
Marc:It's my time to change my posture.
Marc:Do you hear me?
Marc:Mark my words.
Marc:It is.
Marc:Don Gavin, as I said, is a Boston comedian that was there.
Marc:He was like one of the big dogs when I was coming up in the late 80s.
Marc:I opened for him a couple times here and there.
Marc:Johnny Yee's, I remember, playing that dumb dollar poker game with him, drinking.
Marc:Hey, a guy can drink, man.
Marc:Still does it.
Marc:But really one of the funniest guys working.
Marc:His own trip, man.
Marc:His own style.
Marc:Had a lot of influence on people you don't even know.
Marc:And a lot of influence on some people you do know.
Marc:But but yeah, man, it was just had he has an incredible pace and timing and he's just, you know, like the real deal.
Marc:And I was I was thrilled that he wanted to come on, that he asked to come on and that I could could have this here for him.
Marc:So this is me.
Marc:talking to Don Gavin.
Marc:He's here promoting the re-release of his album Live with a Manhattan, which never got a proper release a while back in 2011, and now you can get it on more than 100 streaming platforms, so go check that out.
Marc:This is me talking to the master, Don Gavin.
Guest:I worked a weekend with you and Johnny Yee's.
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:That was the only Cape Cod Club that we actually made money, I think.
Marc:Yeah, but remember there was a Polynesian show?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and then they'd move it.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:They had a stage that would move back into the bandstand.
Guest:And we stayed, and the hotel was like four inches away.
Guest:Yeah, right there.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:And then there was that big fat guy, Wayne.
Marc:Was that his name?
Marc:Remember the guy who ran the Polynesian show and then kind of ran the place, a heavyset guy with long hair?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, and I remember staying at that hotel.
Marc:For some reason, I feel like it was me, you, and Joe Yanetti.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And we just stayed up all night and played the poker with the dollar bills.
Marc:Oh, Liars Polka.
Marc:And I was terrible at it, but I was excited to have been there.
Marc:That place went on for a number of years.
Marc:It did?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But I mean, where do you live now?
Marc:I just moved to Florida.
Guest:Oh, I thought you were like, for some reason, I thought you were in Portland, Oregon.
Guest:No, I've always been in Boston.
Guest:Not sure.
Guest:Nahant for 25 years.
Guest:Really?
Guest:I mean, when I said just move, I mean a week and a half ago.
Guest:What part of Florida?
Guest:Boynton Beach, which is near West Palm.
Guest:Is that for work reasons or retirement reasons?
Guest:Not retirement.
Guest:I didn't save any money, so there's no retirement in the fucking picture.
Guest:No stopping.
Guest:No.
Guest:And I don't want to retire anyway.
Guest:I'm working more than I am.
Guest:I'm always working.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I like it.
Guest:No, more for the weather.
Guest:The fucking weather finally gets me.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:It's done?
Guest:It's time?
Guest:I mean, it's in my bones.
Guest:I'm still cold from being in Boston three weeks ago.
Guest:You're still cold now?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's in me.
Guest:So where I live now, yeah, that's what I want.
Guest:And also I do a lot of cruise ships and most of the cruise ships go out of there.
Guest:So that makes it practical.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:Now, like the cruise ships, that's a big business.
Marc:And I've only talked to one other person who does ships, really.
Marc:We'll talk about that if you want a little bit.
Marc:I talked to Vanessa Hollingshead.
Marc:I know the name.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, she somehow has a whole career on boats.
Marc:I do about 20 a week.
Marc:20 years, excuse me.
Guest:20 a year.
Marc:20 weeks.
Marc:So 20 weeks.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that's like the bulk of the business.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And now with the boats, how does it work?
Marc:Obviously, I don't think I'm the right guy for a boat.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Most people are not.
Marc:But now, it used to be the fear was, back in the day, the idea was the boat, you had to be clean.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But now they have both, right?
Guest:Well, now, yeah, they have...
Guest:Well, depending on what your situation is.
Guest:I'm usually in a headline room where I just do my show.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But then you can have the one where you do the welcome aboard, clean, and then you have a late night show, which you can say pretty, you know, you can say fuck and whatever.
Guest:No cunt, huh?
Guest:Yeah, no cunt.
Guest:So that's why I don't work that room.
Guest:No, no.
Marc:But so what's the welcome aboard?
Guest:You know, hello and goodbye.
Guest:Or you might say the farewell show, which is much better.
Guest:Farewell show makes sense.
Guest:People have been on there for eight, ten days, and you can sit on the boat and say, this sucked, or this was great.
Guest:But when they first get there, they don't even know how to find their cabin.
Guest:They know where the fuck they are.
Guest:So you're the first night kind of deal?
Guest:You're the first thing that they sing.
Guest:They have a couple of dances, dance for two minutes, and here's that comedian.
Guest:And I swear there's people just wandering around, you know.
Guest:I had people, when I was doing this, you do like a half an hour.
Guest:28 minutes in, the people are walking in to go sit in the first.
Guest:I said, the fucking show's over, you dickhead.
Guest:I can't imagine that.
Guest:And you're there for...
Guest:The fear is, for people that don't know the thing, that if you suck, you're stuck with the same people on the boat.
Guest:But I don't suck, and I know how to hide.
Guest:So they can't find me.
Guest:How many shows do you do, though, like in a week?
Guest:Well, you had the question about the language thing.
Guest:Now they have, because the ships are so big.
Guest:I just got out this one called The Antimacy, largest ship in the world.
Guest:6,100 passengers.
Guest:that's crazy yeah this so you can like you can do a week no they know there they have a comedy room yeah a 250 seat comedy room yeah which is like a throwback to vegas days you do like 17 shows a week or 15 shows a week two or three every night which is not my cup of tea half hour shows or full yeah exactly no even 25 minutes
Guest:And that's where they always say, oh, you only have to do 25 minutes.
Guest:Yeah, but I have to do 15 of the fucking things, you know.
Guest:I haven't got one night off.
Guest:And I like my cocktails.
Guest:And now I'm going, so that means I can't drink.
Guest:Well, you're killing me here, you know.
Guest:You've got to wait to have the cocktails.
Guest:Yes, yes.
Guest:And I don't want to wait.
Guest:It's like one show, then cocktails.
Guest:Yeah, it's funny.
Guest:Rogan says, you know, I still drink.
Guest:And everybody in Boston says, hey, hey, you know.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And he said, did you ever consider, did you ever try to stop drinking?
Guest:And I said, no.
Guest:No, I didn't.
Guest:That was my answer.
Guest:I actually thought for him.
Guest:I go, no.
Marc:Well, yeah, I mean, like I'm sober and I talked to Sweeney.
Marc:He's sober.
Marc:I remember what you fucking drink.
Marc:You're like white Russians, I think.
Marc:Black Russians.
Marc:Black Russians, right.
Marc:Yeah, the black Russians.
Marc:No milk.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I remember.
Marc:Yeah, that's funny.
Guest:I remember.
Guest:Because it was always one in my hand probably.
Marc:No, but like we would sit there at Nick's and we were having fun, you know, at that bar in the back of the original Nick's in the circle.
Marc:And I think you were, didn't you maybe dated a waitress or married a waitress?
Guest:Yeah, Pam.
Guest:Pam, yeah, she was great.
Guest:She said to say,
Guest:Oh, that's very nice.
Guest:You're still with her?
Guest:Yeah, kind of here and there.
Guest:Okay, good.
Guest:She's all right?
Guest:Yeah, she's great.
Guest:She's great.
Marc:And I just remember, well, we won't go too deep into it.
Marc:No.
Marc:But it's sort of amazing that you still drink, isn't it?
Guest:I don't find it amazing, but I do find there's a lot more.
Guest:I find that there's a lot more booze around because nobody else drinks.
Marc:But do you don't find that it doesn't tie your... Have we started yet?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Oh, I didn't know that.
Marc:But I mean, does it beat you up a little bit or no?
Marc:You're all right.
Guest:Well, I'm no kid, but I walk every day.
Guest:I mean, yeah, I'm actually in pretty good shape, so I'm still surviving.
Marc:You're just one of those guys, man.
Marc:You're genetically built for it.
Guest:Hopefully, yeah.
Guest:What do you mean hopefully?
Guest:I mean, like I wake up in the morning.
Guest:I never have a hangover.
Guest:When do you start drinking, though?
Guest:Oh, you know, in the evening, I have a few, like the name of my album is called Live with the Manhattan.
Guest:Right, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Live from Manhattan.
Guest:Got it, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and that's a virtual comedy.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:And so this is, yeah, that kind of shows a picture of Manhattan, and that's before then, a few of those.
Guest:It's so funny, though.
