Joe Rogan Experience #1418 - Don Gavin

Joe Rogan 0:00 ... three, two... Hello, Don Gavin.

Don Gavin 0:05 Hello, Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Good to see you, sir.

Don Gavin 0:07 It's good to see you. It's been a long time.

Joe Rogan 0:08 Pleas- Yeah, it's a pleasure to get you on here, man.

Don Gavin 0:10 I'm thrilled to be here.

Joe Rogan 0:11 We've talked about you, uh, I don't know how many times. Many times.

Don Gavin 0:14 I've heard that from, from my son. He says you mention my name glowingly, is the word he uses.

Joe Rogan 0:19 Yeah, well, hey, man, you were a giant inspiration to me when I was, uh, coming up-

Don Gavin 0:23 That's good to hear.

Joe Rogan 0:24 ... when I was a kid. Well, you know, I've talked about this so many, many times, but that era of, uh, Boston comedy, when I started in '88, and, uh, you guys had already been through the Ding Ho and all that's, uh, been gone. And it was the heyday of comedy. It was an amazing time, and, you know, I was very fortunate to be able to see guys like you and, and Sweeney and, you know, and all those guys. Mike Donovan and Kevin Knox, and I mean, you can go down the list over and over and over again. Lenny Clarke, and just an amazing time for, for standup back then.

Don Gavin 0:55 Yeah, that was certainly the heyday. Uh, I came in, I started at around '79 and had been going on for one or two years, but going on meaning not much going on, you know. And then it built and built and built, and then to the point that, uh, that explosion, as you said, uh, wow. It... And, and I, I always like to think people talk about a Boston style, there wasn't a Boston style other than being very aggressive maybe.

Joe Rogan 1:20 Yeah.

Don Gavin 1:20 Uh, there were... But everybody had different ways of doing, because we didn't know.

Joe Rogan 1:24 Yeah.

Don Gavin 1:24 It wasn't like an LA style or a New York style. There was just d- all different approaches coming out to the same end, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:30 Yeah, you started in '79, so that was really, like, the beginning of comedy clubs, right?

Don Gavin 1:36 Yeah. Well, they weren't even comedy clubs. You mentioned the Ding Ho. Ding Ho used to be a, uh, like a saloon, and (laughs) the guys that were sitting at the bar when we first went in there, they refused to leave. So they stayed at the bar and all they would do is when we put somebody on the... uh, up on the stand, you know, they'd turn around and say, "Hey, shut the fuck up, we're trying to drink here."

Joe Rogan 1:55 (laughs)

Don Gavin 1:56 You know, and we couldn't get... we couldn't get rid of them, so finally we wheeled it out because they got so tired of hearing the microphone or the... But that was, that was a... just a little... a joint, that's all you can say.

Joe Rogan 2:06 Just-

Don Gavin 2:06 And it became a Chinese restaurant there. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08 So it wasn't a Chinese restaurant at first?

Don Gavin 2:09 It was just a saloon, I think, you know, and that... And then suddenly this guy came in, there's a... there was approach to put comedy in there, and Barry Crimmins was one of the guys originally, and Lenny, myself, Sweeney, as you mentioned.

Joe Rogan 2:20 Yeah.

Don Gavin 2:21 DJ Haz and people like that. Uh, Jimmy De- Tingle.

Joe Rogan 2:24 Yeah.

Don Gavin 2:25 There was a bunch of us that came in at that time. And once again, no particular one style.

Joe Rogan 2:30 Yeah.

Don Gavin 2:30 Other than the fact that we kind of created that the headliner would be the host.

Joe Rogan 2:35 Yeah, that was a weird Boston style.

Don Gavin 2:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:37 Like when you have the Don Gavin Show-

Don Gavin 2:39 Yes.

Joe Rogan 2:39 ... you would go out there and host-

Don Gavin 2:40 Yes.

Joe Rogan 2:40 ... and you'd do a few minutes in between each comic.

Don Gavin 2:42 Right.

Joe Rogan 2:43 Yeah.

Don Gavin 2:43 And, and he... Well, we didn't know it was weird. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:46 (laughs)

Don Gavin 2:46 Because I wanted to be in charge, and if you... if Joe Rogan went on and he's supposed to do 15 and he'd do great, great. Now Bill Johnson comes on, he blows, I'm going to go up and take the mic after about six minutes, "Yeah, that was, that was Bill Johnson." Yeah, just great.

Joe Rogan 2:59 (laughs)

Don Gavin 2:59 And then go on to the next guy.

Joe Rogan 3:01 Yeah. Yeah.

Don Gavin 3:01 And then at the end, that headliner would close the show.

Joe Rogan 3:05 Yeah. Yeah.

Don Gavin 3:05 So you had that much control over it. But when you started doing more and more shows, like I started at Nick's in Boston. Initially, it was a joke. It was supposed to be a tax write-off and they tried to sabotage it. He used... that used to be a steak joint.

Joe Rogan 3:18 Really?

Don Gavin 3:18 Yeah, yeah, Nick's Steak Joint. And, uh, well, so when we did it one week, the stage was collapsed, next week there'd be no, no sound, next week no lighting. Uh, the, uh, the doors would be locked, uh. And, but then eventually more and more people coming in, then they got upset because we were getting in the way of the people going to the st- the steak bar. And then they said, "Well, maybe we can make money on this." We go upstairs, there was an upstairs there, and that was used only on one night of the week for Greek belly dancers.

Joe Rogan 3:46 (laughs)

Don Gavin 3:46 Where, where they were paid $200, the, the Nick's was, $200. In fact, the- these Greek belly dancers, the, the production people, they brought in their own liquor, so they only made $200 for the whole gig.

Joe Rogan 3:56 Wow.

Don Gavin 3:56 So once we're doing a theater one show, then two, and eventually, and around the time when you came in, we were doing five shows my... on m- my night on Saturday night, five shows in the same place, upstairs and downstairs.

Joe Rogan 4:07 Yeah, I remember that. Um, that was before I was getting paid, so I was, uh, really an amateur, but I remember watching... There was a show in the upstairs room-

Don Gavin 4:17 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:17 ... and then there was a smaller downstairs room, and then there was another time where they did it in the disco.

Don Gavin 4:22 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:22 Right? They had-

Don Gavin 4:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:23 Which is a d- it is a disco now, I think, right?

Don Gavin 4:25 Well, it's... If it is, it's a very sad disco.

Joe Rogan 4:28 (laughs)

Don Gavin 4:28 (laughs) Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:28 Well, it was sad then, too.

Don Gavin 4:30 Yes.

Joe Rogan 4:30 But it was strange that everyone was cycling from room to room.

Don Gavin 4:34 Right, and you go from upstairs to downstairs. And again, the first week we tried that with the five shows, you were trying to host.

Joe Rogan 4:41 Yeah.

Don Gavin 4:41 It was impossible to go... Well, but, I mean, the, the guy on the side of the stage would go, "You're supposed to be on downstairs." I'm going, "Well, I'm... I haven't... just... I just started up here," you know?

Joe Rogan 4:49 (laughs)

Don Gavin 4:49 And it was so confusing that you'd get on stage and you'd say, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Have I u- have I already said that?"

Joe Rogan 4:56 (laughs)

Don Gavin 4:57 You know? And then you weren't, weren't sure. And it got to the point, and also with a few drinks involved by the fifth show, yeah, there was some repetition sometimes.

Joe Rogan 5:05 Well, that was the thing that was also about, uh... that was interesting about Boston comedy, was that the partying.

Don Gavin 5:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:12 Like, they... You guys were a bunch of fucking savages. I mean, that's what I remember.

Don Gavin 5:16 Uh, yeah, it was pretty widespread at that point.

Joe Rogan 5:19 (laughs)

Don Gavin 5:20 And... But again, we didn't know.

Joe Rogan 5:22 Right.

Don Gavin 5:23 Uh, and almost all of us got in trouble with the IRS because-

Joe Rogan 5:26 Yeah.

Don Gavin 5:26 ... you get paid in cash.

Joe Rogan 5:27 Right.

Don Gavin 5:27 And then you just kind of forgot. That's what I said to them when I got called in. I hadn't paid taxes in seven years and I got called in this... And I said to the guy, I thought it was humorous, I said, "Well, I forgot," and he didn't think that was that humorous at all, so-

Joe Rogan 5:40 No.

Don Gavin 5:40 So that didn't... That went on and on and on and on and on and on 'til finally he got that cleared up. But-

Joe Rogan 5:45 How did they catch you on something like that? How did they calculate-

Don Gavin 5:47 Because I was on the cover of a calendar magazine in The Boston Globe. There was a group shot of about 8, 10 of us and there was my picture, and this guy had the picture and, you know, when he confronted me, he goes, "How come we don't know anything about this?" Uh, you know, "Did, did they pay for this? What do you do for a living?" You know? Used to be a teacher. "Where's that money?" You know? So yeah, so that was how I got caught. So the little bit of infamy, of fame, I guess, that I had just went to hell.

Joe Rogan 6:12 (laughs)

Don Gavin 6:12 Pshh! Knock me down. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:14 Yeah, everybody got done in with the IRS.

Don Gavin 6:16 Wow.

Joe Rogan 6:17 ... I know Donovan, he got done in.

Don Gavin 6:19 Oh, the whole crew.

Joe Rogan 6:19 Right?

Don Gavin 6:19 The whole crew, everybody.

Joe Rogan 6:20 So how do you clear that up? Like, how do they decide how much you owe?

Don Gavin 6:23 Oh, that's certainly, that's a, uh, give and take type of situation. They have a, uh, you know, they have an appeasement thing, uh... I think. I mean, I had guys knocking on my, on the, on my door at 7:00 in the morning. And, and then you'd have to meet with this guy, and then that guy would get fired, and it would start all over again, and, and lawyers. And yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't pretty, but it finally got cleared up, you know. They, they took extra money. They knew that they weren't going to get the whole thing, so they took some of the money back.

Joe Rogan 6:47 How many years did it take to clear it up?

Don Gavin 6:50 (sighs) For me, it was (laughs) quite a while, four or five years, I think.

Joe Rogan 6:53 Wow.

Don Gavin 6:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:55 Jesus Christ. How much did they hit you for overall?

Don Gavin 6:58 At one point, I was a little behind. I think it was $128,000, and, uh, (laughs) that was, that was the figure that they came up with.

Joe Rogan 7:05 (whistles)

Don Gavin 7:05 And, but 90... Y- y- 80% of that was in interest on the l- you know, the fact that I didn't pay them the $400.

Joe Rogan 7:11 Right.

Don Gavin 7:12 That $400 finally would go up to $1,500, so, so that's how the, the deal was. But somebody, somebody thought it was a gold mine to attack the entertainers, and that was us. So once, once they got one, they got another and another, and the dominoes kept falling.

Joe Rogan 7:24 Oh, did anybody skate? Did anybody wind up actually paying their taxes?

Don Gavin 7:28 Oh, well b- almost all of us are still, you know -

Joe Rogan 7:30 No, but did, but did anybody, like, not get in trouble?

Don Gavin 7:33 Oh, yeah. There were some, a few intelligent people in that crowd.

Joe Rogan 7:35 (laughs) Like who?

Don Gavin 7:37 (laughs) A few... Well, the ones, the ones that had families and-

Joe Rogan 7:39 Oh, okay.

Don Gavin 7:40 ... uh, uh, yeah. They'd come, the normal ones, I guess.

Joe Rogan 7:42 That actually paid.

Don Gavin 7:43 Yeah, the ones that were not at those parties. Yeah, that was fun.

Joe Rogan 7:46 Th- there was a thing about you guys, though. Like, it was, for us young guys coming up, wh- like, you guys were like Peter Pans. Like, you were l- you were living this life as w- you know, Boston's a very blue-collar place, right?

Don Gavin 8:00 Sure.

Joe Rogan 8:01 Very hardworking place, all, all of New England. And we, uh, stumbled in as amateurs, as open micers, to, to this environment that, you know, where you guys were the kings. And you guys were fucking wild men. Like, there's... We heard those stories. Nick would pay you in coke, and it just... Everybody was drinking all the time, and it was like everyone was laughing and yelling. And I was like, "How is this possible? How do these men get to live this life?"

Don Gavin 8:26 (laughs) And when I was doing, when I first started, I was a high school teacher.

Joe Rogan 8:30 Yeah.

