Legendary comic Jeff Ross returns home for his long-awaited Broadway debut in TAKE A BANANA FOR THE RIDE — a hilarious, heartfelt one-man show about laughing through the pain, the importance of having thick skin, and the vengeful pleasures of a Jewish comic owning a German dog. This 90-minute performance is the result of a 30-year journey in comedy: a cathartic mix of dangerous jokes, touching family stories, songs that stay with you long after the curtain falls — plus live audience roasting from the Roastmaster General himself. No two shows are exactly alike, but each reveals the Roastmaster General at his most unguarded — raw, reflective, and ridiculously funny. It’ll be your most emotional night at the theater since Mufasa died in The Lion King! (Oh no, did we ruin it?)
It’s not easy charging major prices for something audiences are used to paying less for in a comedy club or watching cozily on their sofa as a Netflix or HBO special. So, Ross has his work cut out for him. What he has smartly done is build a show around his personal story, taking a page from Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, a Broadway hit in 2004 and revived briefly in 2013. With the amount of anguish and trauma in Ross’s life, he could easily turn maudlin, but that’s not the way the guy is wired.
Toward the end, Mr. Ross proposes that people are like bananas: “The more bruised we get, the sweeter we are. And we’re mushy on the inside.” Happily, “Banana” offers enough sweetness, and spice, to make the mush forgivable.
| 2025 | Broadway |
Broadway |
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