Jamestown-Comedy & 75th Anniversary of I Love Lucy
August 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
(1 video)
We got up bright and early for our reservation at the National Comedy Center and we were one of the first in the door. Considering this was Lucy’s Birthday and the kickoff of the 75th anniversary of the FIRST episode of I LOVE LUCY, we expected a bigger starting crowd. The visitors did grow by the day, for this 4-day festival with over 15,000 visitors in this small town. We were only in town for 2 days but we had a great time being immersed in Comedy and Lucy.
Believe it or not, The National Comedy Center is the United States’ Congressionally designated cultural institution dedicated to presenting the story of comedy and preserving its heritage for future generations. The Center’s collections, exhibits, and great use of technology cover the enormous 37,000-square-foot building. Of course, in addition to this and all the other venues in town, we also bought tickets to the TWO Lucy museums there. We got such an education on the history of comedy as well as thoroughly entertained the entire time. This museum embodies Lucy’s vision for Jamestown, a center for Comedy, not just hers. She wanted it to be a destination for the celebration of the comedic arts and to showcase new comedic talent from around the country. That is exactly what it has become.
There are more than 50 immersive experiences as you go on an interactive journey through comedy history, from early vaudeville to the latest online created content. To begin the process and focus a little, the first thing you do is create a “sense of humor” profile that personalizes the experience by asking you about the more than 300 comedic artists covered here, as well as comedy movies and TV shows that you like best. The information is stored on a LaughBand, locked on your wrist (yes, we had to sleep and shower with it in order to use it the next day) with which you scan each exhibit throughout the experience providing personalized content based on your comedy taste and preferences. Very cool and it works well (not a comedy gimmick).
This week was the 35th Annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival which not only showcased rising comedians and comedy legends, but had many live events, many special exhibits, presentations and parties (some at the replica of the Tropicana and others just out on the street). They also have major headliners. Tonight Jerry Seinfeld is performing and then Seth Meyers is performing on Saturday evening. Not bad for a small town.
Where to start?
After building our profile, we began to go through the museum when we realized how incredibly big and thorough it was. We had special tickets to a small group screening in the theater of the PILOT of I Love Lucy. You may think you have seen this before, but you have NOT. The original unaired pilot for I Love Lucy was filmed on March 2, 1951. It was lost for 40 years, it was found in 1989. Desi Arnaz's character was originally Larry Lopez (not Ricky Ricardo) and Fred and Ethel Mertz had not been created yet. Pepito the Spanish Clown was on a few episodes including a key role on the Pilot and his wife saved the day as they found the original film in their attic. The episode focused on Lucy trying to break into show business with her husband's band (shocking). Lucy and Desi financed the test film themselves to prove to a skeptical CBS that a real-life married couple (with a Cuban husband) could actually work on TV.
There is no way we could possibly cover all the exhibit and artifacts but here are some highlights of one-of-a-kind items we saw. Beginning with the Carson Rainbow Curtin used from 1969-87 for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson featured five vertical panels of rose, purple, gold, copper, and blue polyester fabric. I went directly to the George Carlin exhibit, one of my favorite, brilliant comedians. In his 1999 special, he critiqued American germaphobia by arguing that extreme cleanliness hinders the development of our immune systems. Interesting based on looking back at COVID. He advocates for exposure to dirt to strengthen resistance and shares his minimalistic approach to personal hygiene. He even jokes about those sent to be executed with lethal injection, first sterilize the area. My other all-time favorite Carlin is "A Place for My Stuff" from the 1970s explores human consumerism, ownership, and our deep psychological need to surround ourselves with personal belongings. If he only knew what happened in this Country and the growth of Storage Facilities to store STUFF (except for the homeless Winters' family).
Since 2019, the museum dedicated to presenting the story of comedy and preserving its heritage for future generations. The exhibits take you through an interactive journey through comedy history, from early vaudeville acts to the latest viral online videos. It is amazing how comedy over the years has influenced how we think, live and laugh.
Eight hours here is not enough (coming back tomorrow for the Carl Reiner exhibits) with so many great exhibits. One other event we attended in the theater was the Johnny Carson segments, so interesting and so detailed about his magic formulas that worked every night and continues to work in late night comedy. The photos included here will give an idea of some of the exhibits we loved most.
Some of the most interesting exhibits included the ”prop stars” where you get to explore how iconic comedy props – the anvil, the rubber chicken, “Groucho” glasses, whoopee cushion, the seltzer bottle, and many more – have been used throughout comedy history, with clips from classic films, TV shows and cartoons featuring those props are showcased. The classic Saturday Night Routines and records of history were here too! “Freedom will be selecting our own system of weights and measures”! And “I can see Russia from my house”!
We also had fun at the “Green Screen Experience”, where we got to be in classic TV shows and movies including I Love Lucy chocolate factory scene. There is a late night camera studio where you get behind the camera and explore the studios and production sets for legendary late night talk shows over the past 70 years. We could not leave without recording “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” in the music studio of comedy song hits!
CBS Saturday Morning from 5 years ago
https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/Z2s0zuB4u3PDL_E…!Read more