Don Gavin 8:30 I was, so I was teaching and doing this, the getting out of the clubs at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and then tr- uh, attempting to be a teacher about three or four hours later, so, yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:38 (laughs) When did you quit?

Don Gavin 8:40 I got out of teaching in '84, I think. So I did, maybe crossed over the two together. Uh, and that was, uh, that was (laughs) a, a, a rough patch there because I knew something had to give, you know?

Joe Rogan 8:51 Yeah.

Don Gavin 8:52 And I tell the story that, that, uh, I was coming home from teaching, and not from the clubs at night, but from teaching, and I fell asleep at the wheel. And this was, uh, on R- highway, and I was hitting the stanchions on the side of the highway, bang, bang, bang, bang. And eventually, as I'm going down this gully, and, you know, y- you always see fast in front of you? No, what passed in front of me was, how am I going to make it to the show tonight? And my head went through the windshield, the whole deal. I came up, uh, climbed up out of the gully and I'm trying to thumb to get home. And I, I've got blood running down my face. I had no idea how bad it was.

Joe Rogan 9:23 (laughs)

Don Gavin 9:23 And then I had to go to the hospital. So I go... My friend, we go back there. I was gonna get the car out of the gully. The car was totaled, you know, to- I mean, beyond totaled. There's, and there's hair and blood on the, on the windshield.

Joe Rogan 9:34 Sh.

Don Gavin 9:34 And I said, "Oh, I better pick one job or the other," so...

Joe Rogan 9:37 (laughs)

Don Gavin 9:38 So, so the comedy, comedy won out.

Joe Rogan 9:40 Did they have open mic nights in '79?

Don Gavin 9:43 Sure. Oh, no. In '79, no, no, no.

Joe Rogan 9:44 When you first started-

Don Gavin 9:45 No.

Joe Rogan 9:45 ... what was it like?

Don Gavin 9:46 Uh, well, the first time, there was only one place in existence, and that was the Comedy Connection. And, uh...

Joe Rogan 9:51 The little one?

Don Gavin 9:52 Uh, the one on Warrington Street?

Joe Rogan 9:53 Yeah.

Don Gavin 9:54 Yeah, yeah. Probably, you know, the... Yeah, 150 seats or 200 or something.

Joe Rogan 9:57 Yeah.

Don Gavin 9:58 And two guys ran that. Uh, the... I think they were... Sean Maury was the guy that had been on The Tonight Show. So that's... In our days, that was like, oh my god, you know? So he, he r- ran a comedy class, and two guys took the class, Billy Downs and-

Joe Rogan 10:09 Paul Barclay.

Don Gavin 10:10 ... and Paul Barclay. And they decided that, you know, maybe we'll do this comedy thing. Again, people didn't know what a comedy club was. When... You mentioned that, like, when Jay Leno was way before us, there were, there were no comedy clubs. He worked maybe strip joints or, like, uh, at an auto place or this or that. There, there was, there was no place to go t- and even people would say, "What, what's a comedian?" You know, other than watching-

Joe Rogan 10:32 Right.

Don Gavin 10:33 ... TV, you didn't know really what stand-up comedy was even. So, so the beginning of it started off slow. And I remember my first paycheck once I got paid $8. Uh-

Joe Rogan 10:44 That was your first?

Don Gavin 10:45 $8, yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:46 Wow.

Don Gavin 10:47 And I still have that. I have the copy of the check.

Joe Rogan 10:50 Do you really?

Don Gavin 10:50 No, a copy of it. I actually cashed it. I needed the $8. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:53 (laughs) Of course.

Don Gavin 10:54 Yeah, but... So that was with B- Billy Downs and, and Barclay too. And in those days, you are auditioned instead of a, uh, open mic night. So it was just the two of them. And I had to go in front of them, and I looked at the two of them. I said, "I don't, I don't thi- I don't really like this," because I s- I said, "I know at least one of you two are not going to understand what I'm doing," you know, "because you really don't look like a brain trust here." And, uh, and I got hired, and I immediately was really good. And the next show I r- that I did was really good. I'm doing the same 10 minutes because I was a bartender and had some patter.

Joe Rogan 11:26 Right.

Don Gavin 11:27 And the third one, they called me, like, the night before and said, you know, "Somebody fell out. Can you come in?" And what I had done, I had written 15 minutes of comedy that day. Sure I had, you know, but in my mind, that's what I thought. And it was the worst death of the world.

Joe Rogan 11:41 (laughs)

Don Gavin 11:41 That 15... I got about two minutes in. And people always say, you know, "What happens when you bomb?" Well, you don't, you don't really, don't, you don't really bomb af- after you've been doing this for a while. But that two or three minutes seems like an eternity, you know? It was f- it seemed like hours. And then I just went back into some of the old stuff, and I got out. And I actually got into a fistfight with Lenny Clark about it because he was... He kept on saying to me, you know, "Wha- uh, do you work in New York?" Well, you know, "You've been..." I said, "I've never been on a stage before in my life," you know. And so we, we, we were not friends at all at the beginning. And we got into... We got into a little go at it. And, and- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 12:14 You guys had a fistfight?

Don Gavin 12:15 Well, he said... Yeah. He said, "Oh, that was a great set." He was shitting on me. And his friend saw, you know, was witness to the fight and broke it up. And he says to Lenny, he goes, he goes, "You..." He said, "What's that all about?" He said, he said, "You just said he had a good show." He's, "He sucked, he knows it," and then me, "And you're being an asshole to go calling him, you know, calling him out." And we then became fast friends after that.

Joe Rogan 12:33 That's hilarious.

Don Gavin 12:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:35 Yeah. Lenny, uh, was the second guy I ever got paid to, uh, open for.

Don Gavin 12:40 Really?

Joe Rogan 12:41 Yeah. The first guy was, um... (clicks tongue) Goddamn it.... uh, Warren-

Don Gavin 12:47 MacDonald?

Joe Rogan 12:48 MacDonald, yes.

Don Gavin 12:49 Wow.

Joe Rogan 12:49 Right. Bill MacDonald's brother. Yeah.

Don Gavin 12:51 Uh, it was, uh, George MacDonald's brother. Yeah. Uh-

Joe Rogan 12:54 Wasn't it Bill MacDonald?

Don Gavin 12:55 No. It was G- it was George and Warren.

Joe Rogan 12:56 George MacDonald was the host of the, the open mic night.

Don Gavin 12:59 He could've been.

Joe Rogan 13:00 Yeah.

Don Gavin 13:01 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:01 Wasn't there a Bill MacDonald too? Didn't he have another brother named Bill?

Don Gavin 13:04 Uh, not that... No.

Joe Rogan 13:06 No, I'm fucking it up.

Don Gavin 13:07 No. K- Kevin, Kevin was a, uh, a fighter. ... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:10 Kevin MacDonald, that's right.

Don Gavin 13:11 Kevin wound up ...

Joe Rogan 13:12 Going away for a little bit.

Don Gavin 13:14 Well, yeah. He visited just a couple places.

Joe Rogan 13:15 A couple places.

Don Gavin 13:16 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:17 That's right.

Don Gavin 13:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:17 That's right. Okay, I fucked it up. Right. So, but I opened up for Warren.

Don Gavin 13:21 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:21 War- well, opened up for Warren in a Norm Lafoe gig in Western Massachusetts.

Don Gavin 13:24 Very good memory ... Yeah. ... on that one. Yeah. Well-

Joe Rogan 13:26 Yeah, and-

Don Gavin 13:26 Yeah, Warren was one of the original way back guys.

Joe Rogan 13:28 Yeah. And then another Norm Lafoe gig was, uh, when I opened up for Lenny.

Don Gavin 13:32 Wow.

Joe Rogan 13:33 That was Jay's in Pittsfield.

Don Gavin 13:34 Wow.

Joe Rogan 13:34 Did you ever do that one?

Don Gavin 13:35 Nah, I don't remember that one.

Joe Rogan 13:36 No? That was a good one.

Don Gavin 13:38 Really?

Joe Rogan 13:38 Yeah, it was a good one. Three and a half hours away.

Don Gavin 13:41 (laughs) And well worth it.

Joe Rogan 13:42 Yes.

Don Gavin 13:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:43 It w- well, it was for me 'cause I got, I got to know Lenny and Mike.

Don Gavin 13:46 Yeah. And just to get on st- uh, just stage time.

Joe Rogan 13:48 Yes.

Don Gavin 13:48 Just to get on the stage.

Joe Rogan 13:49 Yeah, yeah.

Don Gavin 13:50 'Cause there were so few s- places that were, in effect, doing comedy.

Joe Rogan 13:54 But, but during the time when I was an open micer, things exploded. I was very fortunate. That was when there was three clubs on Warrenton Street alone.

Don Gavin 14:02 Right.

Joe Rogan 14:02 Right?

Don Gavin 14:03 Right.

Joe Rogan 14:03 There was Nick's, there was the Connexion, and then there was a comedy club at The Charles above the Connexion with a-

Don Gavin 14:07 Yeah, the Duck Soup?

Joe Rogan 14:08 That was across the street. Yeah.

Don Gavin 14:10 Right. On the, uh, the thing-

Joe Rogan 14:10 But do you remember when Mike had The Comedy Club at The Charles above the Comedy Connection for a brief period of time?

Don Gavin 14:14 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:15 So there was three, and then there was Duck Soup that was on the other side.

Don Gavin 14:18 Right, right.

Joe Rogan 14:19 So it was four-

Don Gavin 14:19 All within, like, 100 yards or something.

Joe Rogan 14:20 It's crazy. And they were all packed.

Don Gavin 14:22 Yeah. And the lines would be out- that- that- uh, on the street in the middle of winter. I remember going out at my show on a Saturday, there's people out there with two inches of snow on their head.

Joe Rogan 14:31 (laughs)

Don Gavin 14:31 And I'm going, "You're actually waiting to see me?"

Joe Rogan 14:33 (laughs)

Don Gavin 14:33 "There's something wrong with you people." Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:35 Well, there was something magical about those times because comedy clubs just overall were only a couple decades old in the whole country. I mean, you had the earliest ones were, like, uh, Comedy and Magic Club, Comedy Connection, Catch a Rising Star in New York.

Don Gavin 14:52 Right.

Joe Rogan 14:52 You had a couple of clubs that were open before, you know, before the, the Boston explosion. But this is all real recently. So, like, imagine s- an art form that takes over the entire country, and it really only started in the year 2000.

Don Gavin 15:06 Yeah, the in- from the inception-

Joe Rogan 15:07 That's what it'd be like.

Don Gavin 15:08 The e- from the inception to the explosion-

Joe Rogan 15:10 Yeah.

Don Gavin 15:10 ... it was not a mature, uh, t- uh, art form at the time.

Joe Rogan 15:14 No.

Don Gavin 15:14 Maybe 10 years, 12 years.

Joe Rogan 15:16 Right. You got Lenny Bruce in the '50s.

Don Gavin 15:18 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:18 George Carlin in the '60s, Pryor, you know, and then all of a sudden, you're in the 1980s. This is ... it's a f- couple of decades.

Don Gavin 15:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:26 And these clubs were fucking packed. I mean, I really wish somebody had done a documentary on it back then because it was-

Don Gavin 15:33 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:33 ... such a strange time.

Don Gavin 15:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:35 If you could get real footage of wh- I know Fran Solomita had that one documentary-

Don Gavin 15:39 Yes, when standup stood out.

Joe Rogan 15:40 ... when standup stood out.

Don Gavin 15:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:40 But, uh, I would like to have just shown, like, how crazy it was.

Don Gavin 15:45 But people were scalping tickets.

Joe Rogan 15:46 Yeah.

Don Gavin 15:47 Does ... I'm ... It's a ... I said, "Oh my god, this is ..."

Joe Rogan 15:49 But it wasn't anywhere else like that. Chicago never had an explosion like that. Boston had the weirdest explosion.

Don Gavin 15:55 Yeah. And there was a multitude of people that were talented.

Joe Rogan 15:59 Yes.

Don Gavin 16:00 It wasn't just f- uh, you know, a few. There was a, a lot. 'Cause I used to go down to New York, and, uh, New York City had a scene and they got ... and now they had a scene, but not- nothing as expansive as that. And, and while ... I started after those two had already been done, you know?

Joe Rogan 16:14 Yeah, the Boston scene was a different animal-

Don Gavin 16:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:16 ... 'cause you could work everywhere. The thing is you could work in town, and you can get paid in town. You could do, you know, all the ... There was al- all the different places. Uh, Say It A- Play It Again Sam's.