Guest:And then eat, and then afterwards maybe a couple of those black Russians that we went to.
Guest:Yeah, the black Russians.
Guest:Yeah, but that's it, just the booze.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:No, yeah.
Guest:You had to stop some of the stuff.
Guest:You just said it wouldn't be interviewing me.
Guest:It would be a forest lawn as we went by on the way after it.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Crazy.
Guest:No, you couldn't.
Guest:No, the other stuff, no.
Guest:I can't do that.
Guest:You need you out of that.
Guest:The white stuff, no.
Guest:That had to end at some point.
Guest:Somebody asked me, when did I stop doing it?
Guest:I said, I don't remember, but I know it was a long time ago.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Why did we quit that?
Guest:Coke.
Guest:You know, the Coke.
Guest:And we said, well, because the product is kind of crappy now.
Guest:You can't get anything any good.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That was the initial reason.
Guest:Then money was going to be another one.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And then health, of course.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And also, you run out of things to talk about.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:How many times can you stay up all night talking to your drug dealer?
Guest:Yeah, and you're repeating yourself.
Guest:You're repeating yourself, and then you're repeating yourself.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:Where'd you grow up?
Guest:I grew up in West Roxbury.
Guest:West Roxbury.
Guest:Next to Brookline.
Marc:I remember West Roxbury, and it's, isn't it next to, well, it's next to Brookline.
Marc:There used to be a... Next to Dedham, Brookline.
Marc:Right.
Marc:There used to be a deli there that I worked at on Pottingham Circle called Gordon's Deli.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Do you remember it?
Marc:I remember.
Marc:I know Pottingham Circle.
Marc:There was a Chinese restaurant, and then there was one of the last of the Jewish delis there for a while.
Guest:I know the place you don't, but the Chinese are red, because Red Albrecht used to go in there all the time, the guy that was the president of the Celtics.
Guest:Oh, the Celtics president.
Guest:And he just pretty much lived at that place.
Guest:And where you're talking, it was up towards where the tennis courts and all that kind of stuff.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Marc:I just remember working there one summer.
Marc:I worked at a deli there.
Guest:And you didn't, that didn't last?
Guest:You couldn't make a career out of that?
Marc:Out of working, being a deli guy?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It was one of the last Jewish delis in Boston.
Marc:There wasn't that many.
Marc:There's like a B&D or whatever.
Marc:And I found this one somehow by this guy named Shelly owned it with his wife.
Marc:And he's this huge fat guy.
Marc:And he would sit there eating the ribs from next door.
Marc:It was crazy.
Marc:It was a whole world of- Could you fall back on that if you had to?
Marc:It's the last job I had done.
Marc:Like, when I really think about what could I do, I'm like, my resume's a little shallow.
Marc:I was a grill cook, and that was it.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:But you had a gig, though, before.
Marc:I was a teacher.
Marc:But, like, West Roxbury, though, when you were growing up, what did your folks do?
Marc:What was the family like?
Guest:It was blue collar.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Everybody was white Irish Catholic.
Guest:Everybody.
Guest:Were your folks from Ireland?
Guest:My four grandparents were from Ireland.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:All four.
Guest:See.
Guest:And in fact, my son-in-law is from Ireland also now too.
Guest:So the Irish, but I mean, when I say everybody was Irish, everybody was Irish.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like an Italian family, that would be an oddity.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No blacks, no Hispanics, just- All Irish in West Roxbury.
Guest:All big, big families.
Marc:Because the Jews came there eventually, didn't they?
Marc:Or were they in Brooklyn?
Marc:Well, they were in-
Marc:Brookline, they've always been in Brookline.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And was that, now you had grandparents that came like off the boat.
Marc:They were Irish.
Marc:Now, do you know where you come from in Ireland?
Marc:Yeah, Cork.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Guest:County Cork, four, so all four from the same area.
Guest:And do you have like a ton of brothers and sisters?
Guest:I only have, I have a small family, just three brothers.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That was the point.
Guest:That would be a small family.
Guest:But it was always great if you wanted sports because all you have to do is knock on three doors and you have 15 kids, you know.
Marc:Right, just right down the street?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And like, so you're brought up pretty Catholic?
Guest:Brought up that way, yeah.
Guest:Went away?
Guest:Everybody says they're a fallen Catholic.
Guest:I don't know what they fell out of, but yeah, I don't know.
Guest:It kind of changed quite a bit.
Guest:Yeah, it was pretty strict Catholic.
Guest:I went to Catholic grammar school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I got a scholarship to a Catholic high school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I had my 12 years worth.
Guest:I got my beatings in.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did you really get beaten?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And the nuns were really like that?
Guest:No, the nuns weren't bad.
Guest:The Christian brothers.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't know if they could eliminate the word Christian.
Guest:I don't remember that being part of their modus habarande.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so they used to carry, seriously, they had that cincture around their pants.
Guest:And there would be a strap.
Guest:They had a strap, big leather, thick leather thing that they carried like cops carry a gun.
Guest:They carried it.
Guest:It was right outside.
Guest:And I was hit.
Guest:One guy, one particular brother, Ford, passed away, thank God.
Guest:He used to give me the strap every day, every day.
Guest:For what?
Guest:He was the trigonometry teacher, and I still remember one time I got 100 of the thing, and he was so used to hitting me, he gave me the strap that day, too.
Guest:I said, I got 100.
Guest:He goes, well, you probably deserved it.
Guest:You had it coming.
Guest:Yeah, right, right.
Guest:That's for tomorrow.
Guest:It's for stuff that I didn't see.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And your brothers are older or younger?
Guest:Two older brothers, one younger brother.
Guest:Are they around?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, they're still around.
Marc:You guys are tough.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You must be tough.
Guest:Resilient, I think.
Marc:They're resilient.
Marc:That's right.
Guest:And so, do you go, have you been to Ireland?
Guest:I've only been there just in, you know, it's a pity that I haven't done more.
Guest:It's beautiful.
Guest:Because I've been to 150 countries.
Guest:It's weird, and you're avoiding Ireland, huh?
Guest:I don't know if I'm avoiding it, but it was in Shannon Airport.
Guest:That was about it.
Guest:That was it?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't know why I've never made that trip.
Guest:There's probably Gavin's back there.
Guest:Oh, there's still relatives, yeah.
Marc:Because I just went there, and I have no connection to it genetically.
Marc:I'm an Eastern European Jew, and I love Ireland.
Guest:I love it.
Guest:All right, I'm going to take your suggestion.
Guest:You should.
Guest:I'll do that.
Guest:Because between the USO and all the cruise ships, I've been pretty much everywhere.
Guest:A lot of places.
Marc:Everywhere, but I have not been to Ireland.
Marc:You'd be surprised, man.
Marc:It was like I had this weird observation about Ireland just from being – because when I was coming up with you in comedy, I'm about as different from a guy who grows up in Boston as you can be, really.
Marc:So I was always kind of like – I was always trying to fit in, and there's a certain – Were you really trying?
Marc:Not really.
Marc:No.
Marc:I was doing what I could.
Guest:In your own way.
Marc:Yeah, I was trying to, you know, get something done, become something.
Marc:But the Boston Irish are tough as fuck.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I mean, right?
Marc:I mean, that's their reputation, right?
Marc:So you go to Ireland, and you see dudes that look like Boston Irish, but they're Irish Irish, and you're expecting this attitude and this ass kick, and they're just sweet as can be.
Marc:You're expecting the aggression in your face.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And it's not there.
Marc:I'm like, well, I don't know if I can get used to this.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But it's the same families.
Marc:Same thing.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:That's interesting.
Marc:It is.
Marc:It was really weird because my immediate feeling is like, oh, here we go.
Marc:And nothing.
Marc:Just, hi, how are you?
Marc:You know, just nice people.
Marc:They're putting me on here.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So when you're growing up, though, you went to school, you went to college to become a teacher?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That was the goal?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, that was the goal, I should say, yeah.
Guest:And I taught for 14 years.
Guest:Then I was a coach.
Guest:I coached a couple of sports, which I really loved.
Marc:What did you teach, though?
Marc:Like, what year?
Guest:I taught from 1970 to 84.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was teaching while I was doing comedy the last three or four years.
Marc:But when you set out to be a teacher, like, what subjects were you teaching?
Guest:I was teaching primarily English, but then I got into guidance.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Like what grade?
Guest:Me in guidance.
Marc:Well, I mean, it was younger you.
Marc:You hadn't got off the rails yet, I guess, I'm assuming.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:Yeah, I guess you're right.
Marc:Well, you were hiding it.
Guest:No, no, yeah, it wasn't a constant thing.
Marc:You went out all night.
Guest:The devil came out a little later.
