Maniscalco, Mulaney to Headline Lucille Ball Comedy Festival

Jamestown, New York – February 11, 2019 – The National Comedy Center, the nation’s first museum and visitor experience dedicated to the comedic arts, announced today that Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney will headline the 2019 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, August 7-11. Tickets for their performances will go on pre-sale for National Comedy Center members only — starting Wednesday, February 20 at noon ET at www.ComedyCenter.org.

Public on-sale date will be Friday, February 22 at noon ET. Many festival events have yet to be announced, in a lineup that will celebrate comedy’s contemporary stars, rising voices, and historic legacies.

Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney are two of the most popular and acclaimed comedians in the country in 2019 — Maniscalco breaking several comedy box office records over the past year, and Mulaney named “one of the best stand-up comics alive” by Entertainment Weekly.

John Mulaney will be performing on Friday, August 9 and Sebastian Maniscalco will be performing on Saturday, August 10 in Jamestown’s Northwest Arena, adjacent to the National Comedy Center, a $50 million museum experience dedicated to comedy.

Sebastian Maniscalco

“We could not be more pleased to announce that two of the most in-demand stand-up comedians touring today — Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney — will be performing as we mark the first anniversary of the National Comedy Center this August,” said Journey Gunderson, National Comedy Center Executive Director. “This is a great opportunity to experience the best of live comedy by night, after experiencing the story of comedy –- across all eras and genres –- by day, with a trip to the National Comedy Center and the Festival.”

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 or call the National Comedy Center at 716.484.2222. Memberships start at $50 and provide benefits including a full year “season pass” for visiting the acclaimed National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.

Comedian, actor and best-selling author Sebastian Maniscalco has been called “one of the funniest comedians working stand-up today,” by Esquire Magazine, “one of the hottest comics,” by Newsday and “the comedian’s comedian” by People Magazine.

Maniscalco broke records last month with four sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, selling the most tickets in a weekend for any comedy engagement in the history of the Garden. In 2018, Maniscalco broke similar comedy box-office records for Radio City Music Hall.

Maniscalco can currently be seen with Viggo Mortensen in the Oscar-nominated “Green Book,” winner of three Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Last November, Maniscalco won Billboard’s inaugural Comedian of the Year award. In 2019, Maniscalco will be starring in Martin Scorsese’s new film “The Irishman,” with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.

John Mulaney

Before Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer John Mulaney was called “one of the best stand-up comics alive” by Entertainment Weekly, he began writing for “Saturday Night Live” in 2008, where he also appeared as a “Weekend Update“ correspondent and co-created memorable characters such as “Stefon” with Bill Hader. He has spent the past year touring the United States with his most recent show, “Kid Gorgeous,” which was released as a Netflix original special last year and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Special.

Mulaney has starred three previous stand-up specials. He has performed stand-up on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Comedy Central Presents.” In 2016, Mulaney starred in the Broadway hit “Oh, Hello” on Broadway alongside Nick Kroll. He can also be heard in the 2018 film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which recently won the Golden Globe for best Animated Feature Film and has just been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Additional Lucille Ball Comedy Festival events, including more than five comedy showcases, Late Night Comedy events, National Comedy Center Dialogues, and Lucy legacy events will also be announced at www.ComedyCenter.org in the coming months.

“This festival is a celebration of all things comedy” says Malachi Livermore, the National Comedy Center’s Director of Programming and Guest Experiences. “It offers something for everyone – from a free kids’ comedy show and a series of discussions about the comedic arts, to some of the best stand-up comedians that the nation has to offer, and the opening of an Ernie Kovacs Centennial exhibit featuring never-before-seen archives.  And there is still more to come.”

As an enhancement to this year’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, the National Comedy Center is once again partnering with the world-renowned Chautauqua Institution, located on nearby Chautauqua Lake, New York, for a comedy-themed week during the Institution’s summer season, which will run prior to the festival: July 29 through August 3. Events and speakers will explore how comedy changes us and, in turn, society, and the potential of comedy to change minds and influence decision-making. Programming details will be released in the coming months. For more information and reservations, visit CHQ.org.

Last year’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival featured 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.

The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival is presented by the National Comedy Center and embodies Lucille Ball’s vision for her hometown — Jamestown, New York, to be a destination for the celebration of the comedic arts and to showcase new comedic talent from around the country. The festival attracts over 15,000 attendees annually from nearly every state in the country, who come together to share laughter while honoring the craft and contributors on stage at dozens of venues throughout Jamestown, including the National Comedy Center and the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

Now in its 28th year, the festival has featured comedy’s greatest stars and rising young comedians, including 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.

About the National Comedy Center

The National Comedy Center recently took second out of twenty “Best New Attractions” in the country, in USA Today. Condé Nast Traveler called the National Comedy Center “One of the best museums in the country,” while comedy website The Interrobang named the design team of the National Comedy Center second on its list of “Innovators Who Changed Comedy” in 2018. Visitors from all 50 states and nine countries have given the Center a rare 5/5 rating on TripAdvisor in just its first six months of operation.

The National Comedy Center opened August 1, 2018 in Jamestown, New York as the nation’s first state-of-the-art museum dedicated to sharing the vital story of comedy in America. Based on the vision of Jamestown native Lucille Ball for her hometown to become a destination for the celebration of comedy, the National Comedy Center showcases comedy’s great minds and unique voices, from Charlie Chaplin to David Chappelle. As a non-profit cultural institution, the National Comedy Center was created with a $50 million investment, funded by a mix of federal, state and private philanthropic support, including partnership with I LOVE NEW YORK ™, Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State’s Empire State Development.

The National Comedy Center features exclusive collections and world-class exhibits that give comedy fans an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the time-honed creative processes that have elevated comedy entertainment to an art form. Over 50 innovative exhibitions across 37,000 square feet of space enable visitors to take an interactive journey through comedy history, from early vaudeville to the latest viral memes. Cutting-edge personalization technology makes the entire experience unique. Throughout the experience, visitors gain a profound appreciation for comedy icons and innovators, as well as for the tremendous influence of humor on how we think, live and laugh.

Design for the National Comedy Center was led by the most prominent cultural and interactive design firms in the world, whose portfolios collectively include the award-winning 9/11 Memorial Museum, The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, The College Football Hall of Fame, SNL: The Experience, and more.

The National Comedy Center also operates the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, which explores the lives, careers and legacy of the “First Couple of Comedy,” and the incredible impact they had on the world.