Don Gavin 16:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 16:26 Right? Stitches.

Don Gavin 16:27 Stitches. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:28 All those different clubs. But then there was all these satellite rooms, all the Dick Dougherty rooms, and all the-

Don Gavin 16:32 Right.

Joe Rogan 16:32 ... you know, the Connexion had rooms, and-

Don Gavin 16:33 Right.

Joe Rogan 16:33 Boston Comedy had rooms.

Don Gavin 16:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 16:35 They were everywhere. There was hundreds of rooms.

Don Gavin 16:37 Right.

Joe Rogan 16:37 And they were good rooms.

Don Gavin 16:38 Yeah. And then I think the, the demise, at least I ... from the real apex, I think came when the comedians were no longer running the clubs. They, you know, as owners came in, and the greed factor, and every, every corner s- store. You know, if a tire company would go out of business, "Oh, that's a comedy club now."

Joe Rogan 16:57 Hmm.

Don Gavin 16:57 Or if a gas station or b- bowling alleys. How many bowling alleys did we work in those days? You know?

Joe Rogan 17:01 Hmm.

Don Gavin 17:01 And so one after another, and I think what happened was it gets so, uh, diluted that people would go to a show and say, "I don't know what all this is all about, this furor."

Joe Rogan 17:11 Right.

Don Gavin 17:11 Because it's ... this is ... they didn't get to see the good comedians anymore.

Joe Rogan 17:13 Right.

Don Gavin 17:14 Yeah, so ...

Joe Rogan 17:14 Well, there was a ... there was about 12 of you.

Don Gavin 17:17 (laughs)

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

Don Gavin 17:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:20 And to this day, I swear, I, I tell everybody, I think they're the best comics I've ever seen in my life.

Don Gavin 17:25 Wow.

Joe Rogan 17:25 To this day.

Don Gavin 17:26 Wow.

Joe Rogan 17:26 There was moments at the com- at the, uh, uh, Nick's Comedy Stop and at Stitches where I'm like, "That is about as good as standup comedy ever gets." And some of those moments, like, the, the comedy stop ... Nick's Comedy Stop used to do a dirty trick. When a famous comedian would come into town-

Don Gavin 17:43 Right. (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah. An outsider.

Joe Rogan 17:45 (laughs) They would have some poor bastard, like, uh, you know, like, um, you know, fill in the blank. You don't even need him to na- uh, d- d- just someone who doesn't ... didn't do comedy that often.

Don Gavin 17:54 Right. Okay.

Joe Rogan 17:55 Richard Lewis, let's say him.

Don Gavin 17:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:56 And he would be the headliner.

Don Gavin 17:58 Right.

Joe Rogan 17:58 But before him would be you, and Sweeney-

Don Gavin 18:03 And Kenny Rogerson.

Joe Rogan 18:04 ... and, and Kenny Rogerson, and Donovan. And it would just be a murderers row of fucking savages.

Don Gavin 18:11 Yeah, yeah. Mike McDonald. This guy-

Joe Rogan 18:13 Yes.

Don Gavin 18:13 This guy acted, this guy acted ... Yes.

Joe Rogan 18:14 And th- these poor bastards. I, I, I saw ... I, I came to Nick's Comedy Stop right after Billy Crystal had bombed.

Don Gavin 18:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:21 I, like, came up the stairs and they were talking about it. Like, you guys had set him up. And, y- you know, people were saying like, "You ain't ever seen nothing like it in your life. This poor guy's a movie star, and he went on stage and just ate plates of shit."

Don Gavin 18:31 Yeah. After, yeah, after five people had just been destroyed.

Joe Rogan 18:35 Destroyed for an hour.

Don Gavin 18:36 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:36 Right? Like, so you got, like, each guy's doing 15 minutes.

Don Gavin 18:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:39 And you've got all these guys going up there just killing-

Don Gavin 18:41 And it wasn't unintentional. It was for, you know-

Joe Rogan 18:43 Oh, yeah.

Don Gavin 18:43 ... why is this guy in our town? Yes. (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.

Joe Rogan 18:46 Well, that was the thing about Boston, like d- when a, a guy came into town ... Like, if you do standup in any ... like, you do standup in Philadelphia. Like, if you showed up in Phila- people would go, "Oh, let's go see Don Gavin." They would wanna go see you.

Don Gavin 19:00 Right.

Joe Rogan 19:00 If you do standup in Boston and you're from out of Boston, everybody's like, "Fuck this guy."... they just, just set them up.

Don Gavin 19:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 19:05 And the club would set them up. That was what was so crazy.

Don Gavin 19:09 Well, the reason wh- the reason they would bring these other s- outsiders in, they would get plugs possibly for, on The Tonight Show or something like that. None of us were on the, o- on the s-

Joe Rogan 19:16 Right.

Don Gavin 19:16 ... on the scene or on the, you know, on the, on the radar. So they would bring in, like George Miller was a guy I remember. You know, a nice sweetheart of a guy, but (laughs) you know, he was just what you said-

Joe Rogan 19:26 Yeah.

Don Gavin 19:27 ... running the gauntlet, uh, ev- before, you know, before he got on.

Joe Rogan 19:30 Exhales what did those guys think when they watched that? They must have been fucking terrified.

Don Gavin 19:34 Richard Lewis went on TV almost in tears complaining about, "And they put all those guys in there. I don't know where they got all these guys."

Joe Rogan 19:40 (laughs)

Don Gavin 19:41 "And, and, and, and I did it the first night and then they did it the second night. And I don't understand what, what they have against me." And then, and, and I-

Joe Rogan 19:46 Oh.

Don Gavin 19:46 ... think she said, "Well, maybe they're funnier," you know, as one of those comics, you know?

Joe Rogan 19:50 Yeah. Well, it was, uh, it was a dog eat dog world there. You had to be able to survive in Boston. And the, the tension span, like the way the, the standup was, it's like they didn't let you guys, like I say, they, you didn't let anybody breathe. There's a Boston style of comedy. It's like, here's a fucking punchline. Here's another punchline.

Don Gavin 20:08 Right.

Joe Rogan 20:08 Here's another punchline. Take a breath. Boom, there's another one. And these other guys that would come in from out of town were not accustomed to that style of performing.

Don Gavin 20:16 It's a more laconic and more-

Joe Rogan 20:17 Yeah.

Don Gavin 20:18 ... just like this. And I s- I was told that I talked 70 words a minute, Gus to 100 when I-

Joe Rogan 20:24 (laughs)

Don Gavin 20:24 ... that I, that I (fast-forward sound) .

Joe Rogan 20:25 Yeah.

Don Gavin 20:25 And I have, you know, one of those, uh, VHS tapes where I, and I play some of th- those one time recently. I'm going, "I have no idea." All I know why there's people laughing, but I have, I have no idea what I was saying.

Joe Rogan 20:35 (laughs)

Don Gavin 20:36 I'm going, "Oh my God." Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:38 Well, you had sneaky punchlines. You would sneak punchlines in. It would look-

Don Gavin 20:42 The asides.

Joe Rogan 20:42 ... like you were done and the, the asides would come in.

Don Gavin 20:44 Right.

Joe Rogan 20:45 And boom.

Don Gavin 20:45 Or a tag here or-

Joe Rogan 20:46 Yeah.

Don Gavin 20:46 ... a tag there and move over there.

Joe Rogan 20:47 Did you just develop that style on your own? Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 20:50 Yeah, I didn't... Again, w- what did I know about style? I just, that's just the way it was. I was always a fast talker. 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, you know.

Joe Rogan 21:02 Yeah.

Don Gavin 21:02 So I had three brothers and, uh, and downstairs my cousins lived and there were six there. So four, you know, that's a... So there was always bang, bang, bang, bang, bang to that. And it was all... Everybody was an Irish Catholic basically that was on the comedy scene, you know?

Joe Rogan 21:14 Yeah.

Don Gavin 21:15 It was certainly not homogenized by any means.

Joe Rogan 21:17 Well, that's also interesting too, because it was in a lot of places it was more of a Jewish thing.

Don Gavin 21:22 Sure, sure.

Joe Rogan 21:23 But Boston, it wasn't. Boston, it was like a lot of... And big guys too. That was the other thing. Everybody was like six foot three.

Don Gavin 21:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:31 Everybody's a big ass fucking gorilla.

Don Gavin 21:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:34 And they're all doing coke and drinking and it was like, whoa, this is a crazy place.

Don Gavin 21:37 It was almost like, well, you better be funny. And also if a fight breaks out, you'd be better, you better be good at that too.

Joe Rogan 21:42 Yeah.

Don Gavin 21:43 Or just sp- be sort of good at it because certainly you're not backing down.

Joe Rogan 21:46 But that was the s- thing about it, is like comedy i- in a lot of people's eyes is thought to be something that like, uh, nebbishy, you know, sort of insecure people-

Don Gavin 21:55 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:55 ... get involved in. You guys were all fucking savages.

Don Gavin 21:58 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:58 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." I'm like, "Ph- I didn't really see that." Like y- not, not where I started.

Don Gavin 22:09 I can remember Barlow at the Ding Ho that... I mean, it was a r- pretty good brouhaha at the end. It s- it started... I think it started outside the club as they were coming in, and it p- it emanated that it was inside and outside at the same time. And at the end, we, you know, we randomly finished doing the show and th- and at the end, e- all people were talking about, nothing about the show. It was just about, "Hey man, that tingle really held his own, didn't he?" You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 22:30 (laughs)

Don Gavin 22:31 We're talking, we're talking about... Or I said, "You know, have you seen so-and-so with the two headlocks?"

Joe Rogan 22:35 (laughs)

Don Gavin 22:35 And this, you know, and they're going, "What about the show?" "Oh yeah, that was good." But, uh, then nothing to do with it.

Joe Rogan 22:39 There was a lot of brawls. I remember brawls. I remember a lot of brawls breaking out at clubs, but it was just, to me, I didn't realize how lucky I was to start there in the, in 1988. I really didn't.

Don Gavin 22:51 Well, when you came in at the be- beginning, but I, I always thought when you came in, I'm saying, "Wow, this guy has, gets something." But at that, I thought he was a little too dirty. I thought, I thought that wasn't going to work for you. But you al- but you knew kind of a... You had it in your head what you had to do. You knew that you had to measure up or else, uh, you could be pushed to the side-

Joe Rogan 23:09 Yeah.

Don Gavin 23:10 ... when you came in. Don't you ag- agree with that?

Joe Rogan 23:11 Well, there was not much room. You know, you had a, you had to be good. Like even if you wanted to go from being an open mic-er to hosting or to getting a, a gig, you know, on the road, you had to be good. Boston didn't leave you any room for y- for scrubs. There was-

Don Gavin 23:27 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:27 ... there was too many.

Don Gavin 23:28 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:29 Too many good comics.

Don Gavin 23:30 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:30 Yeah, I was definitely dirty, but I was... That's all I was interested in. You know, I mean, like when I was 21, I was a fucking savage. All I cared about was sex.

Don Gavin 23:37 Uh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:38 Sex, and how it came from fighting.

Don Gavin 23:39 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:40 So like, uh, that's all... I, I didn't know anything. Like, so-

Don Gavin 23:43 Well, you fit in though.

Joe Rogan 23:44 Yeah. What I thought was funny was, you know, just... It was kind of fu-... And I was talked into doing comedy by guys that I trained with.

Don Gavin 23:51 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:51 So I didn't think that I was funny. I didn't think I was gonna be funny. I made them laugh, but I thought, "Well, you guys are fucking psychos plus I'm making you laugh."

Don Gavin 23:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:59 My, my sense of humor is wrong. It's all fucked up. They're gonna think I'm an asshole. So I was talked into doing it.

Don Gavin 24:05 Oh.

Joe Rogan 24:05 And, uh, the first comedy show that I ever saw, I went to Stitches open mic night.

Don Gavin 24:10 Sure.

Joe Rogan 24:10 And, uh, I went and watched and I remember seeing, going, sitting there watching all these guys go up on stage and seeing people do it for the first time. And, and I realized, "Oh, a lot of people suck." Like, "You could do this."

Don Gavin 24:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 24:21 Like...

Don Gavin 24:21 "Yeah, I'm better than that guy."

Joe Rogan 24:22 "I'll probably be better than some of these people, at least."

