Exclusive Q&A by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
Show: “Off the Meter”
Director/writer: John McDonagh
When: October 18th at 3pm
Where: New York Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th St
After having condensed 30-plus years of activism, reality show antics and observation into a love song to the city that never sleeps, former cabbie John McDonagh has turned a live show, “Off the Meter,” into a comedic glimpse of his many years behind the wheel of a New York City yellow taxi. As a pithy social commentary from New York’s most recognizable cab driver, it’s all about life spent behind the wheel. Now, on October 18th at 3pm, this veteran radio host brings the show to the New York Society for Ethical Culture on 2 West 64th St.
To quote the press info: “From the plight of the NYC homeless to the crazy demands of Upper East Side matrons, McDonagh brings the audience from laughter to tears and back again faster than the apparition of umbrella dealers on a rainy day. Throw in his tales of brushes with the rich and famous, and you have Irish storytelling at its best.”
As the veteran performer says, “Although I live in Queens, New York City, my parents were from Donegal and Tyrone. I spent my childhood going back and forth between Queens and my uncle’s sheep farm outside of Pettigo, Donegal. I began my career as a cab driver after serving in the US army in Germany during the Vietnam war.
“’Off the Meter’ represents the culmination of a 40-year career of driving a yellow cab in New York City, while trying to make a difference in the world. It gives a glimpse of the changing landscape of the city that I love from the unique position of being behind the wheel of an NYC yellow cab. The show takes the audience from tears to hilarity in the speed of a New York minute.”
Initially presented during the NYC Fringe Festival, it had a successful sold out run at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City and was directed by Irish Rep founder, Ciaran O’Reilly.
McDonagh has performed it in theaters in Boston and New York. It received the First Origin Irish Theatre Spirit Award in January of 2022. Last May, he performed it at the Sean O’Casey Theatre in Dublin before capacity crowds as part of the O’Casey Festival, where it was very well received.
When not performing the play, McDonagh has been co-hosting a weekly radio show at one time with the late Malachy McCourt on WBAI, 99.5 FM in NYC every Sunday. Even without McCourt, John does this show. He is a former board member of the Irish American Writers and Artists, and has been featured in the BBC documentary “Steven Fry in America” as well as “Top Gear with Richard Hammond” and “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” He’s also in the upcoming film, “Love New York” in the Downtown Festival, Monday October 13th.
Now, he’s featured here on Irishexaminerusa.com.
Q: What’s your favorite taxi?
John McDonagh: The Checker Cab. It was spacious, had what was known as a jump seat, and passengers loved it.
Q: How many different kinds have you driven?
John McDonagh: It all depended on what the City of New York dictated we could drive. The garages had to buy what was approved — from the Ford Crown Victoria back in the day to the Nissan NV200 that most garages use now.
Q: How has the landscape for taxi driving changed?
John McDonagh: When I first started driving in the late ’70s, cabs had no power door locks, no power windows, no air conditioning, and no radio. So people talked to you.
Technology changed everything. Passengers no longer talk to the driver. They’re too busy on their iPhones, playing games on their iPads, or watching the TV in the back of the cab.
To paraphrase the Irish poet William Butler Yeats:
“Now and in time to be,Wherever there is technology,All is changed, changed utterly —A terrible beauty is born.”
Q: What writers inspire you?
John McDonagh: Brendan Behan and Malachy McCourt. They both wrote about real life in New York. Malachy’s “A Monk Swimming” and “Brendan Behan’s New York” both captured what the city was like in the ’50s and ’60s. Their stories were honest, gritty, and full of character — just like the city itself.
Q: What’s your favorite taxi movie?
John McDonagh: Are you kidding me? “Taxi Driver” — Martin Scorsese’s classic with Robert De Niro. Bobby D actually went out and got his hack license and drove a Yellow Cab to prepare for the role. Like Travis Bickle, I got my hack license when I got out of the Army.
For a son of Irish immigrants in New York City, the traditional path was: graduate high school, join the service, then take the test for the NYPD, FDNY, or Sanitation. But when I came back from Germany after the Vietnam War in the 1970s, the city was laying off cops, firemen, and sanitation workers — so I went and got my hack license instead.
Q: What’s the best taxi story you’ve ever heard?
John McDonagh: Honestly, I’ve never heard a story that could top my own from behind the wheel. I’ve had passengers using the cab for drug deals on the Lower East Side. Also a pregnant woman racing past seven hospitals on First Avenue — “Bedpan Alley” — because she insisted on having her baby at Lenox Hill. And even the British actor Stephen Fry, who I drove to a mob club in my Queens neighborhood while he was filming Stephen Fry in America — a show that later won a BAFTA. No passenger story could ever compete with that. All these moments ended up in my play, “Off the Meter.”
Q: Who was your most memorable passenger?
John McDonagh: It might have been Andy Warhol, who I picked up at LaGuardia Airport. I asked, “Are you Andy Warhol?” and he simply said, “Yes.” We didn’t exchange another word the entire ride to the Upper East Side.
But the more memorable experiences came from the passengers who contacted me. BBC America spent two days filming with Richard Hammond from “Top Gear.” I taught him how to drive a yellow cab for his new show, “Crash Course.” Then “The Daily Show” had me drive Desi Lydic around to talk about Uber — those kinds of rides stay with you.
Q: When did you start driving and get your taxi license?
John McDonagh: I got out of the Army in 1975. Then, after exhausting my unemployment benefits — and with the city laying off cops, firemen, and sanitation workers — I went and got my hack license in 1977.
Q: What have you learned by turning this experience into a play?
John McDonagh: That it’s safer — and more profitable — to talk about driving a Yellow Cab in New York City than to actually drive one.
Q: You did a show during the Origin Theater Festival and included two others — rish gay right activist Brendan Fay and retired NYPD officer Al Gonzales. Will you be performing with your two compatriots again?
John McDonagh: No. We’ve each gone on to develop our own one-person shows. I’ve just finished my new play, “Taxi 2 TikTok.” It’s about working with Internet influencers Kareem Rahma, producer of “Subway Takes,” and New York Nico, the unofficial talent scout of New York City.
Q: What cab are you driving now?
John McDonagh: I’m driving the Nissan NV200 out of a garage in Long Island City, Queens. I’ve become something of a “celebrity cabbie.” I only take out the cab when I get an email from someone looking for a New York City tour, or to film a commercial or movie. Recently, I did a segment for the “BBC World Service News Hour” with Nuala McGovern. Plus a commercial for “Family Style Food Festival” and “Boost Mobile.” And I appeared in the upcoming film, “Love New York,” which opens October 13th at the Roxy Cinema in Tribeca.
Q: Did you ever think this job would have such an impact on your life?
John McDonagh: There’s that old saying that one phone call can change your life. I’d been telling Taxi stories at Rocky Sullivan’s on Lexington Avenue and at the Irish American Writers and Artists salon with Malachy McCourt. Malachy liked what he heard and called his friend Ciarán O’Reilly, founder of the Irish Repertory Theatre.
Ciarán took my stories and turned them into an Off-Broadway play called “Off the Meter, on the Record.” It ran for two months to sold-out audiences and rave reviews. I went on to perform it all over New York City, Boston, and Ireland.
As New York Post columnist Cindy Adams likes to say, “Only in New York, kids, only in New York.”
To order tickets go to: https://ethicalnyc.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F24284