"I said, `Oh my God, don't shoot the banana,"

[Benny Profane]

This is a real funny event that just happened in my somewhat lost rural/kinda urban backyard. I'm going to record the Daily Show all week, cause it's a story that is tailor made for the fine investigative reporting of Stewart and crew.

Sorry about the pic quality, but that's the best I can find outside of the paper right now. The picture to find, and it's gotta get out there, is his mug shot. He was actually photographed in the banana suit. I kid you not.





Faux fight leaves Banana Boy and his bunch busted by police


December 9, 2005, 2:18 PM EST

HUDSON FALLS, N.Y. -- Banana Boy's superpowers weren't enough to help him and the rest of his bunch give police the slip.

The local television character, who goes by the name Chris Phelps when he's not donning his superhero's large yellow banana crime-fighting costume, was arrested Thursday at gunpoint along with two others when police mistook their skit for a real-life knife fight.

It all began in a Main Street parking lot in this Washington County village 45 miles north of Albany, where the 20-year-old Phelps, his brother Jonathan and friend Luke Van Scoy were filming their television show "The Ravacon," which chronicles the adventures of Banana Boy.

During the skit, Banana Boy was attacked by Van Scoy with a prop knife just as Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Shawn Lovelace was driving down the street.

"He's stabbing him," bystanders yelled as Lovelace got out of his patrol car.

Unaware the melee was staged, Lovelace drew his handgun and ordered Banana Boy and his colleagues to the ground. They complied _ quickly.

"I saw they were fighting ... and saw one of them had a knife," Lovelace told The Post-Star of Glens Falls.

Police said Banana Boy and the others, all of whom are from nearby South Glens Falls, were charged with disorderly conduct for snarling traffic and not informing police they were going to be filming. Hudson Falls Police Sgt. Todd Lemery said Van Scoy's knife turned out to be a spring-loaded switchblade replica.

"I said, `Oh my God, don't shoot the banana,"' said Steven Wilson, who was watching the skit being filmed when Lovelace came upon the scene with his gun drawn. "It was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

"The Ravacon" is broadcast Saturdays on Glen Falls television station WNCE at 11 p.m. Station co-owner Jesse Jackson said he would discuss the matter with Banana Boy and his crew, whom he called very talented.

"I've been in TV for a lot of years and I've never seen anything like them," Jackson told the newspaper.

Banana Boy, who was still in costume when he was picked up by his father at the police station Thursday, said he believes the entire incident with police was caught on tape by his brother, adding the show will be aired Saturday. Meanwhile, the trio is expected back in Hudson Falls Village Court on Dec. 15.

"We do a lot of our stuff in South Glens Falls," said Van Scoy. "The police know us there."

[Benny Profane]

Banana Boy generates bunches of media inquiries

By DON LEHMAN lehman@poststar.com

Updated: 12/10/2005 8:58:08 AM


ERIN R. COKER - COKER@POSTSTAR.COM
Banana Boy, (Chris Phelps) enters the studio space at TV-8 in Glens Falls to address the media about Thursday's arrest.
The gunpoint takedown of Banana Boy seems to have a lot of media appeal. Or is it, a-peel?

Television networks from around the country sought out the young men involved in Thursday's fruit fiasco in which three young men shooting a television show -- one wearing a giant banana costume -- found themselves under arrest at gunpoint.

"It's been wild. We've gotten calls from CNN, Fox News in New York City, all over the place," said Hudson Falls Police Sgt. Todd Lemery. "

The trio came under police scrutiny because they were staging a fight scene that involved a man with a fake plastic knife pretending to stab a banana-clad actor playing the part of mythical superhero Banana Boy. They were shooting the scene for a TV-8 show called "The Ravacon."

The melee in a vacant Main Street lot stopped traffic, and a crowd watching drew the attention of passing Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Shawn Lovelace.

When Lovelace stopped his car, one of the gawkers yelled, "He's stabbing him," prompting Lovelace -- who did not know the men involved were acting for a television show -- to order the three to the ground at gunpoint.

Police charged the three -- South Glens Falls residents Chris Phelps, Jonathan Phelps and Luke Van Scoy -- with disorderly conduct for causing a commotion and not letting police know they were acting out the scene. Chris Phelps was playing Banana Boy, Van Scoy his attacker and Jonathan Phelps was filming it.

The Washington County district attorney said Friday he likely wouldn't seek convictions in the case.

Van Scoy and Chris Phelps said their phones were abuzz Friday after an article in The Post-Star about their arrests. They held a press conference Friday afternoon at the TV-8 studios, but semeed to be taking their newfound fame in stride.

"We've been getting so many calls," the 17-year-old Van Scoy said.

They spent much of the day working to finish editing The Ravacon episode that was interrupted Thursday afternoon. It is to be broadcast Saturday at 11 p.m.

Though much of it was captured on tape, they said they likely won't include the run-in with police, since it wasn't part of the story of Banana Boy's crime-fighting exploits.

"The show is a sequence of stories, and Banana Boy is now fighting the bad guys," Chris Phelps said.

The men are members of Nice Guys Productions, a troupe of young filmmakers who in 2002 won awards in a statewide contest for some of their work.

Disorderly conduct is a non-criminal violation equal to a traffic ticket. They're due in court to answer the charges on Thursday.

Washington County District Attorney Robert Winn said his office probably wouldn't seek convictions against them, likely agreeing to drop the charges if the defendants understand they should have advised police of what they were doing.

"It would seem to be a case where we would adjourn it in contemplation of dismissal," he said.

Lovelace spent Friday afternoon returning media phone calls, and said he heard the run-in being the subject of joking on Albany radio station PYX-106 Friday morning.

"If you can't laugh when you go to work, why go to work?" he said. "Luckily, the situation turned out to be something we could laugh about."