#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)

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, I don't know how many times, many times.

Don Gavin (0:14)

I've heard that before my son. He says you mentioned my name glowingly.

Joe Rogan (0:18)

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

Don Gavin (0:23)

That's good to hear.

Joe Rogan (0:24)

Well, you know, I've talked about this so many, many times, but that era of Boston comedy when I started in 88 and you guys had already been through the Ding Ho and all that's 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 go down the list over and over and over again. Lenny Clark and just some amazing time for for stand up back then.

Don Gavin (0:55)

Yeah, that was certainly the heyday. I came in, started it around 79 And it's 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 that explosion is just it.

And and 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 (1:21)

There were, but everybody had different ways of doing it because we didn't know. It wasn't like an LA style or New York style. There was just all different approaches coming out to the same end.

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 like a saloon. And the guys that were sitting at the bottom, 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 hop on the stand, you know, they'd turn around and say, Shut the fuck up. We're trying to drink here.

We couldn't get, we couldn't get rid of it. So finally, we will have helped because they get so tired of hearing the microphone. But that was that was just a joint. That's all you can say, you know, and became a Chinese restaurant. Yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:08)

So it wasn't a Chinese restaurant.

Don Gavin (2:09)

It was just a salon, I think, and and then suddenly this guy came in, it was supposed to put comedy in there. And Barry Crimmins was one of the guys originally, Lenny, myself, Sweeney, as you mentioned.

DJ Hazard, people like that, Jimmy Tingle.

Joe Rogan (2:24)

Yeah.

Don Gavin (2:24)

There was a bunch of us that came in at that time. And once again, no particular one style, 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. Like when you have the Don Gavin show, you would go out there and host and you do a few minutes in between each comic.

Yeah.

Don Gavin (2:43)

And well, we didn't know it was weird because I wanted to be in charge. And if Joe Rogan went on and you're supposed to do 15 and you 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 Bill Johnson.

And then go on to the next cut.

Joe Rogan (3:01)

Yeah.

Don Gavin (3:01)

And then at the end, that headliner would close the show.

Joe Rogan (3:05)

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 Nix in Boston, initially, it was a joke. It was supposed to be a tax write-off. They tried to sabotage it. That used to be a state joint. Really? Yeah. Nix state joint. And so when we did it, one week the stage was collapsed, next week there'd be no sound, next week no lighting, the doors would be locked, and then eventually more and more people coming in. And then they got upset because we were getting in the way of the people going to the steak pot.