Our Boy
Actor Jamie Kaler on cheap bars and other secrets
W
hen he attended Boston University, Jamie Kaler was a poverty-stricken Navy ROTC student who worked at the Harvard Club for spare cash and lived in BU’s Myles Standish Hall. “I was never happier,” says Kaler. “I still laugh when I hear about people trying to graduate early. Where are you going? It doesn’t get any better than this.” Then he joined the cast of the TBS comedy My Boys, about a relationship-challenged female sports columnist and her relationship-challenged male friends who spent time at a fictional bar called Crowley’s. A writer and standup comic, too, Kaler has had recurring roles on Will & Grace, Friends, and Significant Others and parts in the films The Family Stone and Spanglish. "The thing I've learned most is that it doesn't matter where you are, but who you're with," he says. "But Boston is a good place to start." Here are the real-life bars and other places on Kaler’s list of Boston secrets.
1.
Crossroads Pub. The main reason I almost lost my scholarship. They had a Wednesday promotion where you’d get a free pizza with every pitcher. Shot a lot of darts, drank even more beer, and got arrested once. Story for one of my live shows.
2.
T’s Pub. Better for sports. Drank just as much. No arrests.
3.
The Dugout (pronounced “doo-joo”). Didn’t know any bartenders there so I had to pay for drinks. Serious obstacle for me at the time.
4.
The Rathskellar. Gone but not forgotten. Saw the Dickies at the Rat. It was crazy!! Boston's own CBGB's. You never wore anything you cared about. Great bands. Great bar. Also the Pizza Pad, because a trip to one meant a trip to the other.
5.
Play It Again Sam's. Classic movies with food and beer. Now, it's more of a known concept. But not then. That's gone too. Cable killed it.
6.
Fenway. We're lucky in Boston to have the best fans. We can be a little mean, but the best. I went to a game once and the announcer proclaimed, “Please welcome the Boston Public Library kids.” Each kid had read 100 books. And the crowd began to chant: “Boston Public Library kids suck!” Hilarious!
7.
White Mountain Creamery. My roommate would come home with four videos. I'd run down and get a coffee ice cream mixed with Heath Bar and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, and we'd watch movies all night. I can't believe I graduated. Now both of us work in show business. He's a director. So we look back and say were were doing research.
8.
The New England Aquarium. I love fish. I just do. I also find it funny that right out the front door is a Legal Sea Food. They’re basically saying, “Did you like what you saw? Wanna see what they taste like?” I hope the fish can’t see it. That would be mean.
9.
Stitches/Paradise. Saw Steven Wright do HBO's Young Comedians there. The Sweeney/ Meaney show was the shit! Great town for standup. One of my proudest accomplishments was headlining the Comedy Connection. It always puts on a great show.
10.
Honorable Mentions: Cornwall’s (we called it “Cornhole’s”). The Hong Kong in Harvard Square, home of the scorpion bowl. The Butcher Shop. Aquitaine. The Huntington Theatre. Eastern Standard. Improv Asylum. Lucky Strike Lanes. The JFK Library.
11.
Top of the Hub. (Just get a drink.)
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