Good morning on this cloudy Friday.

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.”