Irish Repertory Theatre

Irish Drama.
New York Style.

Off The Meter, On The Record

Off The Meter, On The Record

Driving New York City Crazy for 35 Years

in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre

written and performed by John McDonagh
directed by Ciaran O’Reilly

Extended through November 18, 2017

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A comedic glimpse into 35 years behind the wheel of a New York City yellow taxi, Off The Meter is a pithy social commentary from New York’s most recognizable cab driver about life spent behind the wheel.  John McDonagh, veteran radio host, has condensed thirty-plus years of activism, reality show antics and observation into a love song to the city that never sleeps.

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.

“he’s an unfailingly affable raconteur… It’s all fascinating stuff” -The New Yorker

“uproarious and moving” –TheaterScene

“Hilarious…It’s hard to think of anyone who could who could do justice to the New York cabby’s life better than John McDonagh” –Theatre’s Leiter Side

John McDonagh is a playwright, cab driver, comic and political activist. Off The Meter represents the culmination of a thirty-five year career of driving a yellow cab while trying to make a difference in the world. He is currently producer and host of Radio Free Eireann and Talk Mac, We and Thee with Malachy McCourt and Corey Kilgannon, weekly radio shows heard on Pacifica station WBAI, New York.  John began his career as a NYC Yellow cab driver after serving in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Vietnam War. He has been writing and performing at Caroline’s, the Comic Strip, the Huntington Cinema Arts Center, NY Society for Ethical Culture, the Puffin Room SOHO, and  Rocky Sullivan’s pub among others.  John is an active member of Irish American Writers and Artists.   As a political activist, John was a monitor in the Nicaraguan elections in 1990, organized “Cabbies Against Bush” campaign in NYC during the 2004 republican convention, was editor of the Irish People newspaper, hosted an Irish radio show in Perth, Australia, works with Veterans for peace, and is the go-to voice of Irish American activism.  John was featured in the BBC program Steven Fry in America.

Originally incubated at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell

 

New York Today: A Cabby Tells All

Originally published in the New York Times, October 6, 2017
by Jonathan Wolfe

Drive a New York City taxi for 40 years and, man, you’ll see some crazy stuff.

“If I didn’t have proof, you wouldn’t believe me,” said John McDonagh.

Mr. McDonagh, 63, of Middle Village, Queens, has collected some of the livelier moments from his cabby career for his one-man Off Broadway show, “Off the Meter, On the Record,” which opens tonight for previews at the Irish Repertory Theater in Chelsea.

At a rehearsal yesterday, Mr. McDonagh stood on a stage among taxi parts — doors, wheels, partition and hood — salvaged from 55 Stan, a yellow cab company in Long Island City, and reflected on the bad old days of driving in New York.

“When I first started driving, there was a complete fear in me,” he said, noting that back in 1977, there were no cellphones to get a driver out of a tough spot. “I was robbed, I had a gun put to my head and a knife held at my throat.”

After a 12-hour night shift in a checkered cab without air conditioning, he said, “you’d get back to the garage and you’d be rubbing the pollution off your face and arms.”

Over the years he’s shuttled drug users to dealers, women in labor to hospitals and countless drunken, sick and angry passengers to their homes.

While this is Mr. McDonagh’s first Off Broadway show, he’s no stranger to the limelight: He has a radio show on WBAI, and he has dabbled in live storytelling, political activism and reality television.

“I was going to be the Kim Kardashian of driving cabs,” he said, after almost making it on “The Amazing Race” and nearly appearing on “Taxicab Wars.”

He still drives a cab, even though the job has lost some of its charm, he said.

“The conversation between drivers and passengers has virtually ended since the invention of the iPhone,” he said. “Now, people couldn’t care less about you.”

With competition from ride-sharing apps like Uber damaging business, he said these days he would rather talk about cabs than drive them.

But that doesn’t mean this New York cabby is letting his time on stage go to his head.

He recently had to push back against the show’s production staff, who wanted to dress him in a cabdriver “costume” that would be laundered after each show.

“I’m still just a cabby playing an actor,” he said. “I’ll wash my own clothes.”

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