Marc:Later, right?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Comedy brings the devil out for sure.
Marc:So you're teaching English to like high school?
Guest:Well, I was teaching in a vocational school where English was the second language, but they didn't have a first language because it was just...
Guest:I mean, I used to make the kids auto bottles, sheet metal paper.
Guest:I'd make them wash their hands before I'd give them the books.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:It was just not.
Guest:So I should have been teaching more advanced kids, and I was teaching them.
Guest:And we didn't get along.
Guest:When I coached, the kids loved me teaching.
Guest:They didn't want to be in an academic setting.
Guest:They didn't mind being in shop one week, but the next week they had to go to classes.
Marc:Oh, so this was like a requirement.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:If you want to build the engine, you got to learn how to write things.
Guest:Well, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Supposedly, yeah.
Guest:At least to read the instructions.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But in those days, what do you call it?
Guest:The vocational schools were pretty much a dumping ground for the guys that couldn't, girls still, that couldn't make it in regular mainstream.
Guest:So every class would have, you know, four kids would be out because they're in juvie hall or they're
Marc:So it was either there or jail or the military.
Guest:Yeah, I remember people saying, well, you know, if he flunks your course, he's going to have to go in the service and go, best thing in the law.
Marc:Send him.
Guest:I don't even care if he goes in on our side.
Guest:He can play for the other team.
Guest:Yeah, that'd be really good for him.
Guest:Yeah, because he's in trouble.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:But you're right.
Guest:With that, maybe jail.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:Maybe both.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So it was just sort of like, we got to get them a trade.
Marc:At least we got to try.
Guest:And that has changed so dramatically.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because now, like culinary schools, you know, there's waiting lists for all these type of things.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But in those days, drafting would be different.
Guest:That was a little bit.
Guest:Carpentry was okay.
Guest:But I can still remember these auto body and auto repair and sheet metal guys.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Monsters.
Guest:And just...
Guest:What do we need this English for?
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:Maybe he'd want to speak this.
Guest:Write something down.
Guest:I remember trying to teach literature to them.
Guest:To this day, I remember irony.
Guest:I said, just give me the definition back.
Guest:Satire and a couple of different words.
Guest:Irony.
Guest:I gave him 100 on the thing.
Guest:He said, the complete flattening out of a town.
Guest:Irony.
Guest:I go, well...
Guest:you know what you get a hundred outrageous average up to around 30. so yeah but the complete flattening out of a town and he was dead serious i said well what's this that's a pretty good joke he goes what do you mean joke i know it's a flattening out of something i said yeah iron me ironing the complete flattening out of a town and he was confident oh yeah he knew he had that one right
Marc:So when you're teaching and you're doing like the guidance thing, are you doing guidance for these?
Guest:No, the guidance was basically showing them how to turn the door on to get out of my room.
Guest:I actually had a sign on my door.
Guest:My door is never open.
Guest:This is for the same vocational school?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Seriously, the...
Guest:I was trying to show them how to do business letters.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I said to the kid, the kid, he signs his name.
Guest:He said, I said, well, I have your name Gleason.
Guest:It's G-L-E-A-S-O-N.
Guest:He goes, yeah.
Guest:He said, well, you signed a G-L-E-E-S-O-N.
Guest:He goes, well, I was in a hurry.
Guest:I said, you misspelled your own name.
Guest:Come on.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:I'm going, yeah, I'm going.
Guest:This is the type of people that do.
Guest:I said, I was in a hurry.
Guest:And he actually had an excuse.
Guest:Like, you know, yeah, I'm just in a rush.
Guest:That's your name.
Yeah.
Guest:And this was in, was this in West Roxbury?
Guest:No, no, that's Weymouth.
Guest:Weymouth.
Guest:Weymouth.
Guest:Down on the South Shore.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:How'd you imagine?
Guest:Why down there?
Guest:Oh, because they looked at me and I was big enough and they hired people according to size rather than strength.
Guest:You look like you might scare them.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:They might listen to you.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yeah, all the academic teachers were like me, 6'2", 2'10".
Guest:Oh, really?
Marc:Just so they wouldn't push you over?
Guest:Yeah, like the guy in the next, one of my best friends played professional football for seven years.
Guest:That's who they hired.
Guest:And what'd you coach?
Guest:My buddy, he was teaching math.
Guest:He was horrible at math.
Guest:I went in one time, he had stuff in the blackboard.
Guest:I said, you know, that's wrong.
Guest:What do you have on the board there?
Guest:Well, they don't know.
Guest:I said, and you didn't know.
Marc:Did he admit it?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It wasn't a problem.
Guest:They just hired me because I'm big.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we used to, you know, detention in high school.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Now, when you were in high school, did you have problems?
Marc:I ditched school a lot, but I never got into big trouble.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I would skip classes.
Marc:And one time I got sent to the principal's office because I set something on fire.
Marc:Oh, well, depending on what it was.
Marc:It was another teacher, maybe.
Marc:No, I was in electronics class.
Marc:I was just fucking around with shit.
Marc:It was an accident, but I got suspended for a couple days.
Marc:What were you going to talk about?
Guest:No, I was just saying that I wouldn't send with the other guy at the football player, Kenny Blouse, my friend.
Guest:We'd never send anybody to detention.
Guest:What we would do, we'd make them play us in basketball and basically beat the shit out of them.
Guest:Five of them against two of us.
Guest:And we'd start the game by, okay, you guys take it out and you throw the ball and hit the guy right in the balls to stop the thing.
Guest:And physically, I mean, elbow, beat them up, beat them up, to the point that they were...
Guest:No, no, don't.
Guest:So they got the idea.
Guest:Send us to detention.
Marc:We'll never do it again.
Marc:So what businesses are your siblings in?
Guest:What do they do?
Guest:They were in the trades.
Guest:My dad was a carpenter.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Guest:My one brother worked for the phone company and two other brothers were master electricians.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:And I'm the idiot that talks.
Guest:And I can't do anything with my hands.
Guest:I do a few things with my hands, but not anything that's socially acceptable.
Marc:Yeah, so they were electricians their whole life?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's a good gimmick.
Marc:That's a good racket there.
Marc:Yeah, they were, yeah.
Marc:It's a skill, real trade.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:They need them.
Guest:People need them.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Well, I was thinking that, you know, when...
Guest:The end of the world comes or whatever.
Guest:Somebody that can do something.
Guest:Like telling jokes is really not going to be on demand.
Guest:No, no.
Marc:We're going to be the first to go.
Guest:Can you build a shelter?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:You're the top of the heap now.
Marc:Hey, listen to this.
Marc:I got a good type five.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We don't need you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're outside the gate.
Guest:Also, I play the ukulele too.
Guest:Good.
Guest:Oh, come on in.
Marc:That's good.
Marc:We need a uke player.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know how to build a fire without matches?
Guest:Okay, you're the president.
Marc:Yeah, I wish I knew how to do something.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, it's never too late, people tell me.
Guest:I said, well, it's pretty damn late.
Guest:Yeah, it's getting there.
Guest:It's getting there.
Guest:I mean, you could build something, couldn't you?
Guest:Oh, no.
Marc:Nothing.
Guest:No, I mean, some assembly required, but that's a bullshit line.
Guest:There's a lot of assemblies.
Guest:Sure, yeah, it's too much.
Guest:Get someone to do it.
Guest:Handyman special.
Guest:I go, yes, they are.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm not one of them.
Guest:I just bought a condo and it was ready to move into.
Guest:And I looked at the other condo and they said, oh, all you have to do is maybe knock this wall out.
Guest:I said, you got the wrong guy.
Marc:All the walls need to be good where they are.
Guest:Everything has to be in shape.
Guest:All set.
Yeah.
Marc:Oh, that's nice.
Guest:So were you living in a house up in Boston?
Guest:Yeah, I was in an apartment, and eventually, the weather, honestly, the weather finally got to me.
Guest:Yeah, and it's not getting any better.
Marc:So what makes you make the jump from guidance counselor?
Guest:Oh, into the comedy?
Guest:Well, I was a bartender for a lot of those years, and I was a wise guy bartender.
Guest:Where were you doing that, tend and bar?
Guest:Probably 20 different places.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You could always fall back on that, right?
Guest:I could.
Guest:Yeah, which I may fall back as of next week.
Guest:Things keep going the way that happened.
Guest:No, but that was like, for instance, before, I had 22 seats at this bar.
Guest:I remember this one.
Guest:Four guys sat down.
Guest:One guy said, what's your cheapest beer?
Guest:I said, root beer.
Guest:Screw.
Guest:Get up.
Guest:Get up.
Guest:Screw.
Guest:And I said, if you put 20 bucks to me before your order, then you can sit down.