Don Gavin 24:24 Yeah. When I first came in, that audition thing I talked about, I went in, a number of those people we're talking about were on stage and I was prepared to do this audition. I was with this girl that time and she goes, "What about the audition?" I go, "No. No, I don't think so." So I just, I just left. I didn't even explain it.

Joe Rogan 24:40 (laughs)

Don Gavin 24:40 And I went back the next week and again, real good guys, but there was one guy, I won't mention his name. You, you wouldn't know the name, but he... I'm going, "Oh, finally someone I know a little better than this guy." And that's when I auditioned that night, but he got me into show business. I could, will mention his name. Gene Franz was his name. He may still be alive, I don't know, but-

Joe Rogan 24:59 Wow.

Don Gavin 24:59 ... he has no idea that he got me into comedy, so...

Joe Rogan 25:01 Well, that's... Richard Jeni said that once that w- that's the purpose that really bad comedians serve. They inspire people to try it.

Don Gavin 25:08 (laughs) Oh, it worked.

Joe Rogan 25:08 It's... There's something real to that. But I remember, uh, my first open mic night, um, when, when I went up, you know, I, I... It wasn't very funny, but, uh...... I got to see Teddy Bergeron.

Don Gavin 25:20 Sure.

Joe Rogan 25:21 Teddy Bergeron performed that night, and he fucking lit that place on. Jonathan Katz was the host.

Don Gavin 25:25 Wow.

Joe Rogan 25:26 Yeah. Jonathan Katz was the host, and, uh-

Don Gavin 25:27 Now, there's a guy you talked about that was kind of, uh, you know, a different, different direction.

Joe Rogan 25:32 Different style.

Don Gavin 25:33 Was smooth-

Joe Rogan 25:33 Yeah.

Don Gavin 25:34 ... and, and slow, slow talk, easygoing.

Joe Rogan 25:36 Yes.

Don Gavin 25:36 And yet, he was a fan favorite.

Joe Rogan 25:37 Yes.

Don Gavin 25:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:38 Hilarious.

Don Gavin 25:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:39 Great comic.

Don Gavin 25:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:40 And then went on to do that cartoon, Dr. Katz.

Don Gavin 25:42 Yeah. Which I did that.

Joe Rogan 25:43 Yeah.

Don Gavin 25:44 Which, that was fun, yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:44 But watching Teddy go on stage, this was Teddy was in his prime, it made me wanna quit.

Don Gavin 25:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:51 I was like, "Oh, Jesus Christ."

Don Gavin 25:52 Yeah. He had been on, he had already been on, like, the Tonight Show-

Joe Rogan 25:55 Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 25:56 ... and, and Gold, Gold Diggers with Dean Martin and stuff, so when he was, you know, when he was sober-

Joe Rogan 26:01 Yeah.

Don Gavin 26:02 ... and on his game, wow.

Joe Rogan 26:04 Oh my god.

Don Gavin 26:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:05 To this day, one of the best I've ever seen. He was so smooth.

Don Gavin 26:08 Yes. He al- I'm polished, where a lot of the other guys were rough edged.

Joe Rogan 26:12 Yes, it was different, and he had more pauses, and he was like... He slowed pace.

Don Gavin 26:17 And he dressed well.

Joe Rogan 26:18 Yes.

Don Gavin 26:18 And yeah, he almost stood out just because of that. But it was-

Joe Rogan 26:21 He-

Don Gavin 26:21 ... kinda classy, you know?

Joe Rogan 26:22 He looked like he could do no wrong. So when he would have a problem with, uh, drugs and alcohol-

Don Gavin 26:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:27 ... I was so confused. I was like, "How? That guy?"

Don Gavin 26:29 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:30 I was like, "That guy's the smoothest ever."

Don Gavin 26:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:32 'Cause you know, when I saw him, he was like in his 30s. He was, he was young and just f- uh, uh, fucking on top of it.

Don Gavin 26:38 Right, right.

Joe Rogan 26:39 I got a, I got a chance to work with him a bunch of times.

Don Gavin 26:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:41 Weird gigs, like the Mattapoisett Inn and this, a bunch of different-

Don Gavin 26:44 How do you remember all these names?

Joe Rogan 26:45 I don't know. It's my curse.

Don Gavin 26:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:48 I got a lot, a bunch of strange n- names for places stuck in my head.

Don Gavin 26:51 Well, we had other places. Yeah, Down The Cape and The-

Joe Rogan 26:53 Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 26:53 ... The One Nighters.

Joe Rogan 26:54 Yes.

Don Gavin 26:55 And (crosstalk 00:02:26) .

Joe Rogan 26:55 Yes.

Don Gavin 26:55 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:56 Those were great though. I mean, boy, you talk about seasoning. You would get a, 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.

Don Gavin 27:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:10 All those gigs.

Don Gavin 27:11 And, uh, and once I got into it full time, that, you know, that encompassed, that was your whole life, did you... And you were working-

Joe Rogan 27:17 Yeah.

Don Gavin 27:17 ... six, six nights, maybe seven nights a week, and probably five or six different venues is where you were.

Joe Rogan 27:21 Yes.

Don Gavin 27:21 And sometimes three or four venues in the same evening.

Joe Rogan 27:24 Yeah.

Don Gavin 27:24 You know, you get in the car and go over here and go over there, go over there. I mean, I don't know how many years it was before I realized you could date someone that was not a waitress.

Joe Rogan 27:31 (laughs)

Don Gavin 27:32 (laughs) I wasn't, I wasn't even aware of that.

Joe Rogan 27:35 Yeah, that was a weird ecosystem, right?

Don Gavin 27:36 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:36 It was like comics and waitresses, hand in hand.

Don Gavin 27:39 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 27:39 Yeah.

Don Gavin 27:40 Wow.

Joe Rogan 27:40 W- you know, we're just so fortunate that we're from, that we started our, our, our comedy in Boston, because it was, it was a magic time. And when I would talk to people that are from, like, Arizona, like, "How'd you start out?" Like, "Well, I had to drive two hours to Tucson."

Don Gavin 27:56 Sure.

Joe Rogan 27:56 And like, fuck.

Don Gavin 27:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:57 Like, there was nothing.

Don Gavin 27:58 I was told that when I f- moved out here for a brief period of time, I lived in Studio City, I was told that I would be driving sometimes two hours to make $100. I go, "Yeah, right, right."

Joe Rogan 28:08 (laughs)

Don Gavin 28:08 And four months later, I'm h- I'm driving two and a half hours to make $75, and I'm going, "Wow." That was somebody knew already what was going on here, yeah. When it, when I thought I was coming out and signed with, uh, Agency Spotlight was the name of the agency.

Joe Rogan 28:21 Oh, I remember that.

Don Gavin 28:22 Everybody was supposed to get fucked 'cause they-

Joe Rogan 28:24 They're the people that ripped everybody off, right?

Don Gavin 28:25 Yes, yes. They promised everything and, and never delivered on the, on the word. And so I was one of the few that owed them money 'cause I heard something was going south. So when they, when they finally called me and I went to get lawyers involved and I sent them a note back saying, "Dear so-and-so. Uh, I know that I owe you $35,000. Just take it off of what you owe Lenny Clark and we'll be all set." You know?

Joe Rogan 28:46 Ah.

Don Gavin 28:47 (laughs) They owed him like 80 grand or 100 grand or something like that.

Joe Rogan 28:49 They owed him a lot more than that, didn't they?

Don Gavin 28:50 Maybe more than that, yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:52 Yeah.

Don Gavin 28:52 But I said, "Just take it off from that." Never heard from them again.

Joe Rogan 28:54 Ah.

Don Gavin 28:55 And they, I, I think they beat Leno for over a million dollars.

Joe Rogan 28:57 Yes.

Don Gavin 28:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:58 They beat Seinfeld. They beat everybody.

Don Gavin 28:59 Seinfeld too, that's right. Yes.

Joe Rogan 29:01 Yeah, they beat everybody.

Don Gavin 29:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:02 Yeah, there was one agent that was a dirty agent that was pocketing all the money.

Don Gavin 29:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:06 There was a bunch of those situations like that though, right?

Don Gavin 29:09 Bob, uh, Williams was his name. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:12 Hmm.

Don Gavin 29:12 Who's still in the business.

Joe Rogan 29:13 No.

Don Gavin 29:13 Yeah, out of Branson. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:15 Real... Oh, Branson, that's right.

Don Gavin 29:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:16 Lenny told me about this. That's right.

Don Gavin 29:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:19 Yeah. Fucking Jesus Christ.

Don Gavin 29:20 I don't know if he changed his name or whatever-

Joe Rogan 29:21 He should.

Don Gavin 29:21 I mean, he changed the industry, but he, he's in Branson apparently. He's doing quite well. That's what I hear.

Joe Rogan 29:25 He never paid everybody back?

Don Gavin 29:27 No. No, no, no.

Joe Rogan 29:28 Wow. How does that-

Don Gavin 29:29 It's clean. See ya.

Joe Rogan 29:31 Oh my god. If somebody owed me a million dollars, ooh.

Don Gavin 29:34 Yeah, but they used to have this thing, "You know, do you like money? You, you wanna sign with us 'cause we'll, we'll give you, if you make this and this." And they, you know, it was, it was in- contractually written.

Joe Rogan 29:43 How old were you back then?

Don Gavin 29:44 Oh, I didn't start comedy until I was 33.

Joe Rogan 29:46 Wow.

Don Gavin 29:47 So I was much later. I had been a teacher and a coach, and then I had two kids and, uh, so I got into this m- much later than most people.

Joe Rogan 29:55 What brought you into it?

Don Gavin 29:57 Uh, I think probably because I was usually reasonably funny i- in life, and then as a bartender, I was a wise guy bartender, you know? And, uh, like for instance, people would sit... I only had 22 seats. Four guys would sit and say, "What's your cheapest beer?" I said, "Root beer." "Get the fuck up. Screw." You know?

Joe Rogan 30:14 (laughs)

Don Gavin 30:14 You know? I said, those seats, I said, "If you tip me $20 before you order, then you can sit there." And then people would do it. And so, so that kind of, that kind of mushroomed that, that way there, but yeah, it was, uh, uh, it was again the same aggressive bullshit thing, so then i- it was easy to carry that on into the, onto the stage.

Joe Rogan 30:30 Well-

Don Gavin 30:30 But I had never been on a stage. I thought it was kind of, uh, like you were, were, uh, feebish type people, you know, doing stage stuff, you know?

Joe Rogan 30:38 Yeah, I got, I got... I like how you danced around the words there (laughs) .

Don Gavin 30:41 Yeah (laughs) . Fee- feebish, I think I made a word up even.

Joe Rogan 30:44 (laughs) Yes.

Don Gavin 30:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:46 It was effeminate.

Don Gavin 30:47 Yeah, well...

Joe Rogan 30:48 Yes. It was not for manly men.

Don Gavin 30:50 Yes.

Joe Rogan 30:50 Yeah.

Don Gavin 30:50 Not at all.

Joe Rogan 30:51 Not in the theater.

Don Gavin 30:52 But I was, and I was, I was playing basketball in college a- and I was waiting either to get picked up to go to the drama or whatever, and there was a play going on in, uh, you know, rehearsals at this college. And I'm watching them going, and it really pissed me off that two of the actors didn't really, didn't seem to be putting their e- e- effort into it. And I don't, I don't know why, but I'm going, "I can do better than that." So that was one of the things in the back of my head about being on the stage. But I had never been, I had never had a mic in my hand and I used to wear loose pants 'cause like th- they could see my legs shaking.

Joe Rogan 31:21 (laughs)

Don Gavin 31:21 Yeah, yeah. And that's why, you know, with my act, I sit on the stool most of the time so I, so that way they wouldn't see me, you know, in effect being, you know, for the first year or so being s- yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:30 You shook that much?

Don Gavin 31:31 I think so, yeah. Oh, that and the drugs. You know?

Joe Rogan 31:36 (laughs)

Don Gavin 31:36 ... and... but the, uh... and same thing with taking the mic out of the mic stand. I thought they... (imitates mic rattling) the rattling, and it... There's nothing worse than seeing a com... you know, up there doing, you know, this thing, bang, bang, bang, with the-

Joe Rogan 31:46 Were the drugs there from the beginning?

