The festival kicks off Wednesday and continues through Sunday, August 7.

National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson said it didn’t feel right the last two years to not have the festival, “The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival has grown to become one of the most respected comedy festivals in the country. So if you locally and haven’t gotten tickets yet for this year or haven’t been before, know that it’s a pretty special thing that it takes place in your backyard.”

The festival will feature over 50 live acts with headliners including Margaret Cho on Thursday, August 4 at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts and two shows by Jeff Foxworthy at Northwest Arena on Friday, August 5.

Gunderson said the Saturday headlining show featuring Legends of Saturday Night Live, can only be seen in Jamestown. That show at the Northwest Arena will feature David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Kevin Nealon.

Gunderson said another show not to be missed is the Stand-Up Showcase on Wednesday, August 3, “Some people, even if they’re big fans of the big ticket, big name headliners, leave the festival going, ‘That was the best show of the festival!’ because you’re seeing the best club talent from coast to coast descend on Jamestown for a show where each comic gets about a 15-minute set. So nobody leaves the show not having, like, most of it if not all of it, there’s really something for everyone and it’s a really fun evening, and a really affordable ticket and that’s at the Reg Lenna.”

A free kids comedy show featuring Nels Ross will take place Saturday, August 6 at the Reg as well.

For more information, visit comedycenter.org

Cho joins comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and Saturday Night Live legends David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon for three consecutive nights of headliner shows during the 30th live festival.

A Stand-Up Comedy Showcase has also been added to the lineup on Wednesday, August 3, 2022. The full lineup features over 50 live events August 3 through 7.

Cho will perform on Thursday, August 4 at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts. Tickets will go on pre-sale for National Comedy Center members only at noon, Wednesday, June 1 at ComedyCenter.org/Festival.

Tickets for the public go on sale at noon, Monday, June 6.

Margaret Cho has five Grammy Award nominations and one Emmy nod for her groundbreaking work on 30 Rock. Rolling Stone magazine named Cho one of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics, calling her “the sort of funny, sex-positive feminist and LGBT activist younger comics continue to look up to.”

Tickets are still available at ComedyCenter.org/Festival for the Jeff Foxworthy and Legends of SNL shows, which had previously been scheduled for the cancelled 2020 and 2021 festivals. Tickets for the Stand-Up Showcase, Late Night comedy shows, Lucy legacy events and kids comedy show are also now available for purchase.

Festival performances by comedian Jeff Foxworthy have been rescheduled for Friday, August 6, 2021 and the Legends of SNL: David Spade, Kevin Nealon and Rob Schneider performance has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 7, 2021. All other events have also been rescheduled for the corresponding day and time in 2021. A schedule of events is available at ComedyCenter.org/Festival. More festival events will be added in the coming months.

“It is with tremendous sadness that we make the difficult decision to reschedule our Lucille Ball Comedy Festival – for the first time in our nearly 30 year history,” said National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson. “We are grateful for the patience, understanding and continued support of our festival attendees, sponsors, volunteers and staff, and our Jamestown and Chautauqua County community during this challenging time.”

“We do not make this decision lightly, understanding that our annual festival draws attendees from over 40 U.S. states and not only has a direct effect on the revenue of our non-profit cultural institution but also affects the business of local hotels, restaurants, attractions and event venues, and retailers throughout our community. We look forward to presenting an outstanding comedy festival experience here in Jamestown in August 2021, as we officially celebrate the festival’s 30th anniversary.”

Current ticket holders will have their tickets transferred automatically to the same shows and events for the 2021 festival, unless they choose a different option.

Ticket holders will have several options to consider:

• Transfer tickets to the same shows and events for the 2021 festival. New ticket will automatically be issued to ticket holders within the next several weeks.
• Donate the value of their tickets to the non-profit National Comedy Center as a tax-deductible contribution during this critical time.
• Exchange the value of their tickets for a National Comedy Center gift card to be used for admission, membership, future event tickets or merchandise.
• Receive a full refund for their ticket purchase by selecting this option by July 15, 2020.

Ticket holders can select their preferred option via the Comedy Center’s Ticketing form at ComedyCenter.org/TicketForm.

Those wishing to purchase new tickets for 2021 festival events, including Jeff Foxworthy and Legends of SNL, without holding existing tickets for 2020, can do so by visiting ComedyCenter.org/Festival beginning Monday, June 15th.