Guest:And they go, what do you mean before you haven't ordered yet?
Guest:I said, that's the point.
Guest:Give me 20 bucks and everything's going to be good.
Guest:That's what I said.
Guest:So that I carried into whatever comedy I was doing.
Guest:And for a while it seemed to work.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you would literally entertain guys at the bar in a way.
Guest:Yeah, pretty much.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then, but.
Guest:But, and also having all those, you know, it's Irish families and my dad was a great storyteller.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Was he?
Guest:And as most old time Irish guys, you know, and so that came, that fell to me.
Marc:Well, some of them can talk, but like, you know, and they seem like they should be telling a good story, but they're just charismatic.
Marc:And, you know, you realize like that didn't go anywhere.
Marc:Right?
Marc:I mean, but some guys genuinely can do it.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And your dad was one of those guys.
Guest:Yes, yes.
Marc:But it's funny because I guess your jokes are more kind of like, you know, quick.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:You're not doing the long form stories.
Marc:No, you're right.
Guest:Well, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, they come.
Guest:But they all string together, don't they?
Guest:Yes, there's the sides and there's tags.
Guest:So you took it all from your dad?
Guest:A lot of it would be, not the material, but certainly the, but the pace that I've talked at, a friend described it one time, it was 70 words a minute, gust to 140.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:And I used to talk so far.
Guest:I played some old tapes from the days like when you were in town.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I hear the audiences laughing.
Guest:I'm going, I have no idea what I'm saying.
Guest:I mean, I don't even know what I'm saying.
Marc:Well, that was the coke too.
Guest:Possibly.
Guest:But everybody else in the audience was on the same stuff.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Everybody was jacked.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, those bad habits, when you think back, like smoking.
Guest:When I was growing up, everybody smoked.
Guest:Did you smoke?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Up until the year 2000, a bunch of us quit on the same day.
Guest:And I've never had an urge after like a month and never even thought about going back.
Guest:But everybody, when I say everybody, everybody smoked.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:No, everything.
Marc:On airplanes.
Guest:We smoked on airplanes.
Guest:I can remember when someone in the Christian, the four German couples I stuck with, they didn't speak a word of English.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're having their ice cream.
Guest:They're smoking while they're having ice cream.
Guest:You know, cut for the thing and a little bit of vanilla.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Still at it.
Guest:And I think the same thing with what we were playing around with, you know, the Coke and drinking.
Guest:Everybody else was doing it.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:We'd be doing it, too.
Marc:yeah well i mean that yeah it was i remember it was just a you know it certain places and i don't know like uh yeah it was just around it was almost like acceptable yeah it kind of was yeah so when you start when you start doing comedy where's the first place you go up uh well there was only one show in town that was the comedy connection
Marc:The original one down?
Guest:Yeah, the one on Warrington Street.
Guest:Right down the street from Nick's.
Guest:Yes, yeah.
Guest:As you remember, there were three comedy clubs.
Guest:About four or five comedy clubs all within, what, a quarter mile there.
Marc:I guess that's true.
Marc:I mean, there was Nick's and then the Comedy Connection and then what?
Guest:And Duck Soup across the street.
Guest:That was later.
Guest:Well, it was later.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then Daugherty had the vault.
Marc:Daugherty, you're insecure.
Marc:That's your problem.
Marc:That's what he said to me.
Guest:He's still around.
Guest:He's still around.
Guest:He's another resilient fucker, huh?
Guest:Yeah, he's one of the few guys that's left that's quite a bit older than me.
Marc:He's old-timey.
Guest:I think he's still performing.
Marc:He came out of the happy hour circuit.
Marc:He was like a singer.
Guest:He was a singer.
Guest:It was Dick Dirty and the majority.
Guest:You remember that?
Guest:And he was the highest paid act down the Cape.
Guest:And he owned this place, the Crystal Palace.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Which would be worth a fortune now just to land alone.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:And I mean, he was like a honcho down there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And yeah, it was.
Guest:And he fucked it all up on drugs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Right?
Guest:And then he gets over.
Guest:He must be sober a million years now.
Guest:Went through different lives and this and that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And yeah.
Guest:Well, as a lot of people, what you made, you spent.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was never anything about, gee, maybe I should save money for next week.
Marc:No, never.
Marc:I said, like, when I started, like, I still have a mentality like that.
Marc:Like, if I don't, like, if I have a little bit of money, I freak out and I don't buy anything.
Marc:Because, like, I feel, you know what I mean?
Marc:You mean insecurity?
Marc:No, I'm afraid I'm going to not have money.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:So I just hold on to it.
Marc:If I need a loan, I know who to go.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:If you have to.
Marc:I mean, let's not go crazy.
Guest:We're talking maybe 10, 20 grand.
Guest:But you know how to have a good time?
Guest:Do you have a boat?
Guest:I have friends that have boats.
Guest:That's much better.
Guest:Then you don't have to do any other boat.
Marc:Okay, so you go up.
Marc:What year is it that you first go on stage?
Marc:In the 70s?
Marc:79.
Guest:Really?
Guest:That had been going on for a couple of years before.
Guest:I came in on the first wave, but I got the last wave.
Guest:So the connection was really the first comedy club there.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:That was the only one.
Guest:Like people talk about, oh, Jay Leno.
Guest:Well, Jay Leno wasn't working in comedy clubs in Boston.
Guest:There was no such thing.
Guest:Remember before we had time?
Guest:It was a Playboy club.
Marc:Right, or they'd open for musical acts, right?
Guest:Yeah, that would be the place maybe venue for a- The Playboy Club.
Guest:Do you remember that place?
Guest:It was before my time.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:But I mean, I know where it was growing up, but I was too young on that day.
Marc:So in 79, so the Comedy Connection's been open a couple years?
Marc:Yeah, and then we opened up the Ding Ho.
Marc:Over in Cambridge.
Marc:Cambridge at the Chinese restaurant.
Guest:You never worked there, right?
Marc:I was there like when I got to college in 81 or 82, I went over there.
Marc:Oh, you did?
Marc:I was actually able to go on stage there a couple of times on the open mics.
Marc:But I think it was towards the end of it.
Marc:I wasn't there during the heyday.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I remember Lenny was hosting an open mic when I was there, maybe.
Guest:Is that possible?
Guest:And I had a show there.
Guest:Steve Sweeney had a show there.
Guest:You had a show there, Sweeney.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:DJ Hazard, remember?
Guest:DJ.
Marc:DJ, yeah.
Marc:DJ Hanard.
Marc:Hanard then.
Marc:From the old days.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I remember DJ, of course.
Marc:Because when I was in college,
Marc:In 81, 82-ish, I would go to Played Against Sam's because I wanted to do comedy.
Marc:So I started doing open mics on my own, I think.
Marc:It was probably the summer of 84 at Played Against Sam's.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Guest:And that was Barry Katz.
Marc:Katz, but like, you know, Rogerson hosted it.
Marc:So like, I remember both with Kenny and Lenny.
Yeah.
Marc:Lenny at the Ding Ho and Rogerson at Sims.
Marc:You get on this list to do open mics.
Marc:You wait all fucking night.
Marc:They get shit-faced.
Marc:They do an hour between acts.
Guest:And they forget to put you on.
Guest:Yeah, they go, this next guy.
Guest:And so you're waiting patiently.
Guest:And they repeat, this next guy.
Guest:And then, like you said, 45 minutes later.
Guest:That's it, folks.
Guest:I'm over here.
Marc:That's the fucking worst.
Guest:I got so mad.
Guest:Well, that wasn't just unique to there.
Guest:That happened to me going down to New York when I would work at Catch or something like that.
Guest:You'd go all the way to New York and you're waiting around right now.
Guest:Now it's a quarter of two.
Guest:And guys like Andy Kaufman would empty the room intentionally.
Guest:I'm going, what an asshole.
Guest:And then I never got out and wouldn't get on.
Marc:Or you'd get on for four people.
Marc:And they're waiting for you to get off.
Guest:At that point, you're so distraught and you're so pissed off.
Guest:You're not going to be funny at all anyways.
Marc:Yeah, you just feel your whole sort of like reason for being there diminishing.
Marc:It's the worst feeling.
Marc:You had to go through that too?
Marc:It's a slow bleeding.
Marc:Yeah, it is.
Marc:Because you sit there, you're there at the beginning of the night and it's great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then you just slowly watch.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like people going away.
Guest:And there were guys, if you remember, guys like Godfrey.
Guest:Yeah, Gilbert.
Guest:They would intentionally walk, they used to go walk in the room, making people leave.
Guest:I never got the point of that.
Marc:Well, no, I don't think that was down in Boston thing.
