Ruth Thompson|wickedlocal.com
Dick Doherty was a legend of Boston comedy. In his heyday,he owned several popular clubs that gave dozens of local comedians the stage time they needed to launch their careers.
A native of Woburn and a 1960 graduate of Woburn High School, Dohertyentertained people in the greater Boston area in one form or another for over 50 years.
When Doherty died unexpectedly on May 1 at age 79, comedians mourned his passing on social media,calling him as Bostonas baked beans or the Red Sox, and “The Godfather of Boston Comedy.”
His wife Kathy remembered the man.
“Dick found his stage at an early age when his aunt told everyone, ‘Be quiet, be quiet, Dick is going to sing,’ and from then on, he knew it was showbiz for him,” related Doherty’s wife, Kathy.
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Dick Doherty had a call to perform
Entertaining was in Doherty’s blood.
While he was growing up, Doherty’s Irish family sang and joked together around the piano and playedinstruments at family gatherings. Dick’s father was in a barbershop quartet and played the trumpet. His was from a very theatrical/musical family.
His uncle, Walter Doherty, was a singer and producer of traveling shows in New England in the mid-late 1970s. When Dick Doherty was awarded a check from the Woburn Kiwanis, he used to start a scholarship at Woburn High School in the name of his late uncle to further education in music and entertainment.
Prior to his successful career as a standup comedian, the young Dick Doherty started out as in the early 1960s asa folk singer, a rock and pop singer and a blue-eyed soul singer who performed before large crowds atCape Cod venues during happy hour.
He formed a band and performed as Dick Doherty and the Majority, and theyeven cut a record.
In the documentary film, “Kings of Cape Cod” by Dan McCarthy, it is mentioned that Doherty was a good enough singer to have been in the recording business.
In the film Doherty discussesworking as a waiter at Thompson’s Clam Bar in Harwich and watching performer Rocky King play show tunes, then stop and tell jokes for about 15 minutes before starting another song that everyone would then sing to.
“I said, geez, I can do that at happy hour,” Doherty said in the film.
Doherty would go to the area beaches, walking from blanket to blanket, to promote his shows.
“We were the only game in town, so we were packed,” he said in the film. “The reason I made it wasn’t’ because I had any great talent, but I was a hustler, a marketer, and I knew how to put bodies in the room.”
Comedian Lenny Clarke first knew Doherty when he was performing on the Cape with the band.
“He was one of the biggest draws on the Cape. If you went to Cape Cod you had to go see him, he was that big.I was blown away by his success before standup comedy.”
Clarkecalled him “a character.”
“He was precocious,” Clarke said. “We got along; were from the same school – there’s plenty of room for anyone.”
In the late 1960s, Doherty opened his own Cape Cod comedy club, the Crystal Palacein Hyannis which was a huge success.
Moving forward and giving back
Doherty ended up selling his comedy club in Hyannis in the early 1980s while battling addiction to drugs and alcohol.
He spent several years working on his sobriety, andreturned to college where he studied substance abuse and dysfunctional family counseling.
After becoming sober, he was a full-time substance abuse counselor for Sobriety Treatment Education and Prevention in Boston.
He also became a popular motivational speaker, something he continued even with a flourishing career as a comedian and club owner.
At the urging of friends and fans, a sober Doherty returned to comedy. In 1987, he opened Dick Doherty’s Comedy Vault downstairs at Remington’s Eating and Drinking Exchange on Boylston Street.
“At the height of his standup comedy club enterprise, Doherty operated over 21 clubs, of which 11 were one-nighters and 10 full-time weekend comedy clubs, throughout all of New England including owning the Boston franchise of the famous Bud Freeman’s Improvisation at the Wilbur Theater in the early 1990s,' Kathy said.
Bud Friedman’s “Evening at the Improv” was the first standup comedy show on cable TV.
Doherty also performed as the headliner at “The Improv” at Resorts International Hotel – Atlantic City.
He was an entertainer and shared the wisdom of his own personal success with others who also followed his passion.
His spirit and love of the craft provided new comics a way to follow the footsteps he knew would lead them to success. His open mic on Sundays in Boston fostered and gave ‘newbies’ their beginning.
New comics would work the door at Doherty’s comedy clubs in exchange for the most valuable currency a new comic could ask for – stage time. This crucial stage time in front of real audiences would enable them to hone their acts, which would in turn lead to paying gigs. Doherty loved cultivating new talent. Many, if not all. of most successful comics to come out of Boston in the last 30 years started out at Doherty’s Comedy Vault, stacking chairs, working the door, and getting on that stage.
Leaving his mark
As soon as the news was announced that Doherty had died, friends, fans and colleagues took to social media to offer condolences to the family, pay tribute to the man who had helped launch their respective careers, and share stories and memories.
“Dick was the first person who gave me stage time,” Dan Crohn tweeted. “My first paid gig was opening for him. I worked the door at the Vault and produced shows there. He fired me twice and banned me from his clubs. I would eventually headline for him. It was a rite of passage to do all of it.”
“I’m legit sad,” Brian Moote wrote on Twitter. “I’ll always miss his weird stories about opening for the Eisley Bros.” [sic]
“Rest in Peace, Dick Doherty,” wrote Bill Burr. “Thank you for all the stage time way back in the early days. You kept the scene going for 40 years.”
“Dick Doherty is gone,” Tweeted Chris Zito. “No exaggeration to say he saved my life. I could live to be 100 and never be able to repay what he gave me.”
Eric Dittelman posted a memory about working the same show with Doherty at The Vault and how Doherty gave him tips on where to stand on stage to maximize the impact of the punchline.
“Dick also gave me my first comedy club headlining spot which made a huge mark on me and my career,” he said.
The man behind the myth
“He was an old soul,” Kathy said of her husband. “He was brilliant and creative and more often did things way before anyone else.”
In 1989, during a comedy performance at Johnny Yee’s in South Yarmouth, he heckled his future wife as she was standing at the corner of the stage not paying attention to his show. Afterwards, he took her for a ride on his Harley and the foundation of their relationship blossomed.
“Love in all its forms, from laughter and tears through the good and not so good, is really what kept us laughing and forming a stronger union throughout our 33 years,” she said.
Outside of comedy and his clubs, Kathy and her husband would ride the Harley Davidson on back roads from Bar Harbor to Cape Cod.
“We also would sail on our MacGregor around the North Shore from Salem Harbor to P-Town. He loved going to the movies on the big screen.”
She will miss his acceptance and pure love.
“And his knack to see the big picture and how it all relates, and his ability to keep me laughing at myself and us.”
He was “the whole package,” she said. “He could be high energy, but he mostly was interested in learning and understanding the sociology and history of mankind. He loved the computer and later all the phone applications and how things worked.”
Asked what stood out about him, Kathy said, “his presence and personality, and the ability to show how much he cared about everyone.”
A memorial service is being planned for September.
Follow Ruth Thompson/Community Obits on Twitter @ObitsWl