Although the festival will not be taking place this summer in Jamestown as originally planned, the National Comedy Center will be bringing comedy fans together virtually by presenting a series of online programs and streaming comedy events throughout the summer, including programming to be streamed during the original comedy festival weekend. These events will debut on the Comedy Center’s new online content platform, National Comedy Center Anywhere. Look for more details on the Comedy Center website and social media platforms in the coming weeks.

As a further precaution during the COVID-19 crisis, the National Comedy Center will be cancelling its “Comedy Under the Stars” free outdoor movie night series for 2020, which was to feature ten film comedies presented for the local community and museum visitors on the Comedy Center’s jumbo video screens on select Fridays throughout the summer and early fall. The Comedy Center plans to reschedule this series for 2021.

The National Comedy Center does plan to re-open its state-of-the-art comedy museum and Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum this summer with enhanced health, cleaning, disinfecting and social distancing protocols — reimagining museum health and safety with the same spirit, commitment and leading-edge technology with which it reinvented the museum visitor experience — once Western New York is given the green light to re-open cultural institutions and museums (Phase 4).

Since 1991, the festival has featured comedy’s greatest stars and rising young comedians, including Sebastian Maniscalco, John Mulaney, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Trevor Noah, Lily Tomlin, Jay Leno, Amy Schumer, Brian Regan, Lewis Black, W. Kamau Bell, Jim Gaffigan, Paula Poundstone, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers and more than one hundred other comedic artists.

The August event, presented by the National Comedy Center, will include performances by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and Saturday Night Live legends David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon.

Foxworthy will be performing on Friday, Aug. 7. He’s one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country, a multiple Grammy Award nominee and a best-selling author of 26 books. Widely known for his redneck jokes, his act goes well beyond that to explore the humor in everyday family interactions and human nature, with a style that has been compared to Mark Twain’s.

The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival will also mark the 45th anniversary of Saturday Night Live with Spade, Schneider and  Nealon. The “Legends of SNL” show will take place on Saturday, Aug. 8. The three were all part of the cast and writing team of SNL during a pivotal era for the NBC show in the 1990s. Each of them created memorable and beloved characters throughout their run on the show, and each were nominated for Emmy awards as part of the SNL writing team.

Both Foxworthy’s performance on Aug. 7 and the Legends of SNL show on August 8 will be held in Jamestown’s Northwest Arena, adjacent to the National Comedy Center complex.

Tickets for these shows, along with many other festival comedy events are available at ComedyCenter.org.

Late night comedy shows, Lucy legacy events and a kids comedy show will also go on public sale on Tuesday with additional festival events to be announced in the coming months, in a lineup that will celebrate comedy’s contemporary stars, rising voices, and historic legacies.

Last year’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, which featured comedians Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney, was the largest festival in its history. In 2018, the festival celebrated the grand opening of the National Comedy Center and featured Amy Schumer, Lily Tomlin and a panel of original “Saturday Night Live” performers and writers including Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman and Alan Zweibel.

Now in its 30th year, the festival has featured comedy’s greatest stars and rising young comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Trevor Noah, Lily Tomlin, Jay Leno, Brian Regan, Lewis Black, W. Kamau Bell, Jim Gaffigan, Paula Poundstone, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers and more than one hundred other comedic artists.

• AUDIO ALSO AVAILABLE AT SOUNDCLOUD

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with National Comedy Center executive Director Journey Gunderson about the 2020 headliners for the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival – Jeff Foxworthy and SNL alumni David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon. Gunderson also gives details about the NCC being nominated as Best New Museum in America by USA Today.

Journey Gunderson

The National Comedy Center Tuesday announced that comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and Saturday Night Live legends David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon will perform during the 30th annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, happening August 5 through August 9, 2020.

Foxworthy is the largest-selling comedian of all time with more than 13 million albums sold. He will be performing on Friday, August 7.
And the Festival will mark the 45th anniversary of Saturday Night Live with Spade, Schneider and Nealon – three of SNL’s most popular performers. The “Legends of SNL” show will take place on Saturday, August 8.

Tickets for these shows, along with many other festival comedy events, will go on pre-sale for National Comedy Center members only – starting Tuesday, February 25 at noon at ComedyCenter.org.

Public on-sale date will be Tuesday, March 3.

Late night comedy shows, Lucy legacy events and a kids comedy show will also go on sale at that time with additional festival events to be announced in the coming months, in a lineup that will celebrate comedy’s contemporary stars, rising voices, and historic legacies.

To become a National Comedy Center member in order to gain first access to available seats during the pre-sale ticket window, visit ComedyCenter.org/membership or call the National Comedy Center at 716.484.2222.