Marc:Not down in Boston.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:If anyone was walking in the room, it was because they lost their minds.
Marc:Like if Jay Charbonneau got mad...
Marc:Maybe some people would leave.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:The only reason people walked to Boston was because the guy on stage got pissed off that no one was laughing.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Correct.
Guest:And that's why going all the way to New York, which to me was a big deal.
Guest:And you go, oh, man.
Guest:That frustration.
Guest:Like you said, you get there early.
Guest:You'd be there from 8 to 1.30 in the morning.
Marc:And you're told you're going to go on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, you should be... Oh, any minute now.
Guest:Yeah, Louis.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, Don, Don.
Guest:We're going to get you up in a little while.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:From Boston, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, we had a couple weeks ago.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I didn't get on then either.
Marc:But see, that's the interesting thing because, you know, the one thing about working in Boston...
Marc:was you worked, like once I got that, I came in second in that festival, I was out on the road, those two-man shows, one-nighters, you know, that's how you paid your dues, not sitting around waiting.
Guest:Right, a lot of satellite rooms, so you could work pretty much, and I look back, you know, keeping notes so weird, and the money was, you know, shit, but I look back, in one year, I worked 330 days out of the 360, so you'd work every night.
Guest:Just in the area.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:On those fucking one days.
Guest:I didn't travel for years.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I had my own show at Nick's on Saturday night,
Guest:For nine years.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And I missed about six, maybe six weeks total in nine years.
Guest:And we started with one show there, and then eventually by the end, we were doing five shows on a Saturday night.
Marc:I remember the fucking, remember when they, I remember this with you.
Marc:I remember you were there that, like, there was a period there where Nick's had, like, three rooms within the one place.
Guest:Upstairs, downstairs, and downstairs.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And you would do, like, two shows in each room, five or six, and you'd run it up and down.
Guest:And you'd run from one room to the next.
Guest:And they were all packed.
Guest:It was crazy.
Guest:I remember that, man.
Guest:And we're all running up and down.
Guest:And we did it the first time.
Guest:In those days, the Boston idea was that the headliner would be the host of the show.
Guest:So I'd go on and bring you on.
Guest:Okay, you do a great job.
Guest:So you do your 15.
Guest:And the next guy comes up and he shits.
Guest:So I get him off in six because I want to control the whole thing.
Guest:But when you're doing five shows, you can't be in two places.
Guest:I remember Dominic, the manager on the side, he said, you're on upstairs.
Guest:I go,
Guest:I'm on here right now.
Guest:I'm on stage here.
Marc:Oh, Dominic, is he around still?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, he's all right?
Guest:He's straightened out.
Guest:Did he?
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Guest:He's on the bright.
Guest:He's been there for many years.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:He's a sheet metal, excuse me, sheet rock guy, you know, working hard guy.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, he's doing very good.
Marc:Oh, that's good.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's nice.
Marc:He was always a pretty nice guy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, when sober, yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Do you talk to Chappie?
Guest:On occasion.
Guest:But he's, you know, he's out this way.
Guest:You know, he's doing the Hollywood thing.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I haven't seen him lately.
Guest:I used to see him around on occasion.
Guest:But a lot of those kids, Lenny and Sween and George McDonnell, I still talk to.
Guest:George, yeah.
Guest:He used to host one of those open mic things, too.
Marc:Yeah, he used to host it at Comedy Hell at Stitches.
Marc:At Stitches.
Marc:Yeah, I used to do that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And Crimin's just passed away now.
Marc:Yeah, that's too bad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I know.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So you go to the Comedy Connection.
Marc:It's 1979.
Marc:So who are the guys that are around?
Guest:Well, the people were already around then.
Guest:Teddy Bergeron was one of the guys.
Guest:That's so funny, too.
Guest:And when he was sober, he was brilliant.
Guest:You know, I had him on.
Guest:When he wasn't sober, he was horrible.
Marc:I had him on a live one.
Marc:It was like in Boston.
Marc:I think I reached out to a bunch of people, but there's definitely a rift there, right, between Blumenreich and some of the other guys.
Marc:Oh, more than a rift.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And you're on the anti-Blumenreich.
Guest:I'm on the top of the wall.
Guest:I don't know what happened there.
Guest:I can tell you.
Guest:He just almost pretty much refused to use the axe in Boston.
Guest:In print.
Guest:He goes, yeah, Don Gavin, Tony V. He goes, yeah, they're okay.
Guest:They're not my cup of tea.
Guest:He goes, I don't know what the big deal is, so I'm not using people like that.
Guest:And this is in town.
Guest:In print.
Guest:And I'm working everywhere.
Guest:And I'm going, hey, we're an asshole.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And so this day, and then he tried to get me in his place to Wilbur, and he called, and he offered me, like, hardly next to nothing for a show, and he said, well, I gotta get the first $1,500 that comes in, and then with you can get three other guys and split up, you know, and I'm going, I said, oh, I'm deeply interested, because I didn't think you'd be interested, great.
Guest:So, you know, I'm bullshitting them, so I hang up.
Guest:I get a phone call from a couple of real jerky comedians, go,
Guest:Oh, oh, if you're in, I'm in.
Guest:I was fucking with him.
Guest:I wouldn't put my foot in there.
Guest:My brother could be in there performing.
Guest:Still not go in.
Guest:No.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I don't like I just came in.
Marc:I know I did a live WTF, a live podcast.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I knew.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:When you went in, you asked me to come on.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:And that's the reason.
Guest:It is because of that.
Guest:I get it.
Guest:And it's just a connection.
Guest:Yeah, and then when we started doing the Ding Ho in Cambridge.
Guest:And that was Lenny and Barry?
Guest:And me, and Steve Sweeney.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And DJ Hazard was a guy.
Marc:DJ was one of the original guys, too.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Driving around that Subaru brat.
Marc:Remember that little pickup that Subaru he had?
Marc:So funny.
Marc:He's such a big boy in that fucking little pickup.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:He was another big kid.
Guest:Remember, in those days, almost all the comedians were big, too.
Guest:Big boys.
Guest:That was kind of like the teacher thing.
Guest:Just hire people that can handle them, too.
Guest:You can handle the crowd with your whip or with your fist.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And there were no women yet.
Guest:None.
Guest:None.
Guest:Paula Poundstown was one of the first.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:But, yeah.
Guest:Did she show up at the ding-ho?
Guest:Yeah, she worked at the ding-ho, sure.
Guest:She's a character.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:She wrote the ding-ho quite a bit, yeah.
Guest:And Stephen Wright came out of there, too, a couple years after that time, too.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And when did Kenny Rogerson get there?
Guest:He came in a few years after me.
Guest:He was a Chicago guy.
Guest:And when he first came in, he comes into the ding-ho.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's a snowstorm.
Guest:It's got to be 2 o'clock in the morning.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He comes in.
Guest:First of all, it's after hours.
Guest:There's probably 50 people in there, almost all comedians.
Guest:But we have a table up on the stage, people playing cards for pretty good money.
Guest:People over here are smoking joints, people are drinking, people are doing ball.
Guest:He goes, oh my God, I found a home.
Guest:Yeah, I used to hear about those stories about after hours at the ding-ho.
Guest:And the hours, I said recently, if you'd leave there and it wasn't light out, you'd go, oh, great.
Guest:I can maybe get three hours sleep, maybe.
Guest:But you come out, you go, oh, shit, it's quarter to nine.
Guest:People jogging by.
Guest:Oh, yeah, that was the worst.
Guest:Boy, you're up early, aren't you?
Guest:I go, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I got up early 28 hours ago.
Marc:And El Meany, too, right?
Guest:Yeah, Kevin was one of the first.
Guest:He's another guy that emigrated.
Guest:I got him in.
Guest:Where did he come from?
Guest:I did the San Francisco competition.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And he didn't make it.
Guest:You know, they go down to 40 people.
Guest:He didn't even make it to the 40, which I was surprised at.
Guest:That's the worst.
Guest:So I made it to the Final Five or whatever.
Guest:So we became fast friends.
Guest:And I told him, I said, come out to Boston.
Guest:You know, you can get a lot of work.
Marc:He lived in San Francisco?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Ah, because I thought he, and then he went back.
Guest:Well, he originally was, was he a Connecticut guy?
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:I think so.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:He passed away too, right?
Marc:Yes, yeah.
Guest:But I brought him out.
Guest:I said, come on out, and he caught on right away.
Guest:Like you said, even if your craft wasn't perfected, you could get stage time to work at it, which was not true of L.A.
Guest:or of New York.
Marc:Because they had to fill those one-nighters.
Marc:I mean, I don't know whose genius that was, but, you know, between Mike and The Connection and Katz, you know, there was like 200 fucking.