Don Gavin 31:49 Um, let me think. Pe- uh, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much. I mean, it's like in the old, it's like in the old days, you know, the s- you know the story about your mother says, "Don't..." you know, gives somebody who offers you drugs, says, "Don't take them." I said, "Well, they don't offer you, you have to buy them." You know?

Joe Rogan 32:03 (laughs)

Don Gavin 32:03 So it's like- (laughs) but initially, you didn't have to buy them. That was the thing. Everybody, everybody was doing it, you know. It's like smoking. When I was growing up as a kid, 95% of people smoked and why? Because other everybody else smoked. You know, I stopped smoking in the year 2000. Mike Clarke and I had a bet and none of us... we haven't had a cigarette since. So, apparently it wasn't addictive, but everybody smoked. So the same thing in those days, everybody was either a drinker or doing the, doing the blow or, uh, smoking the bones and some... (laughs) You, you had at least two or three vices. A lot of, a lot of deck, deck chairs to throw off, you know?

Joe Rogan 32:36 Did you have any of those vices before you got into standup?

Don Gavin 32:39 Uh, no, I think it grew (laughs) it pretty much, uh, blossomed once I got in there, now that I think of it. Uh, yeah, I used to smoke. That was about it. But nothing, no, nothing else, nobody-

Joe Rogan 32:50 Drinking?

Don Gavin 32:50 Uh, not he- heavily at all. Hardly, hardly ever.

Joe Rogan 32:52 Not heavily.

Don Gavin 32:53 And I covered up for them, ever since.

Joe Rogan 32:55 (laughs) Yeah.

Don Gavin 32:55 I'm... I made up a lot of ground. I can say. I mean, now all, all the guys are AA. I'm the... I'm like the only one left drinking and I notice there's much more liquor everywhere I go. There's always liquor now, there's-

Joe Rogan 33:05 Yeah, everybody cleaned up.

Don Gavin 33:07 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:08 Yeah. They're, they're looking at you like you're the last Mohican.

Don Gavin 33:10 Yeah. It's like, uh, Bobby Nickman, a comedian and a writer, and he, 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.

Joe Rogan 33:21 Right.

Don Gavin 33:21 But he was one of the first guys that kind of cleaned up, and then this guy, and then this guy and, and there's very few of them now.

Joe Rogan 33:27 Well, a lot of guys came from AA and that's how they got their start. You remember Dave Fitzgerald?

Don Gavin 33:32 Oh, sure.

Joe Rogan 33:32 Funny guy.

Don Gavin 33:33 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:34 He got into comedy from Alcoholics Anonymous-

Don Gavin 33:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:37 ... because he would go up on stage and tell these crazy old drinking stories-

Don Gavin 33:40 Sure.

Joe Rogan 33:40 ... and people would laugh, and then he polished those stories up.

Don Gavin 33:42 Sure.

Joe Rogan 33:42 Made them tighter, and then started doing standup.

Don Gavin 33:45 Yeah. Um, but, uh, it, it, uh... when you... in the... we'll say in the mid '80s, the early '80s, if, if you weren't a drinker, you were the exception to the rule, again.

Joe Rogan 33:56 Wow. So you weren't a drinker before.

Don Gavin 33:59 Not really.

Joe Rogan 33:59 You just started hanging out with these guys and was it just-

Don Gavin 34:01 I'm not blaming any of them. I'm-

Joe Rogan 34:02 No. Hey, look, I'm not even-

Don Gavin 34:04 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:04 But was it right away? Like just you just walk- you walked into this lion's den of people doing dru- who was the fucking... who's patient zero?

Don Gavin 34:11 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:12 Like who... because it was- wasn't that many of you, right?

Don Gavin 34:15 Well, I think that, I think that it, uh, it came to a culmination at, at the Ding Ho because-

Joe Rogan 34:21 Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 34:22 ... we basically, uh, ran and owned the place and we'd stay there until... I, I can remember walking out of there many times going, "Oh, beautiful. It's not even light out yet."

Joe Rogan 34:31 (laughs)

Don Gavin 34:32 You know, it'd be, it'd be 6:30 in the morning, you know?

Joe Rogan 34:34 Right.

Don Gavin 34:34 But we were serving drinks and, and half the people... there'd be 10, 12 comedians sitting around and, and four or five other guys, and the other guys are cops. They're in there drinking with us too.

Joe Rogan 34:44 Wow.

Don Gavin 34:44 So we weren't gonna get busted or anything. I mean, when Kenny Royden first got there, he walked in the door there. He got there, I don't know how, but he got there around 2:00 in the morning and there's six or seven of us, you know, smo- they were either smoking joints, doing, doing some lines and drinking, and we're up on the stage playing cards, you know, for money. And he goes, he goes, "What is this place?" You know.

Joe Rogan 35:05 (laughs) Paradise.

Don Gavin 35:05 Yeah, he had no idea. He goes... someone says, "You want to go for a drink?" He goes, "Well, who are the te- tequila drinkers?" And everybody goes, "Nobody here wants te-" so then he'd get into other stuff, so... and he, he made up for lost time, too.

Joe Rogan 35:16 That was what we'd alwa- we'd always heard about the Ding Ho, like it was like some legendary place. You know, when we fr- starting out, it, it closed in like '84 or something, right?

Don Gavin 35:25 Uh, I don't, I don't know about the... maybe, yeah, right around there, maybe a little bit later.

Joe Rogan 35:30 Somehow I know it. I started in '88 and we had heard about the Ding Ho. It was like it was spoken in hushed tones.

Don Gavin 35:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:36 It was like, you know, that's where it started.

Don Gavin 35:38 Well, it closed in a heartbeat because the, the owner lost, lost the club playing Chinese dominoes, okay?

Joe Rogan 35:43 (laughs)

Don Gavin 35:44 No, he lost $240,000 in one night.

Joe Rogan 35:46 Oh.

Don Gavin 35:46 And, and it was my night at... then I had my show there on Fridays. I come in and I'd never saw, uh, chains or padlocks bigger than that on the front and back door. Never to be reopened as a comedy club. It became an, uh, Indian restaurant or something, but it just went poof, gone.

Joe Rogan 36:02 Playing Chinese do- I don't even know what Chinese dominoes are.

Don Gavin 36:05 Now, that's good probably. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:08 (laughs) God, I mean, it's, 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. Like Houston used to have this place called the Laff Stop. Did you ever work there?

Don Gavin 36:22 Sure, I did. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:23 That was the same thing for Houston. Houston had a great scene.

Don Gavin 36:26 Houston, well, Houston was a little crazy, uh, with people too.

Joe Rogan 36:28 It was wild.

Don Gavin 36:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:29 It was wild.

Don Gavin 36:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:29 Yeah, and when I first went there, it was when it was at its wildest. It was after Kinison had gone.

Don Gavin 36:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:35 And Bill Hicks had left, and all those guys were gone and-

Don Gavin 36:37 Yeah, Collabo was another name-

Joe Rogan 36:39 Yeah, yeah.

Don Gavin 36:40 ... in that group, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:40 Uh, Jimmy Pineapple.

Don Gavin 36:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:41 J- Jimmy worked with me the first time I ever did a weekend there.

Don Gavin 36:43 Really?

Joe Rogan 36:44 And the first time I was ever there, I was like, "Wow, this place is like a lot like Boston." Like early... like these were a bunch of wild fucks. They had an o-... 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 8:00, went till 2:00 in the morning. So you'd get done with your show, the show would be over at 10:00, 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.

Don Gavin 37:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:06 It was, it was crazy.

Don Gavin 37:07 It was crazy, but I do remember a good story there was we used to walk from the hotel to the venue and, um, and it was all the, you know, cowboys basically down, down there and so I get... I'm walking, I get hit in the back with a water balloon, but you would have thought I was shot with... shot by a, by, uh, a rhino gun, you know? Bang, that thing... I was soaking wet. When I get there, I had to put on one of their T-shirts and I'm going, "I can't believe how, how this guy hit me that good." So when I get to the club, I see the car, it was recognizable, I'm going...... they, oh, they're come, they're coming to see me. So I went inside, got a hammer, and went out during the show when they opened the advertisement and broke every window in their car-

Joe Rogan 37:45 (laughs)

Don Gavin 37:45 ... including the directionals, the side thing, and stuff like that. And I called my agent on stage. He goes, "Well, I got hit by those window." I said, "Whoever did it..." And nobody took claim. I said, "What? But what a great aim you had." And, but I didn't mention a, about their car. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:56 That's hilarious.

Don Gavin 37:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:58 Did you go out and watch-

Don Gavin 37:59 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:00 ... or check to their window?

Don Gavin 38:00 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:00 What'd they do?

Don Gavin 38:01 They, they were not... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:03 (laughs)

Don Gavin 38:03 I mean, I broke, I broke those little tiny w- uh, uh, you know, directionals on the side of the car. I mean, in every window.

Joe Rogan 38:10 (laughs)

Don Gavin 38:10 Just, 'cause anybody can flatten a tire. You know? You can-

Joe Rogan 38:12 Yes.

Don Gavin 38:12 If you break every single window, that's, that's an accomplishment.

Joe Rogan 38:14 That is an accomplishment, and it's a lot of work to get that fixed.

Don Gavin 38:17 Yeah, it was, a, especially with no lookouts, you know?

Joe Rogan 38:19 You could change a tire pretty qu- yeah, you had no lookouts, right? (laughs)

Don Gavin 38:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:24 But that scene, the Houston scene was similar in that there was a lot of drugs involved and a lot of really funny comics, but-

Don Gavin 38:29 And aggressive, too.

Joe Rogan 38:30 Yeah, very aggressive. Yeah, well, uh, Texas, you know?

Don Gavin 38:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:34 Wild fuckers down there. But when that club closed, that scene died out for a long time. It's apparently, it's got a resurgence now. The scene's coming back. There's-

Don Gavin 38:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:45 ... there's some real good comics coming out of there right now. But that scene was dead for a long time. There wasn't, wasn't much going on down there.

Don Gavin 38:52 Oh.

Joe Rogan 38:52 And like, I was like, that's interesting how a scene, like a place as, as good as Houston could close down with (snaps fingers) one club. One club goes under and the whole thing just throws, throws-

Don Gavin 39:02 Well, that happened-

Joe Rogan 39:03 ... water on the fire.

Don Gavin 39:03 I, I believe that happened in Chicago. Chicago used to be a terrific, uh, city. It was my favorite city to travel to do fall comedy. They had an Improv, they had a Catch, they had, uh, The, The Laff Factory, uh, uh, they had, you know, not just S- Second City, 'cause that's different, but... And that was, and the same thing. Saanies is, I think, is the only one that's still in existence there.

Joe Rogan 39:21 Yeah.

Don Gavin 39:22 And, and that went off the, off the cliffs right away, too. And I, again, I blame owners. It's, you know-

Joe Rogan 39:27 Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 39:27 ... greed and not paying people and things of that nature.

Joe Rogan 39:31 Well, they start treating it like any other business.

Don Gavin 39:33 Yes, y-

Joe Rogan 39:33 Comedy clubs are-

Don Gavin 39:34 It became that, a business, yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:35 It's a asylum that needs to be run by the inmates.

Don Gavin 39:38 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Joe Rogan 39:39 Yeah.

Don Gavin 39:39 And when we ran it, when I booked the, all these shows and stuff, like, yeah, there w- didn't seem to be any problem. We, and again, we weren't making much money, but it, we didn't seem to care, you know?

Joe Rogan 39:47 Right.

Don Gavin 39:47 Whatever you made, you spent.

Joe Rogan 39:49 Right. (laughs)

Don Gavin 39:49 So if you, if you had 800 bucks in your pocket, well, that's, "I've got $800," you know?

Joe Rogan 39:53 Yeah.

Don Gavin 39:53 You're not, not thinking about, "You know, I guess I might wanna eat next week, too." You know? It's just... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:58 (laughs) Next week is next week.

Don Gavin 40:00 Yeah, yeah, that's way, that's way in the future.

Joe Rogan 40:01 The way The Comedy Store works is essentially that way. I mean, Mitzi obviously ran it, but she let the comedians run it for the most part.

Don Gavin 40:08 Right.

Joe Rogan 40:08 You know, she let everybody work out their own issues and p- solve their own problems, and she would just book you.

Don Gavin 40:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 40:14 She'd just tell you when to go up, and it was just a madhouse.

Don Gavin 40:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:16 And it, to this day, still very similar.

Don Gavin 40:19 Is it still the same?

