Taxicab driver

A taxicabe driver is an individual employed by a taxicab service who drives a taxicab for public hire and service. They are often referred to as cab drivers or just cabbies. Over the years, several stereotypes have arisen concerning taxi drivers. An earlier stereotype was that they were generally older men, who were extremely talkative and often had a Brooklyn accent. This likely circulated since taxicab travel was the primary means of transportation throughout the five boroughs of New York City. A more modern stereotype shows a large percentage of cab drivers being of Middle Eastern descent.

Taxi drivers formed the basic backdrop of the TV comedy series Taxi which first aired on ABC and later NBC from 1978 to 1983. The setting for the series was the Sunshine Cab Company, which was lorded over by the cranky and unfriendly dispatcher, Louie De Palma (played by Danny DeVito). The cab drivers featured in the series include Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch), Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner), Tony Banta (Tony Danza), Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway) and Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd). The mechanic of the Sunshine Cab Company was Latka Graves, played by the late Andy Kaufman.

Cab drivers were also frequently shown on the CBS comedy series How I Met Your Mother. A recurring cabbie featured on the series was a Lebanese man named Ranjit, who was played by Marshall Manesh. In the pilot episode of the series, another cab driver, played by Jack Shearer, was hired to take Lily Aldrin to the hospital for an eye injury. During the trip, he overheard some tidbits concerning Lily and her boyfriend Marshall Eriksen's sex life.