The National Comedy Center features Joan Rivers on its digital screens

The National Comedy Center will become the home of Joan Rivers’ career archive.

The announcement came on the 90th birthday of the late comedy icon.

Rivers’ archive includes a file cabinet containing over 65,000 original jokes spanning from the start of her career in the 1950s to 2014 when she passed away.

The archive thoroughly chronicles Rivers’ artistic evolution and creative process, from her emergent years navigating 1950s Greenwich Village nightclub gigs and performing at Chicago’s Second City, through her historic rise in standup comedy and on late night television, to her influential later years changing the face of celebrity interviews and fashion commentary, and becoming a key architect of reality TV.

The National Comedy Center will debut an interactive exhibit in its galleries in 2025, allowing museumgoers to explore the joke file.

Friday Night Block Party before Trevor Noah’s performance in Jamestown, NY during the 2016 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. Details of the 2017 Comedy Festival will be announced on Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 20. (Jamestown, NY; National Comedy Center​)

JAMESTOWN – A major announcement regarding the 2017 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival will be made on Tuesday.

Officials with the Lucy-Desi Center in Jamestown will hold a press conference at the Jamestown Gateway Train Station to provide an update on the National Comedy Center, including an announcement of a comedian coming to Jamestown in August 2017 to perform at the comedy festival.

Past festivals have featured Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Lewis Black, Trevor Noah, Joan Rivers, Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone, Nick Offerman, Ray Romano, and Bob Newhart.

Tuesday’s press conference begins at noon and WRFA will post updates on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/WRFALP.

Lucy-Desi Center Director Journey Gunderson will be joined by other officials during a media conference at noon, Wednesday inside the Jamestown Gateway Train Station.

The announcement will not only include who will be the featured comedians for this year’s four-day event, but also details on other related programming.

Last year’s headliner was none other than standup and TV legend Jerry Seinfeld, who performed at two sold out shows at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena. Other past performers include Ellen DeGeneres, Lewis Black, the late Joan Rivers, Nick Offerman, Ray Romano and, Bob Newhart – along with many others.

The 2016 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival will take place in Jamestown on August 4 through August 7.

More details on the event will be posted at www.lucycomedyfest.com following today’s announcement at noon.

Regis Philbin will be in Jamestown July 30, 2015 to lead a panel discussion focusing on The Late Show with David Letterman.

JAMESTOWN – The 2015 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival is just one day away.

Events for the festival begin on Thursday, featuring everything from a silent auction in the morning to a Conga workshop in the afternoon, along with a special panel discussion featuring Regis Philbin talking with the producers and staff of the Late Show with David Letterman. In addition, the Stand-Up Showcase featuring up and coming comedians.

Tickets for the David Letterman panel discussion, which will be held at the Willowbay Theater, are just $10. The Stand Up Showcase at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts has tickets starting at just $15, with any military service veteran getting in free-of-charge.

EVENTS CONTINUE FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

Several other events are planned for the four-day festival, including a panel discussion on Friday featuring Melissa Rivers, Kelly Carlin, and Violet Stiel & Julian Ramis entitled “Comedy Legacies: Rivers, Ramis & Carlin.” The comedy roundtable will take place on Friday and will celebrate the legacies of Joan Rivers, George Carlin and Harold Ramis as the National Comedy Center prepares to break ground. The discussion will be moderated by Kelly Carlin and recorded for broadcast on her SiriusXM radio program “The Kelly Carlin Show.”

Pete Lee, Pat McGann, and Beth Stelling will appear at the 2015 Lucille Ball Comedy Fest’s Stand-Up Showcase Thursday night at the Reg Lenna.

In addition to moderating the discussion, Kelly Carlin will be bringing her renowned one woman show, “A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up With George,” to Jamestown on Saturday.

Other featured events include an appearance by Nick Offerman on Friday night and two sold out shows featuring Jerry Seinfeld on Saturday. Plus there will be several “late night”stand up comedy performances at the Tropicana Room inside the Lucy-Desi Center and Museum.

Ticket information for all the 2015 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival Events can be found at www.lucycomedyfest.com, or by calling the box office at 716.484.0800.