Jamestown, NY — The National Comedy Center is coming in hot and fresh with lots of live comedy offerings in this year’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival happening August 1 – 4 in Jamestown, NY. The United States’ official institution dedicated to celebrating the artform of comedy and its legends while preserving their work for generations to come is set to welcome today’s top touring talent in a slate of shows you would ordinarily have to travel to the hottest clubs in Los Angeles and New York City to see.
Headliner: Nicole Byer
Multifaceted and hilarious headliner Nicole Byer gets the festival’s live comedy started on opening night, Thursday, August 1. Byer is one of the most versatile and recognizable voices in comedy today, acclaimed for her Netflix specials Big Beautiful Weirdo and Comedians of the World and as the host of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated reality-competition baking series Nailed It! Byer starred in NBC’s Grand Crew and was a fan favorite on MTV’s hit series Girl Code. Her past work includes the Above Average web series Pursuit of Sexiness, which she co-created and starred in alongside Sasheer Zamata, and the scripted comedy series Loosely Exactly Nicole. Her network television and feature work includes Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Lady Dynamite, Party Over Here, BoJack Horseman and 30 Rock. She regularly hosts the popular podcasts, Why Won’t You Date Me, and What the Tuck?
Record-breaker Nate Bargatze has been selling out shows around the world with his The Be Funny Tour and Jamestown is no exception with a sold out show at Northwest Arena Saturday night.
Stand-up Comedy Showcase
Friday night, August 2 ushers in a night of laughs with a Stand-up Comedy Showcase packed with some of comedy’s most accomplished, hilarious and popular performers for a not-to-be-missed experience.
Scheduled to Appear at the Stand-Up Comedy Showcase:
Adam Mamawala is a New York City-based stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster. He has appeared on Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Amazon Prime and SiriusXM. Both of his albums, Statistically More Relatable (2022) and One of the Good Ones (2017) debuted at #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts. Mamawala most recently starred in the six episode comedy series Under Cover Comic (2023), now streaming on Amazon Prime. He has also been a free-lance contributor to Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” and co-hosts two podcasts Away Games and HORSE.
DJ Demers is the star and creator of the new CBC comedy, One More Time. DJ Demers has won the award for Best Breakout Artist at the Canadian Comedy Awards, the Homegrown Comics Competition at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and the Toronto Comedy Brawl. He has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, America’s Got Talent, and Conan.
Opey Olagbaju is a Nigerian American stand-up comedian and writer. He recently shot and starred in the pilot of his series Bammas on Hulu. He’s appeared on and written for Sarah Silverman’s I Love You, America on Hulu, and has also appeared on Close Enough, Bob Hearts Abishola, Scroll Wheel of Time, Unrelated, & The New Negroes.
Josh Gondelman is an award-winning writer and comedian based in New York City by way of Boston. He most recently worked as the head writer and an executive producer for Desus & Mero on Showtime. Gondelman also contributed to the final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and spent five years at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver where he earned four Emmy Awards, two Pea-body Awards and three WGA Awards. He has appeared on Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late, Late Show with James Corden and has made regular appearances on the NPR news quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Comedy Late Night Shows
Six Comedy Late Night shows will take place Thursday, August 1 – Saturday, August 3, featuring some of the most popular artists currently performing in comedy clubs nationwide – with television appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Daily Show, Last Comic Standing, Netflix comedy specials, America’s Got Talent, and more.
Additional events include free block parties with live music, I Love Lucy tribute events, Lucy trivia, Lucy hometown tours, lunches and dinners in the Tropicana Club and much more.
The full festival schedule and ticket for all events are available at ComedyCenter.org/festival.