Treehouse's 30th Anniversary Show to Feature Five Home-Grown Comics

The Treehouse is Connecticut's First Fulltime Producer of Live Comedy has announced its 30th Anniversary Show starring five comics whom got their illustrious comedy careers started at the Treehouse.

The original Treehouse Café & Comedy Club opened in the summer of 1983 on the Post Rd. in Westport Connecticut in what was then called the New Englander Hotel (Now, the Westport Inn). Rodney Dangerfield helped put the Treehouse on the map because he would often call Treehouse President, Founder, and Majority Stock holder Brad Axelrod at home to work out new material at the Club. From 1983-1989 the Treehouse was the first Club in Connecticut to play such comedy luminaries as Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Louis CK, Andrew Dice Clay, Rosie O'Donnell, Denis Leary, Tim Allen and Jon Stewart, just to mention a few. As we were renovating and decorating the space before opening, comedian Johnny Rizzo was auditioning for the Owners. In between the hammering and nailing, thirty years later, Mr. Rizzo is still turning on the laughs and will be featured on the Anniversary Show. Since his start, Johnny has appeared on MTV, VH-1, A&E and Last Comic Standing. It was here that Billy Winn started hosting Treehouse Open Mic Nights and went on to score a twenty plus Connecticut radio career along with TV appearances on VH-1, A&E and more. Billy will be on the Anniversary Show too.

In 1989 the lease for the Club was sold back to the hotel owners but the Treehouse kept the name and moved to a Connecticut Ave address in Norwalk, Connecticut (Now a Barnes and Noble). This 450 seat Club was the first Connecticut Comedy Club to feature comic-superstars-to-be, Chris Rock, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Maher and the late great Sam Kinison. In 1990, the Treehouse opened satellite Clubs in Danbury and Mystic Ct. In these Clubs the Treehouse was the first to stage the comedy styling's of Ray Romano, Dave Chappelle and Janeane Garfalo. Dom Fig, started his comedy career at the Treehouse as half of the comedy team The Fig Brothers. Thirty years later Dom Fig is a solid solo comedy act who has appeared on Showtime and TV'S Last Comic Standing. Fig will be on the Anniversary Show. Later in the nineties the Treehouse moved from the Norwalk address to the lower level of Porky Manero's in Westport while continuing to run the two satellite locations and adding a West Chester location in Bedford Hills, NY. When Porky's closed their restaurant without giving the Treehouse any notice, literally we went there to open and the doors were chained and locked but this is where we discovered Greenwich comic Jane Condon. With appearances on Lifetime's Girls Night Out, The View, The Early Show and Last Comic Standing Jane will also be on the Anniversary Show. We opened a Treehouse Comedy Club location on Isaac St. address in Norwalk where Lisa Lampanelli (her real last name was Lampugnale) got her start and so did our fifth Treehouse Anniversary Show stand-up Vincent McElhone. This Old Saybrook based comic/plastic salesmen regularly plays all the Treehouse locations and has appeared on Last Comic Standing on NBC.

From 1997 to 2005 scaled down operations while the Treehouse staged shows at Marisa's in Trumbull and at Eclisse in Yorktown Heights. In 2005 The Treehouse came up with a new business plan. At the time, the only fulltime comedy venue was in Hartford, Connecticut. Click to today and Comedy Entertainment in Connecticut is booming. With venues in Stamford to Ridgefield, New Haven to Ledyard, and Manchester to Uncasville comedy is happening and we think we had a lot to do with it.

The show will not only featured great stand-up comedy but will also bring back a little Treehouse History and behind the scene events. If guests want to break out the MC Hammer parachute pants and dress like the eighties we'll give out Treehouse tickets for people who want to play.

For tickets for the Treehouse 30th Anniversary Show can go to TreehouseComedy.com or call The Treehouse Business Office at 203.268.5857.