#ThrowbackThursday: Bananas Comedy Club
Former Poughkeepsie Comedy Club Was Host to Jimmy Fallon’s Very First Comedy Act
For most of us, the thought of completing one job only to dive head first into another is a bit overwhelming. Now, imagine you left your 9–5 tech job only to open up your own comedy business — which is exactly what Arlene Jamison and her husband, Harlan, did.
After leaving their corporate jobs at IBM and picking up freelance work instead, the couple opened Bananas Comedy Club in 1986 at the Holiday Inn on Route 9, saying, “ Having done a great deal in the entertainment field, we decided Poughkeepsie could use some comedy, and it was during the ‘boom’ years, so we gave it a shot and it became very popular.”
Once the Holiday Inn became an Express, the club moved to the Poughkeepsie Grand and then the Best Western. Over the years, the club saw many comedians come through its doors, including the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Louie CK, Kevin James, Damon, Shawn & Marlon Wayans, Lewis Black, Jim Breuer, Jeff Dunham and more.
But, in terms of famous performers, they are perhaps most well known for the 17-year-old boy who entered the “Funniest Impressions in the Hudson Valley” contest in 1991. Originally from Saugerties, NY, about a 45 minute drive from Poughkeepsie, Jimmy Fallon showed up and, “though nervous, he did a terrific job and won the contest and it was obvious he was very talented,” according to Arlene.
She adds, “He used a guitar and a troll doll and did great impersonations — one of the funniest being John Travolta.” After winning the competition, Fallon returned to the club on the weekends as the emcee until he left the area. Though he has long moved on, it seems the club and his time there remains close to his heart, as he came back for a “reunion show” when he first got the gig hosting “The Tonight Show” and everyone from his hometown of Saugerties showed up to cheer him on in the same place where his comedy career began.
Though Bananas of Poughkeepsie closed in 2014, Arlene remarks on what it meant to her, saying “it definitely beat the ‘real’ world of business.” Not one to give up on their comedy dreams, the Jamisons still operate Bananas Comedy Club in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.
Additionally, a former manager of the Poughkeepsie Bananas club has since opened up Carmine’s Comedy Club, which operates out of Umberto’s of Mamma Marisa, an Italian restaurant situated on Route 9 at 2245 South Road so “locals can still get their much needed comedy ‘fix’ right in town,” as Arlene puts it.