Marc:And, yeah, Dick Dardy had a main of them.
Marc:Oh, he had a few, too, huh?
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:And then Roger Paul down in Jersey, right?
Marc:So there was just like this weird network.
Guest:You could work every night.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Remember like the Taunton Regency?
Marc:That was like a good one.
Guest:And one of the keys to working is to have a car.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:There's usually the guy that had the car.
Guest:Yeah, I was the guy.
Guest:That was part of it.
Guest:But that was usually maybe not one of the best comedians.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:But he had a car.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Well, as an opener, you'd have to drive you guys.
Guest:Pick up three or four people.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And not pick them up at one central spot.
Guest:You have to go and get this guy here, get this guy here.
Guest:Go get Cybelle and fucking- Bob Cybelle.
Guest:That was another one of the original guys, too.
Yeah.
Guest:He passed away, too.
Guest:That's too bad.
Guest:He was a sweet guy.
Guest:See, it's good you're interviewing me now because before I passed away.
Marc:Oh, I'm glad.
Guest:Afterwards, it wouldn't be that much fun.
Guest:I'm glad I got it.
Marc:No, it wouldn't be that much fun.
Marc:But Cybele was a kook.
Guest:He was fun.
Guest:He was a nice guy.
Guest:He was unique.
Guest:You know, he was well-educated.
Guest:He was a teacher also, which I didn't know until many years later.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:No kidding.
Guest:But that was a guy that had stories and character.
Guest:I mean, he hiked the, what's the trail that goes off?
Marc:Appalachian Trail?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not once, but twice.
Guest:Oh, no kidding.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Healthy guy.
Guest:I don't know about that, but he stopped doing everything.
Guest:He said, you should have known me when I was drinking.
Guest:I go, no, I'm glad I didn't.
Guest:He was wild.
Guest:Because you're already crazy now.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Imagine with him on acid.
Guest:He said, oh, I was really into the acid.
Guest:Oh, so he was like that guy.
Guest:I said, like you did it more than once?
Guest:He goes, more than once.
Yeah.
Marc:And Tony V you're close with.
Marc:He came in after you?
Marc:Tony came in after us, yeah.
Marc:Because he's like Bobcat's generation.
Marc:Yes, exactly.
Marc:Bobcat, Tom Kenny, Tony V. Good memory.
Marc:Yeah, and Groff.
Marc:Like when I was doing open mics.
Marc:Jonathan Groff.
Marc:Jonathan Groff.
Marc:Dana Gould was just leaving town.
Marc:Bobby was just leaving town.
Marc:When I was in college going to my first shows, Goldthwait left.
Marc:He had a garage sale at Stitches as a show.
Marc:That's funny.
Marc:And Dana left and Tom Kenny left.
Marc:And I guess Paula left a little before that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And then I went to like San Francisco, like it was Mecca or something.
Marc:Kevin Meaney too.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He went back to San Francisco.
Marc:And then when I was coming up in Boston, the guys in my generation were like Kevin Knox was like around my age.
Marc:And I was, I had gone to LA for a year and then came back, got all fucked up on drugs with Candison, who you hung out with when he first came.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Kenison, yeah, I was out with that crew, Calabo and that crew for a while, too, which was not good for my health.
Guest:No, you went on the road with them?
Guest:A little bit.
Guest:Oh, yeah, with the Outlaws when Lenny was with them?
Guest:No, Lenny wasn't with them then, but we did a number of shows.
Guest:That's a rough go.
Guest:That was in a real bad period there.
Guest:For him?
Guest:Well, Kinison, yeah.
Guest:Was it after?
Guest:He was doing stuff on stage and, you know, the blow.
Marc:Oh, so that was after the peak coming down the other side.
Guest:He was still proper, but you would never know if he was going to show up.
Guest:He was supposed to be cutting a new album, and Kyle Bowen and I ended up three different nights doing the whole show because he never showed up.
Marc:Yeah, I had that problem.
Guest:And now the audience is there.
Guest:They didn't mind seeing me and Kyle, but they were waiting to see Kenneth.
Guest:To see Sam, yeah.
Guest:And then we'd have to do a show after that, and it's the same people, and they didn't want to hear it.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Yeah, I remember when I was living up on top of the Comedy Store at Crest Hill.
Marc:Sam had been up for two or three days.
Marc:We'd all been up.
Marc:He passed out on the floor.
Marc:And that night, he was supposed to be where my brother went to college in Tucson, I think Arizona State.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:And I had to call my brother.
Marc:I'm like, I don't think it's going to happen.
Marc:You might be a little late.
Marc:Yeah, I don't know if they're going to pull it together.
Marc:And only my brother knew that.
Marc:He canceled because he was all fucked up.
Marc:But, you know, that was the thing about hanging out with Kenneth and there was a lot of listening involved.
Marc:And that gets a little bit much, you know.
Marc:Yeah, like, uh-huh, Sam.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I'll take a little more.
Marc:So when did you do the San Francisco competition?
Guest:I did it 80, maybe 81 or something like that.
Guest:I had only been doing Columbia in a very short time.
Guest:I was still teaching, so I took a sabbatical half year.
Guest:In 81?
Guest:Yeah, to complete my master's.
Guest:And unknown to the people where I was teaching, I only needed one more course to get my master's.
Guest:They didn't know it.
Guest:So I went across country to see if I was a comedian.
Guest:And I went with Martin Olson, do you remember me, the piano player?
Guest:Mm-mm.
Guest:at the Ding Home.
Guest:Oh, he was?
Guest:No, I don't remember.
Guest:We had a piano player, which I always thought there was a luxury.
Guest:Sure, the comedy store still has one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Almost all the clubs did.
Guest:Think about it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:To me, it seems like a fun thing right now.
Marc:It was nice.
Marc:Oh, no, I like it.
Marc:I like it.
Marc:I hate when people play music to bring you up to.
Marc:They're like, you know, about to bring you up, and they're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like,
Guest:Come on.
Guest:What do you want from your intro?
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:What kind of music?
Guest:I want any music.
Marc:Just bring me up.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's like, what do I got to?
Guest:So I took, we drove Cust Country.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:With Mountain House.
Guest:I drove, I had a car at the time.
Marc:So you've been at it three years, but you're doing well.
Marc:You're killing, right?
Guest:Yeah, not even three years, even less.
Guest:But I'm doing okay.
Guest:You just took to it.
Guest:But I want to know if I'm a comedian.
Guest:I'm not sure that I'm really a comedian.
Guest:So I'm funny and boring.
Guest:Are you writing, you're compulsive writing the material?
Guest:Trying to, trying to.
Guest:So when I go across country, the other guy had the gift of Gab too, another Irish.
Guest:We went to Chicago with the Zaneys and we came in and the guy wanted the coverage.
Guest:He goes, no, no, this is Don Gab from Boston.
Guest:The guy was supposed to know what that meant.
Guest:And he goes, oh.
Guest:And we went in and he goes, well, that's good, I'm glad, and it's 11 bucks or whatever it was.
Guest:And he goes, no, no, this is Don Gab from Boston.
Guest:We didn't end up not paying, so I meet the owner there, Jim, and he said, you know, I kept on saying, I want to go up on stage, and I pestered him, and he finally said, I wanted to just do five, seven minutes.
Guest:He says, give me a half an hour.
Guest:I had maybe a half an hour.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I went up, and luckily it went very well.
Guest:I ended up staying at his house for about three or four days.
Guest:He got me work around there.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I went all the way out, cross country, shopped a couple other cities, did some comedy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, this guy was able to get me on the stage.
Guest:This Martin Olsen guy?
Guest:Yeah, so when I got to San Francisco, the comedy competition was a big, big thing in those days.
Guest:Yeah, it was, yeah.
Guest:It was only like the third year.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:And they said, you came all the way from Boston for this?
Guest:I go, I don't know what you're talking about this.
Guest:You know, it was the night they were doing these editions, but I have no idea that this even goes on.
Guest:Oh, it was a fluke.
Guest:So I'm an outsider.
Guest:They're handpicking, let's say, the 38 of the 37 or the 40 people, local guys that have been to San Francisco.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I don't know anything about this.
Guest:So I'm the only one that's picked that night.
Guest:People said, you came all the way, and I'm going, I still don't know what you're talking about.
Guest:All the way for what?
Guest:I didn't even know there was a competition.
Marc:Oh, and then you're in it.
Guest:And then I found out, Michael Pritchard was the guy out there that won it the year I was in.
Guest:And another Irishman, we befriended each other.
Guest:And he let me stay at his house.
Marc:For those like three weeks of that fucking competition.
Guest:Yes, yes, yes.