Joe Rogan 40:20 Oh, it's packed every fucking night now.

Don Gavin 40:21 Wow.

Joe Rogan 40:21 Now it's crazy, because the internet, now people hear about it and they know about it. And you've got people flying in from Australia and England and Ireland just to come down and see comedy-

Don Gavin 40:30 Really?

Joe Rogan 40:30 All the time. All the time.

Don Gavin 40:31 Wow.

Joe Rogan 40:31 Always meeting people there that are, they, they basically have comedy tourism from Europe. They fly in to The Comedy Store, like, e- any night of the week. Because The Comedy Store, on Monday, they'll post the s- the schedule for the week.

Don Gavin 40:43 Sure.

Joe Rogan 40:44 And so people read the schedule and they go, "All right, let's fly in on Tuesday." So they'll fly from fucking England, 11-hour flight, and come and see f- see comedy.

Don Gavin 40:51 Wow.

Joe Rogan 40:52 Because there's no comedy club like there. They have a Comedy Store over there in-

Don Gavin 40:54 Right.

Joe Rogan 40:54 ... in London, but it's not affiliated. It, they just stole the name, and they skirted into that international law by... You know, it's like they made their own 7-Eleven. "We're 7-Eleven too." Like...

Don Gavin 41:04 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:04 It's not the same thing. But I don't know what the comedy's like over there in terms of The Comedy Store, but y- you know, they, when they wanna come here, they, they fly.

Don Gavin 41:12 Wow.

Joe Rogan 41:12 And so on any given night, you run into people that are from all over the world.

Don Gavin 41:15 Wow.

Joe Rogan 41:16 Yeah, it's crazy. You should come.

Don Gavin 41:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:18 It's not... You should come just to see it.

Don Gavin 41:20 I did work, uh, y- you know, years ago, way, way, way back.

Joe Rogan 41:22 Yeah.

Don Gavin 41:22 But I haven't been in around these past couple years.

Joe Rogan 41:23 It's different now. It's fucking madness.

Don Gavin 41:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:25 Lines around the block. I mean, it's like, in a lot of ways, it's like Nick's in the heyday. Three rooms.

Don Gavin 41:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:30 There's the original room-

Don Gavin 41:31 Sure.

Joe Rogan 41:31 ... the belly room, and the main room.

Don Gavin 41:32 Right.

Joe Rogan 41:32 All three of them are going at the same time. Multiple shows a night. Fucking madness.

Don Gavin 41:37 Wow.

Joe Rogan 41:37 Yeah, it's, it's, it's nuts, but without the coke.

Don Gavin 41:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:40 There's no coke, no fights. It's-

Don Gavin 41:42 Really?

Joe Rogan 41:42 ... it's pretty ti... Yeah, it's pretty tame.

Don Gavin 41:43 'Cause that used to be a pretty, uh, pretty scary-

Joe Rogan 41:45 Yeah.

Don Gavin 41:46 ... denizen out-

Joe Rogan 41:46 Yes.

Don Gavin 41:46 ... in the back there.

Joe Rogan 41:47 Yes. It used to be. Yeah, it's, it's much more calm. There's a lot of marijuana.

Don Gavin 41:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:51 That's about it.

Don Gavin 41:52 Okay.

Joe Rogan 41:52 A lot of weed. Sometimes mushrooms.

Don Gavin 41:54 Oh.

Joe Rogan 41:54 But that's about it.

Don Gavin 41:54 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 41:55 Yeah, so it n- nothing, uh, nothing too crazy.

Don Gavin 41:58 Yeah. But it's funny that, uh, while we were doing it, uh, even though we were doing it for, for a living, it was, seemed like it wasn't a business.

Joe Rogan 42:06 Yeah.

Don Gavin 42:07 Like, let's say I'm promoting this album that I have, and, uh, I had this album d- done before, and it's, it was great, but I never had anybody produce it. You know, just made some copies of it. And it's called Don, Don Gavin Live with the Manhattan. Live with the Manhattan. And that was almost like a bootleg. I'd sell them, you know, maybe have a few after a show out the back of my trunk. (laughs) Like, um... But finally, we're releasing it. That's one of the reasons I bought it now.

Joe Rogan 42:32 When did you record it?

Don Gavin 42:34 I recorded it in 2011.

Joe Rogan 42:36 Whoa.

Don Gavin 42:36 And so it's on for 10 y- 10 years old. But my material hopefully, uh, doesn't get stale. It's because I don't do a lot of c- uh, current events, and I don't do, do politics, so it's still, uh... I mean, I have, uh, some, (laughs) some jokes that are old as some of the pe- the people who come to see me.

Joe Rogan 42:51 (laughs) Now, did you... Like, when you, when you put that out, is that the first thing that you've ever put out?

Don Gavin 42:55 Yeah, that's the only thing. And I, and I owned it, but I didn't do anything with it. So now, when I get to, uh, to, uh, Virtual Comedy Network with Joe Serpico, I mean, with Jimmy Serpico, he, uh, we did a, another album and a com- compilation of, uh, guys in Boston. And he, uh, saw... Somebody says something about me, my album. He goes, "I didn't know you had an album." And he got a copy of it, put it... He says, "Oh my God, this is something like discovering something." So he kind of came into my life for, to help out and see if we can produce this thing. And now it's on Sirius, uh, XM now and Pandora, and then it's going on, uh, all the streaming devices starting next week. But right now it's, uh, uh, I think they have the, uh, what do you call it? The rights just for those-

Joe Rogan 43:38 Mm-hmm.

Don Gavin 43:38 ... two stations there.

Joe Rogan 43:39 So if somebody wants to get it, how do they get it?

Don Gavin 43:41 Right now, they can get it on Sirius XM.... on Pandora. And as of, I think, next Thursday, it's on, uh, streaming live and 100+ shows.

Joe Rogan 43:47 Okay. Because if it's on Sirius, you have to wait for it to air, right? You can't just... Uh, Sirius doesn't stream, right?

Don Gavin 43:54 I've got to be honest with you, I'm, I'm not good about any of this stuff.

Joe Rogan 43:57 I don't think so. Do they stream, Jamie?

Don Gavin 43:59 You can probably search it. Yeah, yeah. They have downloadable stuff and whatnot.

Joe Rogan 44:02 Oh, okay. So on the app, as opposed to on the-

Don Gavin 44:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:04 ... actual thing that you... in your car?

Don Gavin 44:05 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 44:06 Okay.

Don Gavin 44:06 Yeah, I am so... Uh, in... Uh, anything mechanical. I-

Joe Rogan 44:09 Well, I'm proud that I think you sent me your first p- text ever.

Don Gavin 44:13 (laughs) On the internet. Which took me almost an hour and a half.

Joe Rogan 44:15 (laughs)

Don Gavin 44:16 Because, because I'm going, "W- okay, here's the T, here's an H over here." You know, I mean, that's how slow I was in doing that. And I-

Joe Rogan 44:22 But you used to teach. You don't know how to type?

Don Gavin 44:23 No. No, I had girlfriends.

Joe Rogan 44:25 (laughs)

Don Gavin 44:25 And, uh, I went through a bunch of them because I had to write a lot of papers. And so, you know.

Joe Rogan 44:29 Ah.

Don Gavin 44:30 So, no, I never typed one, one letter. Ever.

Joe Rogan 44:32 So that's l- legitimately the first text message you ever sent? A guy.

Don Gavin 44:34 I got it. Yeah. And you thought it was a joke. Uh, that it was... "Oh, thanks."

Joe Rogan 44:37 No, Mike Clark was telling me.

Don Gavin 44:38 Yeah, it was my first.

Joe Rogan 44:39 Yeah.

Don Gavin 44:40 And then I sent the... Next one, I realized you could use the microphone thing, and it came out in some foreign language.

Joe Rogan 44:44 (laughs)

Don Gavin 44:45 In Lath- Latvian or something, that- that- that I sent to you.

Joe Rogan 44:47 Well, that's because of your fucking accent.

Don Gavin 44:49 (laughs) No, but this was... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:50 I know.

Don Gavin 44:51 But, "Oh, okay." Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:51 But the iPhone's probably like, "What the fuck is he saying?"

Don Gavin 44:53 Yeah, that- that's probably it. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:54 (laughs)

Don Gavin 44:54 And they said, "Well, eventually you- eventually you- they'll get used to your voice." Apparently not, so...

Joe Rogan 44:58 No, it's never gonna figure out your voice.

Don Gavin 45:00 No, no.

Joe Rogan 45:00 That's for regular voices.

Don Gavin 45:01 Oh, shit. Okay. Well, I'm, I'm still-

Joe Rogan 45:03 (laughs) The accent's just too crazy.

Don Gavin 45:04 I still have an accent, huh? Okay.

Joe Rogan 45:06 Oh, yeah.

Don Gavin 45:06 I didn't know.

Joe Rogan 45:06 A little bit.

Don Gavin 45:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:08 Yeah. But y- y- the- the thing about, like, all those guys from that day is very few guys put things out. You know, Barry put out a couple specials and, uh, Louis C.K. produced one of Barry's specials. Lenny, of course, had a few things. He was on the Dangerfield special and-

Don Gavin 45:24 Right.

Joe Rogan 45:25 ... he did some stuff. But a lot of... Like, Donovan. Like, how do you go find Donovan's best stuff? You, like, you, you gotta go see him.

Don Gavin 45:31 Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:33 That's, that's the craziest thing about Boston. It's like these guys are world-class stand-ups, some of the best that have ever done it, and there's no recordings.

Don Gavin 45:41 Oh, I think the-

Joe Rogan 45:42 There's no specials.

Don Gavin 45:42 I think they w- I was not unique in, in the fact that I was not a businessman. We just-

Joe Rogan 45:46 Yeah.

Don Gavin 45:46 We just t- We did it for the... Not just for the love. We enjoyed the money and that- the spending money and whatever.

Joe Rogan 45:51 Yeah.

Don Gavin 45:52 But the... It really never entered my mind. Like Jimmy was asking about, you know, did I... How did I release these things or... I never... I don't know what you mean release it. I just made the- the thousand copies and I'd sell a few after a show and that... Never did anything with it, you know?

Joe Rogan 46:05 You never thought once-

Don Gavin 46:07 No, I'm an idiot. Right?

Joe Rogan 46:08 (laughs) But you s- you must have seen all these HBO specials and all these different things.

Don Gavin 46:12 Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, eventually. But-

Joe Rogan 46:14 But you're never like, "Hey, I should do one of those."

Don Gavin 46:15 Yeah, yeah. Maybe I'll... Yeah. Maybe there's... Maybe I'll get discovered, so...

Joe Rogan 46:19 (laughs)

Don Gavin 46:19 At, at the age of 106.

Joe Rogan 46:21 (laughs)

Don Gavin 46:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:22 So now that you've done this and now that you're releasing this, do you think you'll put out more?

Don Gavin 46:26 Oh, I plan on this opening, hope- hoping this is gonna make a difference, you know? Because, uh, for years I was called the best kept secret in Boston and in comedy. And I'm going, "You know what? I'm kind of tired of that, uh, term. I'd rather not have a secret anymore." I'd like to maybe, maybe get out there and, and do that.

Joe Rogan 46:42 Well, you can still get out there.

Don Gavin 46:43 But I plan on it.

Joe Rogan 46:44 100%.

Don Gavin 46:44 I plan on it.

Joe Rogan 46:45 Just... The, the whole thing about the internet is just content. Just keep, keep putting content out. What you have... Well, you're a hil- hilarious comic, so I'm sure your album's awesome. People will get ahold of it and then they'll go, "Hey, where's the next one?"

Don Gavin 46:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 46:57 Put out another one. Next thing you know, you could tour nationally.

Don Gavin 47:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:01 I- I really firmly believe that.

Don Gavin 47:02 I hope you're right.

Joe Rogan 47:03 Oh, I'm j- I guarantee I'm right.

Don Gavin 47:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:06 It's j- it's just a... The crazy thing about that scene is that no one did that. Everybody stayed in Bo- Because the money was so good.

Don Gavin 47:13 Right.

Joe Rogan 47:13 There was so much work.

Don Gavin 47:13 And you didn't have to... Yeah, you basically didn't have to go there because you had work there.

Joe Rogan 47:17 Yeah.

Don Gavin 47:18 So, so it, it, in a way it spoiled you, but in a way it, it spoiled you rotten. You know? The other way-

Joe Rogan 47:23 Right.

