Meaning
The most important or highest-ranked person in a group, organization, or show - the boss, star, or headliner; originally the lead comedian on an American burlesque bill, from which it broadened to any leader or top figure. Informal American English, still widely used. Informal and playful; rarely used where a neutral word for chief would be expected. Regional use: American English.
Origin
Out of American burlesque, where comics were ranked by billing much as boxers were, and 'banana' was show-business slang for a comedian. The Phrase Finder records the OED's first citation for 'top banana' in 1948, plus an earlier example from December 28, 1947, when a Charles D. Rice article about Phil Silvers used 'Top Banana' as a headline while the text spoke of a 'first banana' ahead of second and third bananas; a 1938 newspaper piece on burlesque terminology already used 'third banana', showing the ranking predated the 'top' form by roughly a decade. Phil Silvers later claimed that the burlesque comic Harry Steppe coined the phrase around 1927 for the leading comedian on a bill, but this rests solely on Silvers's recollection, with no independent 1920s record; a rival account instead credits Frank Lebowitz, a comic who used real bananas as props. Etymonline dates the top and second banana family to the 1950s, from burlesque 'banana' meaning comedian. The burlesque setting is documented; the 1927 coinage claim is disputed and thin.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- first banana
- second banana
- second-banana role
- third banana
Usage Examples
- After twenty years with the firm she finally became the top banana in the Munich office.
- He is content being second banana on the show because the straight man gets the steady laughs.
- The producers announced that the top banana himself would host the season finale.