Guest:Everyone's looking at those numbers like, what the fuck does that mean?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And going, how are they, you know, the judges would be, you know, once in a while you get someone that might be a columnist, but then you get a guy that owns the auto dealership.
Marc:Yeah, it's crazy.
Guest:And one of the guys when I was out there that came next year, the one of the next year, you know, was driving, Slayton, Bobby Slayton, was driving the judges to the thing.
Guest:I go,
Guest:I think he's probably got an inside thing going on.
Marc:Yeah, I drove him.
Guest:I drove him.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, what the hell?
Guest:I told you.
Guest:I live out here.
Guest:These are friends of mine.
Guest:What's it of you?
Guest:What's it of you?
Marc:You're from Boston.
Guest:What the hell you know?
Marc:It was crazy.
Marc:I remember doing it twice, and you're just like, after every night, you're like, am I in?
Marc:Am I still in?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Did I make the cut?
Guest:What are these numbers?
Guest:You had a way too.
Guest:They compiled it.
Guest:It didn't make sense.
Guest:And it really made no sense because one night, when I made it to the final ten or final five, whatever it was, so one night, I came in 19th out of 20 people the week before.
Guest:And then the very next night, I came in first.
Guest:And I'm doing the same material.
Guest:It wasn't that much of a difference what I just did.
Guest:So much of a mindfuck.
Marc:Who came in second that year?
Guest:Someone famous?
Guest:No, Denny Johnson.
Guest:Oh, I remember Denny Johnson.
Guest:Who else was in that?
Guest:Oh, Kevin Pollack came in in the top ten.
Marc:He's the San Francisco guy, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, he was quite funny.
Guest:He's funny, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I just found his record on vinyl somewhere.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah, I told him about it.
Marc:He didn't want to hear about it.
Marc:He's a very nice guy.
Marc:He is a sweetheart.
Marc:So, okay, so that was the big journey, 1981.
Marc:You drive across country and you find that you're a comedian.
Marc:Yeah, so I find out that I am a comedian.
Guest:You had to be reaffirmed.
Guest:But I drove the entire way.
Guest:I drove the entire way.
Guest:We finally get to Golden Gate Bridge.
Guest:We get to there.
Guest:And my buddy says, can you pull over?
Guest:I thought he had to take a leak.
Guest:He goes, I want to get behind the wheel, take this baby in.
Guest:I said, what?
Guest:You haven't driven one mile the whole fucking way and you're going to take the baby in?
Guest:I said, you ain't taking any baby in.
Guest:You know?
Yeah.
Marc:you took it in yeah so so now you know and here's the weird thing though like like the big question about the sort of regional element like there's only a couple like boston was a unique thing was its own comedy you know world yes and it just feels to me like even by the way you were talking about new york that there was this idea like even when i talked to sweeney
Marc:You know, when he came out here and it was okay, but it didn't really pan out or what anyone's going to expect.
Marc:But you always had this cushion because you guys could live up there and make a good living.
Marc:Like when you went down to New York, there must have been a point where you're like, fuck this.
Guest:Well, eventually, when I was down there, it worked out.
Guest:I was working there quite a bit.
Guest:Sure, yeah.
Guest:But you couldn't remember.
Guest:It was about money.
Guest:You'd have to move there and get an apartment and all that.
Marc:And maybe make a living.
Marc:See, that's the thing.
Marc:You guys, and it's the difference between clearing the room on purpose and doing the job, is that in Boston, it's like you do the job.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You don't fuck around.
Guest:And if not, you're not getting back then.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I mean, if you pull that shit like Kaufman, like lying on the ground, seeing how long before everybody would leave, you know.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I'm going, what the fuck?
Guest:You know, I went up and kicked him, kicked him, you know, on from the side.
Guest:No, you did.
Guest:Yes, I did.
Guest:I said, because I said, I'm going to get on tonight.
Guest:I'm not putting up with this shit.
Guest:You went upstairs and kicked Andy Kaufman in the shoulder.
Guest:Did he get up?
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, it was the difference between this kind of boundary-pushing art guys and the guys who were like, let me get some laughs.
Guest:Yeah, I just came all the way from Boston to watch you sleep and bite me.
Guest:You never liked him or got him?
Guest:Not really.
Guest:Well, just think of that.
Guest:Just take that and multiply that by a few times.
Guest:You probably wouldn't like him either.
Guest:Yeah, I get you.
Guest:I get you.
Guest:And Larry David was another one.
Guest:He would empty the room pretty intentionally.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you saw that happen?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:From Witness.
Guest:At Ketch.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Mostly at Ketch, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I worked all the other, like, the Commerce Trip and then, you know.
Guest:The old improv?
Guest:Dangerfield, the improv.
Guest:Yeah, I did all those plays, too.
Guest:But Ketch was the spot.
Marc:I never got in there.
Marc:I used to, like, when I got to New York in 84 or whenever the fuck that was, when did I go, no.
No.
Marc:doesn't matter 92 89 or you know i couldn't like i worked a boston club for barry and that what was left of the old improv but yeah i could i know he's always too proud dude i couldn't sit there and wait really yeah because lewis would be like yeah yeah yeah yeah just wait around we'll see what we can i'm like and i was like i can't i can't do it i had friends who did it and paid off did you have a bit of a name at that by that point no no i mean i was what was i i hit the wall and bought in in uh
Marc:in L.A.
Marc:and bottomed out, and then I went back to Boston.
Marc:I got a job at the Coffee Connection in Harvard Square.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:See, there's another thing you can fall back on.
Marc:Yeah, I can make an espresso.
Guest:You can?
Marc:Yeah, it was a pre-Starbucks espresso place.
Guest:You get that?
Marc:You're a line cook?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:You got it going.
Marc:88, yeah, I can do restaurant work.
Marc:I'd like to think I could.
Marc:But no, I had no name.
Marc:I didn't have a name until like nine years ago.
Marc:I was kind of like... The man with no name.
Marc:Yeah, the man with no name.
Marc:But eventually you got into New York and you did all the shows like we all did, right?
Marc:The evening.
Guest:Yeah, I did it probably eight, nine times.
Guest:I did it traveling around.
Guest:And when they started doing it from city to city, I did it quite a bit.
Guest:And then those days, the... What was the ones?
Guest:The...
Guest:Comedy on the road.
Guest:No, the improvs around the country.
Guest:Yeah, they started popping up.
Guest:So you'd go and do this one here and this one here and this one here.
Guest:And pretty decent money.
Guest:Sure, man.
Marc:So unlike some guys, you definitely did the road.
Marc:You went out and did it.
Guest:Eventually, but I had my own show, as I said, at Knicks for nine years.
Guest:And then after that, I started doing more of the traveling.
Guest:And in those days, there were good comedy clubs pretty much everywhere.
Guest:Every city had, you know, whether it be Columbus, Ohio.
Guest:Yeah, late 80s, early 90s.
Guest:You could go stringing things, one after another, after another, after another.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:Like Denver was a great scene.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Comedy Works Theater was fantastic.
Guest:It's still great.
Guest:It's still great.
Guest:Yes, it is, yeah.
Guest:It's crazy.
Guest:And that's one I particularly remember that was really...
Guest:Really good.
Guest:And a lot of stuff in Florida.
Guest:A lot of stuff.
Marc:Yeah, I have a hard time in Florida.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:West Palm, you did those?
Guest:Yeah, I bet there was 15 different clubs that you did down there.
Marc:It was great, huh?
Guest:So you go down there for like three weeks.
Guest:I like the warmer weather.
Guest:Yeah, go down there for a few weeks.
Guest:Yeah, get away from the winter.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you were always nice to us youngsters, you know what I mean?
Guest:Yes, I was.
Marc:Yes, I was.
Marc:Did you know that?
Marc:I mean, was it something, a policy you had?
Guest:It was a guy that called himself the godfather of Boston comedy.
Guest:And after a few years, I told him to stop doing it.
Guest:I said, I'm the godfather, and you are not, and stop doing it.
Guest:And I did.
Guest:Because I actually would help people with their act, even sit down.
Guest:People would ask me to watch their act.
Guest:And I wouldn't give them a lot, but give them a note here.
Guest:Or say, well, you might want to move this.
Guest:Unless you tell someone, the better.
Guest:Because they're going to remember two things.
Guest:They're not going to remember 20.
Guest:And I did do time with that.
Guest:And I did a lot of the open mic stuff.
Guest:And that was nice.
Guest:And I like the fact that people remember that.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:I mean, I remember it.
Marc:Because there was a bunch of the guys that were...
Marc:Not that accessible, really.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Good word.
Marc:Sweeney's hit or miss, right?
Marc:How are you?