Don Gavin 47:24 ... that you never really attempted to make it and do it, you know. Some guys did get the gumption to go up to, you know, to New York and some came out to LA. But as a rule, a lot of us just stayed in, in Boston.

Joe Rogan 47:35 How long did you stay out here when you came out here?

Don Gavin 47:36 Oh, just about nine months. And people said, "What'd you like about it?" I said, "The weather." And that was about all. That was my only answer, but...

Joe Rogan 47:42 What was it like going back? Did it feel like home? Like, ah?

Don Gavin 47:45 I felt like I really hadn't left, you know? I just moved to Florida a couple weeks ago, so that's-

Joe Rogan 47:49 Did you?

Don Gavin 47:50 That's the first time I've ever moved.

Joe Rogan 47:51 What are you doing in Florida?

Don Gavin 47:53 Uh, getting warm and, uh... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:56 (laughs) Yeah. It's a good time to move to Florida.

Don Gavin 47:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:57 Middle of January.

Don Gavin 47:58 Yeah. Well, it's gonna be, uh... Hopefully once they get, uh, things unpacked I'll enjoy it there. But the, uh... You know, there's a lot of clubs down there and there's a lot of c- corporate stuff. And then I do a lot of the golf things and that kind of stuff. And my c- I do a lot of cruise ships and then most of them go out of there, so it's about time I moved. And, and the weather primarily. That's the primary one.

Joe Rogan 48:15 The weather. Yeah, it's a big difference.

Don Gavin 48:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:17 But I would think that after all these years, you're gonna miss headlining the Boston clubs.

Don Gavin 48:22 I will. I will, yeah. But, uh, I- I've been working less and less in the Boston area because of... I do a whole lot of these, uh, cruise ship things, you know? And the cruise ships, that industry has become bigger and bigger and bigger. I mean, I just got off a ship, the Royal Caribbean, 6,100 passengers on it.

Joe Rogan 48:39 Whoa.

Don Gavin 48:40 Yeah. Uh-

Joe Rogan 48:40 That's a big boat.

Don Gavin 48:41 (laughs) Yeah. I live in a t- town in the Hamptons. I don't know if you remember that. Near Marblehead.

Joe Rogan 48:45 Yeah.

Don Gavin 48:45 And 3,000 people live in the whole town. It's dou- double that on a, on this ship, you know, so it's-

Joe Rogan 48:50 That's insane.

Don Gavin 48:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:51 Yeah. Do you like doing those cruise ships?

Don Gavin 48:53 I enjoy it. Lot of, lot of downtime you can read and write and, like you said, maybe a second of them. Yeah, I've got material. So, we'll see if we can get that first one up and running.

Joe Rogan 49:02 How do you write? Do you just sit down?

Don Gavin 49:03 With a pen, mostly. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:05 Yeah.

Don Gavin 49:05 Yeah. See? Hmm.

Joe Rogan 49:06 Do you just sit down with an idea or do you have an idea, uh, ahead of time and you jot them down like in little notes and then-

Don Gavin 49:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:12 ... try to flesh it out?

Don Gavin 49:13 Yeah, like, like this. You know? Just this thing.

Joe Rogan 49:14 Oh, like right... That you got right there?

Don Gavin 49:15 Yeah. What- whatever. You know, that type of thing. Uh, um, I w- well... Like, a simple... This is not a whole joke, but just the other day I'm thinking about stoners, you know, and, and, and, and it's just, "Why can't we... W- where, why can't... W- where, why can't... Why can't we just all get a bong?"So, I thought that was funny.

Joe Rogan 49:32 (farts)

Don Gavin 49:32 Not that good. I didn't say it was good.

Joe Rogan 49:34 (laughs)

Don Gavin 49:34 You write stuff, you throw it away, right?

Joe Rogan 49:35 I get it.

Don Gavin 49:36 Just throw it away. Write it, throw it away.

Joe Rogan 49:36 But so, these ideas pop into your head and you write them down-

Don Gavin 49:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:39 ... and then do you flesh them out on stage or do you flesh them out on paper?

Don Gavin 49:43 On stage, you know? But you've got... You know that. If... Some new thing, you know, have to fi- figure, "Where am I gonna incorporate this?" You're not gonna put it first.

Joe Rogan 49:50 Right.

Don Gavin 49:50 You're not gonna close with it.

Joe Rogan 49:51 Right.

Don Gavin 49:51 You gotta weave it in somehow into-

Joe Rogan 49:53 Sometimes I'll open with a thing.

Don Gavin 49:54 Really?

Joe Rogan 49:55 Yeah. You never know.

Don Gavin 49:55 That's kinda ballsy.

Joe Rogan 49:56 'Cause I wanna dig a hole. I wanna see.

Don Gavin 49:58 D- Really?

Joe Rogan 49:58 Yeah, 'cause I... Sometimes I feel like I know I got some good jokes that I could do after this. Let me just see-

Don Gavin 50:04 But you've got the notoriety and fame, so do you, do you feel that, uh, uh, that that is a strike against you that they, they're gonna be acceptable to everything? Is that why you're...

Joe Rogan 50:12 It's a strike against you if you eat shit.

Don Gavin 50:14 (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:15 That's, that's what is a strike against you.

Don Gavin 50:16 But if you also went something that, that you're not sure of, yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:18 Well, I f-... I gotta know there's something there-

Don Gavin 50:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:22 ... before I do that. But I like to do that sometimes because maybe four out of f-... Four out of ten times, a punchline will fucking pop into my head outta nowhere and it'll be good.

Don Gavin 50:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:34 Like, uh, I... One of my best bets from my last special, uh, about Harvey Weinstein came the day he got arrested. The day all the shit went down. I went on stage that day and I had... I had a couple drinks in me, I was feeling good, and I just went on this rant about it and-

Don Gavin 50:51 And this is not something you had already written out?

Joe Rogan 50:52 No, no. I had a couple sort of ideas about where I was gonna take it and the, the... Basically, the gist of it was that i- if, like all of you, if Harvey Weinstein did this to my daughter, I'd wanna fuck him up, like all of you. I go, "But if Harvey Weinstein was a woman, if Harvina Weinstein came to my son-"

Don Gavin 51:14 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:14 "... with a solid contract, I'd be like, 'Dude, (snaps fingers) you're gonna be Batman.' "

Don Gavin 51:18 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:18 (laughs) And this was the, this was the gist of the bit, and I'm telling you that, "Dude, you're gonna be Batman-"

Don Gavin 51:23 Right.

Joe Rogan 51:23 "... came out."

Don Gavin 51:24 Wow.

Joe Rogan 51:25 Just came out on stage-

Don Gavin 51:26 Wow.

Joe Rogan 51:26 ... on the day he was arrested, so everybody's going fucking crazy.

Don Gavin 51:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:29 It was... And then I was saying, like, "Nobody, nobody gives a fuck if it was an ugly old lady that was fucking handsome young men. Nobody would be mad."

Don Gavin 51:36 Right.

Joe Rogan 51:36 Nobody would be mad.

Don Gavin 51:38 Right.

Joe Rogan 51:38 And it just became this giant chunk of bit I'm like, "I'm mad at that guy. He's disgusting. Fuck him. Lock him up forever."

Don Gavin 51:44 Right.

Joe Rogan 51:45 Bu- but if Harvina Weinstein... and then I... so this-

Don Gavin 51:48 Did the audience believe that you just-

Joe Rogan 51:50 They didn't know.

Don Gavin 51:50 ... or did they know that you-

Joe Rogan 51:51 I didn't tell them.

Don Gavin 51:51 ... just came up with... At that point?

Joe Rogan 51:52 Well, they knew that it couldn't be old-

Don Gavin 51:54 Sure, sure.

Joe Rogan 51:54 ... because the thing had just happened.

Don Gavin 51:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:55 But sometimes, like four out of ten times, that'll work.

Don Gavin 51:59 Right.

Joe Rogan 51:59 And then the other six out of ten times, you go, "Well-"

Don Gavin 52:01 Right.

Joe Rogan 52:01 "... so much for that."

Don Gavin 52:02 Yeah, move on. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:03 You... But it's like the only way new jokes get made-

Don Gavin 52:06 Right.

Joe Rogan 52:06 ... is chances get taken, and the biggest chance is to go up first with it.

Don Gavin 52:10 Wow.

Joe Rogan 52:10 Just open with it.

Don Gavin 52:11 I'm gonna have to attempt that, then.

Joe Rogan 52:12 I don't do it all the time.

Don Gavin 52:13 All right.

Joe Rogan 52:13 But I feel like the first couple of lines anywhere, more like just saying hi and getting to know everybody-

Don Gavin 52:18 Right.

Joe Rogan 52:18 And every now and then, you throw one out there and it sticks-

Don Gavin 52:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:21 ... and you got... Go, "Ooh, I got something there." I r-... I record all my sets, so I'll listen to it.

Don Gavin 52:25 I was gonna say, do you... Would you have trouble remembering a-

Joe Rogan 52:28 I would.

Don Gavin 52:28 ... if you did a particular thing? There you go.

Joe Rogan 52:29 Yeah, because especially if you have a couple drinks in you-

Don Gavin 52:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:31 ... and you're just riffing, you don't remember exactly what you said-

Don Gavin 52:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:33 ... 'cause you're in the moment. You can't go, "Ooh, I gotta remember that," because then you'll break the spell.

Don Gavin 52:37 Uh, my son Chris does that to me all the time, saying, "Dad, is that... Is that something new?" I go, "No, I just said it." He goes, "Well, you gotta write that shit down," you know?

Joe Rogan 52:44 Well, Donovan is the guy who c- convinced me to record all my sets.

Don Gavin 52:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:48 Go-... Donovan told me, "Get a tape recorder." He, he had all this fucking... This brick that he would bring on stage with him. He goes-

Don Gavin 52:54 (laughs) Right, right.

Joe Rogan 52:54 He goes, "You never know." He goes, "You'll have a line, just one line, and that line will make your bit ten times better, and if you fucking forget it, you, you, you... It's gone forever."

Don Gavin 53:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:03 Yeah.

Don Gavin 53:03 It's like when... If you have one when y- when you're in bed and you think of something-

Joe Rogan 53:06 Yes.

Don Gavin 53:06 ... if you don't get up and write it down or if you don't somehow-

Joe Rogan 53:08 Yes.

Don Gavin 53:08 ... record it, th- that next morning you try to remember that, not... Good luck to ya.

Joe Rogan 53:12 When I'm with my family, uh, I will... If I get an idea in my head, I just say to my wife, "Got an idea," and I just run away.

Don Gavin 53:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:19 I run away.

Don Gavin 53:20 Wow.

Joe Rogan 53:20 I'll run, like, a block away-

Don Gavin 53:22 Wow.

Joe Rogan 53:22 ... and just start talking into my phone, because if I don't, it'll go away.

Don Gavin 53:24 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:25 Because I've had m-... So many times, like, "Ooh, that's a good idea," and then my daughter's like, "Dad, ca-... Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. Stop touching me! Wah, wah!" And they'll, they'll fight with each other-

Don Gavin 53:33 Right, right.

Joe Rogan 53:33 ... and my wife will be like, "What are we doing?" And I'm like, "H- hold on! I got an idea! Stop, stop, stop!"

Don Gavin 53:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:38 So now, when I get this idea, I just go, "I've got an idea!"

Don Gavin 53:40 Wow.

Joe Rogan 53:40 I just go. And then I come back, go, "I got a good idea. This is a good idea. This is solid." Okay, well, I'm back.

Don Gavin 53:44 Right. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:44 I'm like... And then I'll put my phone in my pocket. Buts having a phone is the best, because you got a notebook, you got a fucking recording device, it's all there. I used to keep a real notebook-

Don Gavin 53:53 Sure.

Joe Rogan 53:53 But it takes too long to write shit down.

Don Gavin 53:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:55 You lose it sometimes.

Don Gavin 53:56 Right.

Joe Rogan 53:56 But you... If you were to say it into the r-... Voice notes, you s-... Actually say the idea, then you can keep it. You can capture it.

Don Gavin 54:02 But you have to... That means you have to carry a phone with you, which-

Joe Rogan 54:04 Yes.

Don Gavin 54:05 ... which I don't.

Joe Rogan 54:05 You don't carry a phone?

Don Gavin 54:05 I'm an idiot, again, I told you.

