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The Jokes Are on Them!
Arlene, BA'68 (T), and Harlan Jamison, BA'68 (T)Alumni Profile
A Portrait in Public Service
Harold “Cap” Hollenbeck, BA'61 (R)
SK ARLENE JUDIS JAMISON, BA’68 (T), why she and her husband Harlan Jamison, BA'68 (T), decided to launch one of the first “headliner” comedy clubs on the East Coast back in 1986, and she’ll respond by hitting you with a funny one-liner.
“We were living in Poughkeepsie [N.Y.] at the time,” says Arlene, “and during the 1980s, that was like living in Siberia!”
Having nailed the punch line, she gives Harlan the opening he needs for his one-liner. “I mean, in Poughkeepsie in 1986 … you could do one of three things: go bowling, go to the local movie theater or take a nap.
“We both loved standup comedy,” he continues, “and we both had a lot of experience conducting sales meetings and awards banquets.We knew how to put on a pretty good show. So we asked ourselves, ‘Why not open a comedy club at the local Holiday Inn?’”
Voila! Within a year or so, Bananas was knocking ’em dead, and the Jamisons were off and running on a 24-year career as the owners of two of America’s longest-running and most popular comedy clubs. (They opened their second Bananas in Fort Lee, N.J., in 1988, and they’ve been at their current Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., location for the past 11 years.)
Happily married since the 1970s, Arlene and Harlan Jamison have proved that married people can work successfully together … provided that both parties involved hang onto their sense of humor. (They love Woody Allen’s line “Marriage is just a state of mind — like psychosis!”) They’ve also demonstrated that laughter loving Americans will jam any venue where talented standup comics can make ’em roar with rapid-fire jokes about the absurdities of modern life. The Jamisons have played host to some of the nation’s biggest comedy stars, including Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Tim Allen, Jeff Dunham, Jamie Foxx and Brian Regan.
Says Jimmy Fallon of “Saturday Night Live” fame, who delivered his very first standup routine at Bananas as a “totally terrified” 17-year-old, “I got my start at Bananas, and I absolutely love the Jamisons. They have a great reputation in the comedy world, because they’re honest and intelligent, and they always keep their promises.”
Born and raised in Westwood, N.J., the former Arlene Judis met Harlan Jamison (a native of New York City’s Upper West Side) at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Metropolitan Campus in the mid-1960s. As budding English majors, they sat side by side in a Shakespeare class and soon found that they shared an interest in comedy.
“Those were great years,” Arlene recalls. “I remember taking a lit class with the fabulous [English professor] Ben Nelson, who’s still on campus today, [recently celebrating 40 years at FDU], and being excited about languages, theater and poetry. I was also on the Student Council, chairing the Arts and Letters Commission and bringing well-known figures such as writer James Baldwin and playwright/author Jean Shepherd to campus.”
Harlan was busy earning a reputation as a showbiz producer and campus entertainer. “I remember bringing a comedy revue to campus around 1965,” he says. “It was a clever off-Broadway show called ‘Walk Down Mah Street!’ It played to standing-room-only audiences, and they loved it. After that, I was hooked. Pretty soon, I was dreaming of the day when I might be able to make a living by making people laugh.” That day would come 20 years later.
After graduating from FDU, Harlan and Arlene married and then spent a few years teaching. By the mid-1970s, they were both working for IBM, where they enjoyed 14 years of success — Harlan in sales and Arlene as a speechwriter in press and community relations who also produced corporate recognition events. Armed with these skills, they were perfectly positioned to make their move into the world of standup comedy.
“As comedy-club owners, what we really like most is intelligent ‘observational’ comedy,” says Arlene. “When you get a really witty comic going who knows how to make fun of social foibles or current events, you’re usually in for a terrific night. Take Jerry Seinfeld, for example: he’s just got this amazing gift for observation, for taking the mundane facts of life and making them hilarious.”
The Jamisons also produce shows in theaters from New Jersey to Albany and have presented such diverse acts as Jackie Mason, Mandy Patinkin and Jim Breuer.
“I do believe laughter is healthy for people,” says Arlene, “and our clubs and theater work are fulfilling, having made things a little better for thousands and thousands of people over the years.” Harlan adds, “I think the best comedy is comedy that can take social issues and make them a source of humor. And I think that kind of comedy also has a socially redeeming purpose, even as it leaves us laughing in the aisles!”
—T.N.
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