Have you seen Bananas Comedy?

I happened to arrive home late Saturday night, but not so late that when I turned on my TV, I couldn’t see a new listing at 1 a.m. Sunday on my local FOX station for something called Bananas. All the info button would tell me: "Taylor Mason 2." Comedy. New. So I had to watch/DVR it. Obviously. Turns out it’s a stand-up comedy showcase series that has been around, at least in the Midwest, for a year or two, but new to the national airwaves. In NYC, it airs on FOX at 1 a.m. Sundays, or right as SNL is ending. Been a few years since we had a post-SNL stand-up comedy showcase (my memory tells me twas an up-and-comers stand-up show filmed in SoCal and hosted by Louie Anderson in the late 1990s). Anyhoosiers. Or should I say, anyohios, as this Bananas Comedy show is filmed at the Funny Bone in Columbus (a faded set of bananas appears on the brick wall behind the stage), and has a particular aim on showcasing clean (and sometimes classified as "Christian") comedians. It’s produced by Guardian Studios, which also sells videos such as Every Man’s Young Battle, which, of course, is all about the temptations of pornography. Where was I? Thor Ramsey hosts the comedy shows. And it makes sense that I first saw the episode featuring Taylor Mason, since Ramsey and Mason tour churches and clubs together as The Mason & Ramsey Comedy Expedition.

Here is the teaser video for season three:

You can buy DVDs of most of the comics from the four seasons of Bananas Comedy. The biggest names probably include Mason, Greg Hahn, Fred Travalena and Bob Nelson (but if you want to see the full list, click here). Curious to know when and where this show airs in your part of the world…

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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