Marc:And Lenny, just scary.
Marc:Yeah, busy.
Marc:I'm busy right now.
Marc:Kenny, I don't know.
Marc:And Dennis, no, I don't know.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:George was always nice.
Marc:George was nice, yeah.
Marc:And Mike McDonald, that was totally intimidating.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah, right.
Marc:Like Mike McDonald.
Marc:Nice guy when you get to know him.
Marc:But you were always sort of like just, you know, you had a good vibe.
Marc:You always killed.
Marc:And you were helpful.
Marc:You were helpful and supportive.
Marc:That's a very nice thing.
Marc:Well, good to remember.
Marc:Put that on my tombstone.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I remember, like, I think you actually had protégés, really.
Marc:I mean, there were guys that modeled themselves after you.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:I would say Kevin Knox.
Guest:Well, Kevin was, yeah.
Guest:He was in comedy.
Guest:And then he quit.
Guest:And he quit for years.
Guest:Kevin Knox.
Guest:Five or six years.
Guest:Knoxie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we always remained friends.
Guest:And I got him back in again.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then he stayed in it from that point on.
Guest:But a lot of the guys, like a Tom Carter and stuff, some people like that.
Guest:Tom Carter, yeah.
Guest:I think my style, a lot of people looked at different things for one.
Guest:Wendy Liebman is another one.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Never my material.
Guest:I'm not saying that they stole even a word.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Just the style.
Marc:To throw the asides.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Throw it aside.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:There was a lot of guys I remember.
Marc:Like, I didn't...
Marc:Fuck, I remember I started with, who was around?
Marc:Whatever happened to, like, Robbie Prince?
Marc:He does a lot of cruise ships, too.
Marc:Oh, he does?
Guest:So he's still in the game?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:He's still in the game.
Marc:And then Jim Loretta, he had a tragic end, right?
Guest:Yeah, he's still around.
Guest:He is?
Guest:But he had some problems.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And, like, Sice was gone, and Lazarus is gone, and I don't know.
Guest:Sice had died on one of the ships, in the middle of the day.
Guest:Yeah, I know.
Guest:It got a bug, huh?
Guest:Yeah, it was kind of an odd, very rare something.
Guest:Were you guys friends?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:He was a funny guy.
Guest:He was around a long time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Getting sick on a ship is not good.
Guest:I get sick.
Guest:I get food poisoning, but of course the ship's not going to admit that.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I get airlifted off the ship.
Guest:I'm in Roritan, Honduras.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:That's where the hospital I have to go to.
Guest:I get there.
Guest:Nobody in the hospital spoke English except for the guy spackling the ceiling.
Guest:I'm serious.
Guest:He became the interpreter to the doctor.
Guest:The guy comes in with all these tools like he's going to cup.
Guest:They wanted to take out my gallbladder.
Guest:What?
Guest:They wanted to take out my appendix, but it's already been taken out, so they were disappointed.
Guest:They just immediately wanted to take shit out?
Guest:They wanted to.
Guest:My spleen was the first thing they wanted.
Guest:Then they wanted the gallbladder.
Guest:I think they thought I still needed a heart.
Guest:I think they were going to leave that in.
Guest:So I didn't sign anything.
Guest:And they told me you have to sign through the spackler.
Guest:He says, see, you're not right that you have to sign.
Guest:I'm going, no, unless I'm signing shit, they can take it.
Guest:And they were doing x-rays with my shoulder.
Guest:I said, I've got food poisoning.
Guest:We're in the wrong region.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So what was it?
Guest:Just to get money from somebody?
Guest:Well, they finally had someone that had some insurance, I guess.
Guest:And maybe they had guys that hadn't really done a lot of work.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:like this breakfast yeah there you go i like it was a living cadaver so when you go out do you do you enjoy the water i enjoy the beach yeah i love walking the beaches but like on the boats and stuff what do you have no i yeah what do you do to occupy yourself i read i'm reading prolifically i read anything yeah mostly menus but uh but i read a lot yeah yeah
Guest:And you've seen like 150 countries?
Guest:Yeah, when I get any, I love going to places I haven't been doing, just going.
Guest:Never on a tour, you know, an organized tour.
Guest:Just go off on your own.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I go to restaurants that mostly, you know, people where they don't speak English.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:As long as it looks busy.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Looks busy, that's important.
Guest:And I look around, I said, you know, I'll have that.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And I've found great restaurants that way.
Guest:That's the best way.
Marc:That's busy and pointed things.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I got two very long index fingers.
Marc:Have you done like the Scandinavian, the Arctic tours as well?
Guest:Sure, sure.
Guest:Are those great?
Guest:Fantastic, fantastic, yeah.
Guest:And even Iceland and everything.
Guest:Two years ago, I did two months in Australia and New Zealand.
Guest:I just stayed there.
Guest:I'd do a ship and go back to a hotel, and the next night I'd do a ship.
Guest:Then I'd have two days off, then I'd do a ship.
Guest:So I really got to get a feel of Melbourne.
Guest:Melbourne's my favorite city.
Guest:Great city.
Guest:It's like Boston, kind of, a little bit.
Guest:I think so.
Guest:A little bit.
Guest:Except even more green, a lot of great parks.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I liked it much better than Sydney.
Guest:And New Zealand, I liked all of it.
Guest:It was just gorgeous.
Guest:I hear New Zealand's great.
Guest:I've never been there.
Guest:You mentioned Ireland.
Guest:You should get to New Zealand.
Guest:It's just terrific.
Guest:And then I did Roar Roar and Bora Bora, Skimi, Rotanga.
Guest:You're doing gigs there?
Guest:No, working on ship.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:So you get off and look around.
Guest:Yeah, all those places, yeah.
Guest:And what's the next one you got?
Guest:Now I'm doing just a lot.
Guest:It's kind of limited to the Caribbean.
Guest:But I got one going to Hawaii.
Guest:Alaska I love doing too.
Marc:Alaska's one of my favorites.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:So then what do you do?
Marc:You fly?
Guest:You fly to Vancouver usually or Seattle and then go up from there.
Guest:Well, it sounds good, man.
Guest:Yeah, still enjoying it.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:And you've got kids, right?
Guest:My kids are in their 40s now.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:And I have a seven-year-old, Maddox is my grandson, who I'll be seeing tomorrow, as a matter of fact.
Guest:He's out here?
Guest:He lives in San Rafael, yeah.
Guest:Oh, so you're going up north a little bit?
Guest:Yeah, I'm going over there for five or six days.
Guest:I'm looking forward to seeing him.
Guest:all your kids do any of them in show business uh not at all one's an environmental scientist my daughter is she works with the uh educational stuff out in summerville and then my son is a caterer and now that the my son is funny but he's not yeah not not understand and everybody's doing good everybody's going as far as i know i've been away for a week yeah
Guest:Don, it's great to see you.
Guest:It's a thrill.
Guest:And we almost got together a few times with this, except the venue didn't work.
Guest:But this time it did.
Marc:It all worked out.
Marc:I'm so glad you're here, man.
Marc:Jim Serpico worked it out for us.
Marc:Yes, he did.
Marc:He's running.
Marc:He's taking it.
Marc:And the record that you just reissued, when was it recorded?
Guest:We recorded it in, I think, 2011.
Guest:But what happened when I did it?
Guest:at the Comedy Connection that was up in Portland.
Guest:And it's, you know, we remastered it now, and so it's a lot cleaner and put together.
Guest:But I never even thought of really producing it, you know.
Guest:I ran off a couple of thousand copies, and I'd sell them basically out of the back of my car.
Guest:After a show.
Guest:After a show.
Guest:But I never, you know, I'm the worst businessman in the world.
Guest:So Jim Serpich is helping me out now, and hopefully maybe a few more people will know about it.
Marc:That's great.
Guest:Nice talking to you.
Guest:Thanks for coming.
Guest:All right, this is a joy.
Guest:Thank you so much.
All right.
Marc:Alright, that was Don.
Marc:Don Gavin.
Marc:Fucking Don Gavin.
Marc:He's the guy, man.
Marc:He had a lot of impact on a lot of people.
Marc:It was great talking to him.
Marc:His album, Live with a Manhattan, is available in a lot of different places.
Marc:Streaming, go look for that.
Marc:End Times Fun.
Marc:Quarantine people.
Marc:People who are about to be quarantined.
Marc:People who are living in the times we live in, which seem dire and scary.
Marc:It's time for a very special, deep type of relief with Mark Maron's latest stand-up special.
Marc:I'm third-personing it.
Marc:End Times Fun is on Netflix now.
Marc:Now.
Marc:Right now it is.
Marc:And now I will play guitar.
Thank you.
Marc:Boomer lives.