Joe Rogan 54:06 You don't carry a phone at all?

Don Gavin 54:08 I do now, but now that I'm trying to, uh, be aware of what's, what's going on.

Joe Rogan 54:11 (laughs)

Don Gavin 54:12 But, uh... I mean, up until like two years ago, I had a real deluxe f-... Flip phone, you know?

Joe Rogan 54:15 There's something to be said for those too, though.

Don Gavin 54:17 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:17 The flip phones are nice.

Don Gavin 54:18 Yeah. Th-... You can certainly avoid people-

Joe Rogan 54:20 Yes.

Don Gavin 54:21 ... with the max one, you know?

Joe Rogan 54:22 Yeah, and avoid text mess-... Ari, Ari Shaffir, he has a flip phone. He, he doesn't f-... Well, actually, he doesn't now. He, he actually went back to an iPhone, but he put a timer on it so he can only use his phone for an hour.

Don Gavin 54:31 Well.

Joe Rogan 54:31 Yeah. Because otherwise, he starts playing with his phone and going on the internet and-

Don Gavin 54:35 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:35 ... going on social media apps. You don't have any social media, do you?

Don Gavin 54:39 Uh, we will soon.

Joe Rogan 54:41 Oh.

Don Gavin 54:42 We're in the process now. That's it, that's the deal, so...

Joe Rogan 54:45 2020.

Don Gavin 54:46 Yeah, yeah, I just-

Joe Rogan 54:46 Making moves.

Don Gavin 54:47 I just, uh... I'm kind of a slow mover. That's it.

Joe Rogan 54:51 (laughs)

Don Gavin 54:51 Like a turtle, s-... Races by me.

Joe Rogan 54:52 Are you gonna do it all yourself? Are you gonna post tweets and all that shit yourself?

Don Gavin 54:56 Oh, shit, I don't know about that. I just found out about Instagram today. I thought that was a pill that you took.

Joe Rogan 55:00 (laughs)

Don Gavin 55:00 But, uh, so... The... I'm on Instagram now, as of, like, yesterday.

Joe Rogan 55:04 Oh, what is it? Just Don Gavin?

Don Gavin 55:06 Uh, Comedian Don Gavin. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:07 Uh, how many pictures you got up there?

Don Gavin 55:09 Oh, at least four now.

Joe Rogan 55:10 Is there a regular Don Gavin other than Comedian Don Gavin?

Don Gavin 55:14 You mean to reach me?

Joe Rogan 55:15 No, a different person that has... The regular Don Gavin.

Don Gavin 55:18 Ah.

Joe Rogan 55:18 Jamie says yes, a different guy.

Don Gavin 55:20 Well, somebody... Yeah, somebody-

Joe Rogan 55:21 Yeah.

Don Gavin 55:21 In the, in the old days, people would buy your names and the guy want-

Joe Rogan 55:23 Yes.

Don Gavin 55:23 And I contacted the guy. He wanted $7,500 for my name.

Joe Rogan 55:26 Really?

Don Gavin 55:27 And I'm going, "My name's not worth that." So, so, so I never paid him, so...

Joe Rogan 55:30 Oh.

Don Gavin 55:31 So, is that how that works here? If somebody-

Joe Rogan 55:33 Yeah. Yeah, I had to pay for mine.

Don Gavin 55:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:34 I bought mine. Somebody had mine.

Don Gavin 55:36 I bet you make money, see this? And this. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:37 Yeah. It's- the whole thing about the Instagram is, like everything else on the internet, it's just continual content. Like, keep putting out content.

Don Gavin 55:46 Wow.

Joe Rogan 55:46 Keep putting things out. That's the whole thing.

Don Gavin 55:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:48 It's just, you gotta just be consistent. Then it'll build.

Don Gavin 55:52 I hope.

Joe Rogan 55:52 Well, listen, coming off this podcast, I guarantee it'll help. And I know you were on Fitzsimmons' show earlier today, right?

Don Gavin 55:57 Right. And I did a couple, uh, who was it? Mac Maron's another one. I did his.

Joe Rogan 56:02 Okay. Right.

Don Gavin 56:02 And Billy, Billy Burr.

Joe Rogan 56:04 Oh, nice. Beautiful.

Don Gavin 56:05 With Billy, yes. Yes.

Joe Rogan 56:05 You did the trifecta.

Don Gavin 56:07 Uh, and- trifecta plus one, yes.

Joe Rogan 56:08 Um, there it is. Look at you. << Da da da >> Don Gavin Comedy, that's what it is, folks.

Don Gavin 56:16 Okay.

Joe Rogan 56:16 Godfather of Boston comedy. Don't tell that to Dick Doherty. He'll get mad at ya.

Don Gavin 56:19 Uh, he did, he did try to, uh, keep that, uh, title back. And I said, "Let me... I actually help people."

Joe Rogan 56:25 (laughs)

Don Gavin 56:25 You tell me one time that you actually are godfather, when someone came to you and said, "Can you give me advice? Can you help me write? Can you help me work out this material?" I spent time doing that. I said, "You never did in your life. Don't ever start- call yourself the godfather again." And he hasn't, so...

Joe Rogan 56:37 Whoa. He stopped calling himself that?

Don Gavin 56:39 Yeah, uh, now, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:40 To you? I mean, around-

Don Gavin 56:41 I don't think he calls himself that anywhere.

Joe Rogan 56:43 Really?

Don Gavin 56:43 Yeah, yeah. Not an- not anymore.

Joe Rogan 56:44 But that was always his thing.

Don Gavin 56:45 Hmm, well, his thing is gone.

Joe Rogan 56:47 (laughs)

Don Gavin 56:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:48 He, he gave me a lot of gigs.

Don Gavin 56:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:50 I have nothing but love for that guy-

Don Gavin 56:52 Really?

Joe Rogan 56:52 ... when I was starting out. Yeah, he gave me a lot of gigs.

Don Gavin 56:54 Wow.

Joe Rogan 56:54 He paid my rent many times.

Don Gavin 56:55 Well, he had a lot of little, uh, club.

Joe Rogan 56:57 Yeah.

Don Gavin 56:57 Like, your satellite clubs back over here, over here, over... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:59 Yeah. The huts, cali huts.

Don Gavin 57:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:01 The aku akus. Remember that?

Don Gavin 57:02 He had one time, was, uh, when he was, y- he was a musi- musician-

Joe Rogan 57:07 Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:07 ... way back. It was 10- already in the majority.

Joe Rogan 57:09 Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:09 And he was, like, the highest paid entertainer on Cape Cod, with the Crystal Palace he had and... I mean, he was big.

Joe Rogan 57:15 Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:15 And then, then things went south. And now he's big, but physically.

Joe Rogan 57:19 He still alive? Everything's good?

Don Gavin 57:21 Yeah, he's, uh...

Joe Rogan 57:21 Big fat? Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:22 Yeah. Yeah, kind of wide.

Joe Rogan 57:23 Got... Oh, yeah. You push your arms out like that. (laughs)

Don Gavin 57:26 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I have a, what, 36 inch sleeve, but I can't get it out there far.

Joe Rogan 57:30 I did all of his gigs. I did all those comedy huts. He had the Dick Doherty comedy huts-

Don Gavin 57:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:34 ... Dick Doherty comedy vault. Remember the vault?

Don Gavin 57:35 Yes, yes.

Joe Rogan 57:36 Right there. That was another one. The vault was right down the street from Warrington Street.

Don Gavin 57:39 Right, ri-

Joe Rogan 57:39 Not far at all.

Don Gavin 57:40 Right, right across the street there. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:42 Yeah. Yeah, he had a ton of rooms.

Don Gavin 57:43 Yes, he did.

Joe Rogan 57:44 Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:44 Yeah. Uh, and, and, uh, he... Oh, uh, yeah, it's true. I mean, he would, he, he did work a lot more comedians than, than other places, 'cause other places didn't have that many avenues, you know?

Joe Rogan 57:54 Yeah.

Don Gavin 57:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:55 Well, he would headline you early too. Like, where I really probably shouldn't have been headlining, you know?

Don Gavin 58:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 58:01 Really didn't really have a solid 45. It was pretty patched up. But, uh, Fitzsimmons and I started out together. We were, like, a week apart. We started a week apart from each other at open mic nights.

Don Gavin 58:11 Yeah, he mentioned that, that that happened.

Joe Rogan 58:12 Yeah, we did a l-

Don Gavin 58:13 That's funny. And you, you didn't know each other previous?

Joe Rogan 58:15 No, no, no. We met each other, like, at open mic night.

Don Gavin 58:18 That's funny.

Joe Rogan 58:19 Yeah, both the same age. It was, it was fun times. But e- we'd both have the same feeling, like we would talk about you guys. You know, like you and all- all the guys that are from that era. It's just like-

Don Gavin 58:30 Right.

Joe Rogan 58:30 ... it was, uh... We were very, very fortunate to be able to... 'Cause there was no hacks. Like, hacks were not tolerated in Boston.

Don Gavin 58:36 No. No. Yeah, it was... And even the audience, I always thought the audience were great, but they weren't patient either.

Joe Rogan 58:41 No.

Don Gavin 58:42 You had to- you had to produce and produce quickly.

Joe Rogan 58:44 They had high standards too.

Don Gavin 58:45 Yeah, hopefully.

Joe Rogan 58:46 Because you guys were so good.

Don Gavin 58:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:47 Like, the standards of comedy, the level of comedy was very high in the town.

Don Gavin 58:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:52 I remember I had a friend of mine who came to visit me from New York, uh, and, uh, he was shocked. He was like, "There's so many good comics here that nobody knows." And I was like, "Dude, they know 'em in town. They know 'em in Boston. These guys are selling out every fucking night." And he's like, "This is crazy." And I was like, "Yeah, these are like, the best comics in the world, and people don't know who they are."

Don Gavin 59:11 (laughs) It's funny, Colin Quinn was one of the guys that came into Boston. And that c- and the people... But when they introduced him, he's from New York, I mean, he was getting booed before he said a word.

Joe Rogan 59:19 (laughs)

Don Gavin 59:19 And then he's going, he says, "Oh my God." You know, and, but they got... The crowds did eventually like him, you know?

Joe Rogan 59:23 Yeah.

Don Gavin 59:24 But when he first worked there, there was a sound booth at the side of Nick's, and he hid. He got off stage and hid in the sound booth until the show was over 'cause he didn't want to have to walk through the crowd. He was in there-

Joe Rogan 59:33 (laughs)

Don Gavin 59:33 He was in there for over two hours. (laughs) I'm not making stuff... It's on-

Joe Rogan 59:37 That's hilarious. Well, the first time I saw Dom Irrera was at the, at Nick's Comedy Stop. And he went through the gauntlet and survived.

Don Gavin 59:45 Oh, he did. The people loved him there.

Joe Rogan 59:47 He lo- they loved him.

Don Gavin 59:48 Oh, he's lovable up in Boston. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:49 Yeah. Well, he's a great guy.

Don Gavin 59:50 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:50 But he was the only, like, national headliner that I ever saw that went through there and made it through.

Don Gavin 59:55 Yeah, yeah. And, and, and with flying colors too.

Joe Rogan 59:58 Yeah, so he killed.

Don Gavin 59:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:59 And even at the end of it, he was, uh, y- like, he said, uh, he goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, uh, thank you for coming tonight. I was amazing. You guys were pretty good."

Don Gavin 1:00:07 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:07 And look, he just... The sarcastic, silly way of doing comedy. He was the best.

Don Gavin 1:00:13 He fits in m- anywhere.

Joe Rogan 1:00:14 Oh, yeah.

Don Gavin 1:00:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:15 But he fit in Boston like a glove.

Don Gavin 1:00:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:17 I mean, that's where I first saw him perform.

Don Gavin 1:00:17 Well, he's a Philly guy.

Joe Rogan 1:00:19 Yep.

Don Gavin 1:00:19 And that same kind of thing. He was a pretty good jock at one time. He was a pretty good basketball player.

Joe Rogan 1:00:22 Yeah, basketball player. Yeah, yeah.

Don Gavin 1:00:23 Yeah, yeah. So, I... So he had some- kind of the same type of mentality as some of the, some of the people in Boston.

Joe Rogan 1:00:27 He's still fucking great.

Don Gavin 1:00:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:28 He's still fucking great. He still kills The Comedy Store all the time.

Don Gavin 1:00:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:31 He's- and he's always on the road