Fox News Comedian Jimmy Failla Shares His Hamptons Favorites

He lives in Westbury and is a native of Levittown, but his heart is in Sag Harbor. Resident Fox News Channel comedian Jimmy Failla gets emotional when he recollects vacationing in Sag Harbor with his parents from the time he was a youngster.

“I can still taste the garlic bread from the Il Capuccino Ristorante on Madison Street,” he recalls.

Sag Harbor and its popular American Hotel has meant a lot to Jimmy — including his marriage proposal scenario to his wife, Jenny. The American is also where one Thursday night he nonchalantly was sitting near Paul McCartney hanging out with Renee Zellweger.

As a break from Sag Harbor, Jimmy has a bunch of family members in Aquabogue including his cousins Chris and Jen Parillo.

“We used to visit Duck Walk Vineyards in Southold and Water Mill,” he adds.

The famous Big Duck in Flanders became important to Jimmy and Jenny. When their son, Lincoln was growing up, some Sunday daytrips included driving to see Big Duck and then getting an East End lunch.Jimmy caught the comic bug in Abbey Lane School when he was encouraged by his fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Pascana to watch Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show. He later got turned onto Rodney Dangerfield and Eddie Murphy.

While Jimmy felt pressure to be a police officer like many of his family members, Jimmy started in 2001 as a comic doing gigs. His first time ever was at the famed Caroline’s “as part of a low-level Sunday afternoon show…I am sure Caroline Hirsch never knew we were there!”

Assimilated into his shtick on his Fox segments, his TV show on Saturdays, 10-11 p.m., and his Fox News Audio show weekdays, noon-3 p.m., he often refers to being an NYC Yellow Cab Driver. It’s what helped Jimmy with his wife and child, survive in between meagerly paying club dates. One time Jimmy picked up a rider in uptown Manhattan who was in a rush to get to Bridgehampton.

“This guy who was supposed to be getting engaged had actually just returned from Bridgehampton, because he had left the ring at his apartment,” he said.

Jimmy dutifully drove the guy to Bobby Van’s in Bridgehampton discovering how coincidentally they hung out in the same Hamptons spots.

“I was even helping the guy plan how he was going to order Bobby Van’s famous Harry Salad when he proposed.” Although he never got the guy’s name — Jimmy remembers this as his biggest Yellow Cab payday.

“I continue to use Yellow Cabs in NYC because I am one of these cabbies,” he says. “I am tipping these guys now to the point they think I am romantically interested in them!”

On the challenge of succeeding as a comedian, Jimmy analyzes: “It’s like the Shawshank Redemption, chipping away at that rock everyday with your hammer to make slight progress. We’re in the keep going business. The comics who make it are the comics who just don’t quit.

“The art to successful comedy is perseverance,” he continues. “You have to write a lot, constantly reinventing your act to make it relevant and fresh. Above all, you have to love a good beating! In comedy all of us are boxer Joe Frazier. Joe was able to take a thousand jabs a night to get close enough to land one left hook. And when he did, his opponent was on his back. A comic must put himself in the position to take all those jabs to land one left hook. I was always the opening comic you never heard of, before the star. When someone gave me the shot to get on TV and tell jokes, there was just no way I would ever screw this up!”

Jimmy, Jenny, and Lincoln plan on making more visits this summer to “Sag.” Psst … realtors, Jimmy just might be interested in a Sag Harbor getaway!