NEWSLETTER
Free to all New York State Youth
Now Through April 16, 2022
Photos and logos here: Media Assets and Photos - NCC Family Field Trips
Jamestown, New York – February 23, 2022 – The National Comedy Center has announced “Family Field Trips” in which all New York State youth are admitted for free for a period of eight weeks inclusive of the current school winter break running through spring break.
Children and teens age 17 and under will be admitted for free at any time with an accompanying adult paying admission – now through April 16, 2022 (up to two children or teens per adult). Advanced reservations are strongly recommended at http://ComedyCenter.org/Family.
Western New York Family Magazine called the National Comedy Center a “Must See Destination…recommended for school-age children and up,” and I Love NY named the National Comedy Center as one of the best family-friendly indoor activities in New York State. Macaroni Kid Erie raved about the Comedy Center’s “kid-friendly laughs,” stating, “We spent nearly four hours at the museum and still had to drag our 7- and 9-year-olds away!”
The National Comedy Center was named the “Best New Museum” in the country by USA Today and one of the “World’s Greatest Places” by TIME magazine. The museum offers state-of-the-art exhibits and interactive activities for the entire family, including the opportunity to draw your own cartoon, create your own internet meme, take the stage for “comedy karaoke” and put yourself in scenes from some of the greatest TV and movie comedies of all time.
The National Comedy Center’s award-winning LaughSafe health and safety program keeps the visitor experience touch-free and worry-free, using state-of-the-art health and safety protocols. Developed in close consultation with epidemiologists and health professionals UPMC Chautauqua and UPMC Pittsburgh, the program was called “an absolutely superlative approach to keeping people safe” with “science-based interventions" by Dr. Graham Snyder, the chief epidemiologist at UPMC, in an interview with The Buffalo News.
The National Comedy Center is open Thursdays through Mondays from 10 am to 5 pm, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
For more details on the special family offer and to reserve tickets, visit http://ComedyCenter.org/Family.
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About the National Comedy Center
The National Comedy Center is the United States’ official cultural institution and museum dedicated to presenting the vital story of comedy and preserving its heritage for future generations, as formally designated by the U.S. Congress. Opened in August 2018 in Jamestown, New York, the museum complex offers an unprecedented, immersive visitor experience using state-of-the-art technology, interactivity and personalization.
USA Today named the National Comedy Center the “Best New Museum in the Country” while TIME magazine named it one of its “World’s Greatest Places” – one of only “100 new and newly noteworthy destinations to experience right now” and one of only nine attractions to visit in the United States. Condé Nast Traveler called the National Comedy Center “one of the best museums in the country,” and People magazine named it one of “100 Reasons to Love America.” Comedy industry authority The Interrobang named the design team second on its list of “Innovators Who Changed Comedy.”
In 2021, the National Comedy Center was featured in The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Saturday Morning and on NBC’s TODAY Show, which called it “the Smithsonian of Comedy.” Visitors from all 50 states and eighteen countries have given the Center a rare 5/5 raring on TripAdvisor, ranking among the highest in the attraction and tourism industry.
Based on the vision of Jamestown native Lucille Ball for her hometown to become a destination for comedy, the non-profit National Comedy Center showcases comedy’s great minds and unique voices in ways that engage, inspire, educate and entertain. The Comedy Center’s mission is to provide education on the comedic arts in the form of commentary and contextualization of its bodies of work across all eras and genres of the art form.
The National Comedy Center has collaborated with dozens of artists and estates to preserve materials that represent comedy’s significant artistic, social, and political contributions to American culture including collections illustrating the careers of legendary artists like George Carlin, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lenny Bruce and The Smothers Brothers, and the development of groundbreaking creative work such as sketch comedy series In Living Color, and more. Two new, large-scale multi-media will debut in 2022 as the Comedy Center celebrates Johnny Carson on the 60th anniversary of his first Tonight Show, and honors Carl Reiner during his centennial year.
Within the Comedy Center’s museum galleries, more than 50 interactive exhibits and immersive experiences employ cutting-edge technology to present the story of comedy from its origins to the present day – using archival documents, artifacts, and media as their core. Its educational programming on the art form has featured Tiffany Haddish, George Lopez, Margaret Cho, Norman Lear, Debra Messing, Rain Pryor (daughter of Richard Pryor), Jay Leno, Kenan Thompson, Gabriel Iglesias, Ben Stiller, John Cleese, Jimmy Fallon, Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and many more.
In 2021, Tiffany Haddish joined the National Comedy Center’s advisory board, which also includes Jim Gaffigan, Lewis Black, W. Kamau Bell, Paula Poundstone, Pixar’s Pete Doctor, Paul Feig, Kelly Carlin, and more.
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, SNL: The Experience, and more.
The National Comedy Center 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, as well as the pioneering role and remarkable influence that I Love Lucy and Desilu Studios had on the entertainment industry for generations to come.
The acclaimed Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, produced and presented by the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY, was last headlined by John Mulaney and Sebastian Maniscalco, and has showcased comedy’s greatest stars and rising young comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Trevor Noah, Lily Tomlin, Amy Schumer, W. Kamau Bell, Jim Gaffigan, Paula Poundstone, Joan Rivers and more than one hundred other comedic artists. The 2022 festival will take place August 3-7, featuring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and SNL legends David Spade, Kevin Nealon and Rob Schneider, along with over fifty live comedy events
The National Comedy Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural institution whose mission is funded by philanthropic support. Donations and grants support the museum and its work to present the vital story of comedy and preserve its heritage for future generations.
Stay connected to the National Comedy Center and Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum:
Websites: www.comedycenter.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalcomedycenter/
Twitter and Instagram: @ntlcomedycenter