David Dodd MacDonald (born Nov 1st, 1977 in Spring Lake, NJ), also known as East Side Dave and Davey Mac was a former executive producer of the Ron and Fez show and unofficially co-hosted the program from 2007 onwards, making frequent contributions to Opie and Anthony as well. He currently hosts the Morning Rat Race with Carl and Dave on WRAT 95.5 weekdays from 6-10AM alongside radio veteran Carl Craft.
Dave joined the show in late 2005, after years as a listener and caller, to replace producer Harry T who went on to pursue a career in comedy. Before his tenure, he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Monmouth University and later did overnight shifts at local NJ stations, having to supplement his income with working odd jobs like barback, flower delivery man and hot dog vendor, which was ultimately how he got discovered by the show.
"There's something funny about that hotdog cart guy." - Ron Bennington
Recurring bits among others included 'Davey Red', 'Fucktwat the Clown', 'Board Gossip' and an impression of executive producer Black Earl's grandmother. To amend lost bets on the show, he was branded, tattoed and had to perform in a Beard Porn video. He was hospitalized after a bit with Jay Mohr went astray.
He proposed to his girlfriend Casey on-air and married her later that year, with the ceremony being performed in front of hundreds of fans at the Hard Rock Café, Times Square, which aired live, featuring different performances and musical numbers from the hosts and show personalities.
After Black Earl resigned from his positions at SiriusXM, Dave was promoted to the position of executive producer.
The Midnight Rider Saga[]
In 2007, when Fez started to experience more frequent spikes in anxiety and side effects from his heart medication, increasingly unable to perform on-air, Dave started to fill in as co-host to a point that a group of fans on-air as well as online petitioned to cut his air time down. This prompted the show to devise an epic months long bit, where deliberately faked listener polls were used as justification to relieve Dave from his positions at the show, to be replaced on the Satellite portion of the show with a new producer called the Midnight Rider, whereas Dave was to continue on the FreeFM side as is.
The Rider, portrayed by Dave, was a loose Dusty Rhodes (WWE) impersonation. He appeared masked and with a cowboy-style hat (in fact a red women's hat) and interacted with the hosts and show staff on-air, especially Earl, whom he referred to as 'Sapphire'. He was infamous for carrying with him a silver dollar and daring people to unmask him, a feat that supposedly had never been done before and was alleged to be impossible.
After a while, the show came to the conclusion that it was counterproductive to work with different producers on different portions of the show and argued that either Dave or the Rider should be brought in full time, letting the other one go. Ultimately a wrestling match was to be organized to clear the matter once and for all.
The main event at the subsequent Big ASS Bash featured the showdown of East Side Dave vs Midnight Rider, with the Rider portrayed by a professional wrestler. Dave suffered varying degrees of injuries during the match, which was only revolved after the real Dusty Rhodes came into the ring and demasked the Rider, effectively ending the match in favor of Dave and concluding the bit.
After Ron & Fez[]
Dave left the show in 2010, after SiriusXM refused to give him a pay raise that would enable him to care for his family and supplement the cost of commuting from South Jersey into Manhattan and back. Denied based on the notion that Dave was a producer and could only be paid accordingly. He argued that he was a frequent on-air contributor and, by definition, co-host, deserving at least a modest increase in pay. He further explained on the Anthony Cumia Show, that the amount in question was $15.000,-, whereas SiriusXM offered $1000,-.
In 2013 he was featured in an episode of 'America's Worst Tattoos', where he received a cover-up for his botched Soprano's tattoo that he originally got on the Ron & Fez Show.
He remained with SiriusXM until early 2014 to co-host Special Delivery and later the Davey Mac Sports Program XL, alongside Sam Roberts and Pepper Hicks respectively. Both shows aired on the Saturday Night Virus before officially being cancelled due to budget cuts. His sports show continues as a podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.
Later that year, he joined Carl Craft and WRAT to co-host the station's morning show.