Treehouse Comedy Productions

Connecticut's Comedy Specialist for Over 25 Years

                     Treehouse History......................Who cares????

The Treehouse Comedy Club is Connecticut‘s original and first full time comedy showcase. Making it the oldest and most experienced comedy company in the state.  The Treehouse opened its first location in Westport in the summer of 1983. A number of factors come into play for the successful run of the Treehouse Comedy Clubs.

Being first at anything is always a good start. The Treehouse features great talent, in an intimate comedy setting, coordinating great press and promotion opportunities, while providing good guest service. The company has never veered from that focus or attention to detail.

The original Treehouse Comedy Club featured such unknown, up and coming young cut-ups as Rosie O’Donnell, Boston’s Denis Leary, LA’s Tim Allen, Brooklyn’s Andrew Dice Clay, Rita Rudner,and Jon Stewart. Henny Youngman was the very first national act to grace the Treehouse stage, proving he was truly, the “King of the One Liner”.  It was in this location the Treehouse started featuring such celebrity comedy artists as Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Robert Klein, Pat Paulson, and Richard Belzer. Rodney Dangerfield helped put the Treehouse on the map by doing stage time to work out material for his upcoming Tonight Show appearances. The Treehouse sold its lease back to its landlord six years later and relocated its club to a Connecticut Avenue location in Norwalk. This club featured a larger venue with a seating capacity of 450. The Treehouse no longer had to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner for hotel guests. It focused solely on what separated it from the other hundred or so other clubs that tried to stage comedy and failed, and that, was doing comedy right.  

It was in this venue that the Treehouse featured comedies biggest and brightest young comics. Stars like Chris Rock, Sam Kinison, Bill Maher, Gilbert Gottfried, Sandra Bernhard, Kevin Nealon,and Paula Poundstone. When Rosie started catching some heat with her hosting spot on VH-1’S Stand-up Spotlight she returned to her Treehouse roots. Jerry Seinfeld headlined his last comedy club appearance, at the Treehouse, on New Years Eve of 1990. Only one month before his show “Seinfeld” became a mid-season replacement. The Treehouse tradition of bringing Connecticut the best in homegrown comedy talent also continued, staging its weekly Open Mic Night. The Treehouse helped launch the comedy careers of Johnny Rizzo, Billy Winn, Tom Hertz, Jim Gaffigan, Lisa Lampenelli, Andres Fernandez, Chip Chinnery, and Andrew Kennedy. The Treehouse gave all these, and, numerous other stand-ups a vehicle to work out new material. Connecticut’s Comedy Gym, sort of speak. It was in the spring of 1990 that the Treehouse started its expansion. Opening satellite clubs in Danbury and Mystic Connecticut. It was in these venues that Dave Chappelle, Ray Romano, Joe Rogan, Colin Quinn, Darrell Hammond, and Jeff Foxworthy started gracing the Treehouse stages.    

It was not unusual to have a week of Treehouse shows with Paula Poundstone in Westport, Robert Wuhl in Mystic, and Shirley “What’s Happening” Hemphill in Danbury, all of these comedy artists working for the Treehouse in the same week. The company has provided more than 10,000 comedy shows non-stop throughout Connecticut and West Chester County, New York for over 25 years.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The company has coordinated Treehouse plugs on The Tonight Show, The Howard Stern Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central, Showtime, VH-1, Regis and Kathie Lee, along with numerous appearances on local News affiliates and local panel television and radio show appearances. The Treehouse has been featured in hundreds of newspaper and print  periodicals throughout Connecticut. Rolling Stone Magazine wrote, “You’ll see the hottest new comedians at the coolest club in town.”  about the Treehouse.

Connecticut Magazine called the Treehouse “One of Connecticut’s Best Nightspots.”  The Treehouse was voted “Best Comedy Showcase” by the readers of the Fairfield and New Haven County Weekly Readers Polls over a dozen times.   

The 2^nd Treehouse location at the old Fieldstone Manor on Connecticut Ave was a short termed deal going in. When we signed the agreement we knew they were going to be building a shopping center there, eventually. So squeezing three years out of that location between 1990 and 1993 was better than originally anticipated. The Treehouse bounced around between the lower level of Porky Manero’s restaurant in Westport to a back alley location at 50 Isaacs St. in Norwalk from 1993 to the year 2000. The Treehouse opened additional locations in Hartford, Niantic, Southbury, Bedford Hills NY, and Tuckahoe NY to add to the ten year runs in both the Mystic and Danbury Treehouse Comedy Club satellite locations. 

From 2000-2004 the Treehouse became a supplemental income and secondary business focus for Treehouse Founder Brad Axelrod. The Treehouse continued to book both weekly and monthly shows at Marisa's in Trumbull and Miraggio's in Yorktown Heights, NY. In February 2005 Big-time club comedy returned to Fairfield and New Haven Counties with a vengence. Treehouse Comedy Productions was retooled and back into the comedy business fulltime.

Continuing to arrange talent for Marisa's and Miraggio's the Treehouse launched a huge fundraiser for the Tsunami survivors and wrote a huge check to Ameri-Care due to the contributions of talent and guests alike. By the summer of that same year the Treehouse opened it's first fulltime weekly comedy Showcase in Danbury at the New Sorrento.  The Club was very well received by the press while receiving 8 featured articles from the Danbury News Times plus additional features in Voices, The Newtown Bee and Connecticut Post, respectfully. Helped launch this club that still puts on shows weekly. In 2006, the Treehouse was booking weekly shows at venues in Milford along with Orange, Ansonia, Westport, Trumbull and Yorktown Heights, NY. Comedy has once again become an entertainment staple in Connecticut. Booking  the celebrity comedy talents of such notable stand-ups as Gilbert Gottfried, Rich Vos, Dom Irrera, Jackie "the Jokeman" Martling, Bob Nelson, Walt Willey and The Reverend Bob Levy sure helped raise the level of the rooms. The Year 2008 -  additional venues in Hartford and New Britain. Comedy Concert promotions, fundraisers along with over 100 print press pieces and numerous radio appearances in between. The Treehouse once again reins supreme when it comes to staging the very best n live comedy in Connecticut.   

The Treehouse is Connecticut’s frontrunner when it comes to staging the very best in live stand-up comedy shows. Our needed ingredients: Great talent, a good atmosphere, properly promoted, while, providing the guest with accommodating service. The Treehouse has the passion, the experience, and, the track record to orchestrate and implement the Treehouse formula of comedy success. Contact us Treehousecomedy@charter.net or call 203-268-5857.  

      The Treehouse - Connecticut’s Comedy Specialist         for Over 25 Years....Where We Do Comedy Right.