New Gallery Experience Debuts During Lucille Ball Comedy Festival

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The National Comedy Center – the United States’ museum and national archive dedicated to the art form of comedy – will debut its new exhibit, The Joan Rivers Joke File, this Saturday, August 9, during the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is Joan Rivers’ legendary joke file – an extraordinary collection of nearly 70,000 original jokes, created by Rivers and meticulously organized into hundreds of categories, from “Parents Hated Me” and “Cooking” to “Weddings” and “Airlines.” Originally installed in her home office, the file reflects Rivers’ precise craftsmanship, sharp wit, and tireless dedication to refining her material over the course of seven decades, from her earliest handwritten jokes through 2014.

Immersive design from the museum’s award-winning creative team brings her material to life, allowing guests to hear and see Rivers performing jokes pulled directly from the file. Visitors can view original joke cards from the file up close and even browse through a curated set on their own, offering a rare opportunity to experience Rivers’ comedic process exactly as she crafted it – one card, one punchline at a time.

Among the joke file’s treasures: 390 jokes on NEW YORK, 538 on GUYS I DATED, 989 on POLITICS, and 1,434 on AGING. In “28 AND SINGLE” (see: WEDDINGS), Rivers wrote, “I was left standing at the altar so long my bouquet took root!”; in “EDGAR” (see: MARRIAGE, HONEYMOON), she quipped, “My honeymoon was a disaster. The next day, he screamed, ‘Don’t tell me you can’t cook either!’”; and under “COOKING,” she recorded the classic, “If the Lord wanted me to cook, I’d have aluminum hands. These hands were meant to hold charge cards.” The joke file was featured in the 2010 documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.

“I am so honored that my mother’s joke file now has a home at the National Comedy Center,” said Melissa Rivers. “She would have been thrilled to be included among the legends represented here. This exhibit is a celebration of her humor, her fearlessness, and her extraordinary impact on comedy. It means so much to know that fans and future generations will be able to connect with her work and experience her comedic brilliance in such a personal way.”

“Joan Rivers was a master of reinvention who blazed a trail for generations of comedians, breaking barriers and redefining what was possible in stand-up and entertainment,” stated National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson. “This is not simply the accessioning of a legendary artifact – it’s an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the creative mind of a culture-shifting artist. Through this exhibit, guests can step into Joan’s process, see the precision and persistence behind every joke, and experience the artistry that made her one of comedy’s most enduring and dynamic figures.”

“Joan Rivers is among the most influential stand-up comedians in the history of the art form,” said Dr. Laura LaPlaca, the National Comedy Center’s Vice President and head of the Carl Reiner Department of Archives and Preservation. “Her legacy, characterized by bold truth-telling, personal vulnerability, and an unrelenting drive to make great art, altered the trajectory of American cultural history more than once. Preserving and presenting The Joan Rivers Joke File allows us to share not only her extraordinary comedic voice, resilience, and craftsmanship, but also the uncompromising originality that continues to inspire artists today.”

The Rivers’ connection to Jamestown and the National Comedy Center runs deep: Joan headlined the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in 2011 during Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday celebration – the year the concept of a national museum and archive for comedy was first introduced – and Melissa Rivers participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the National Comedy Center in 2015.

The Joan Rivers Joke File joins the National Comedy Center’s permanent collection of over 150,000 artifacts, documents, and recordings from comedy’s most significant artists, including Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, George Carlin, Carl Reiner, Richard Pryor, Johnny Carson, The Smothers Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Don Rickles as well as the creative minds behind Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, Laugh-In, and many more.

About the National Comedy Center

The National Comedy Center is the United States’ cultural institution, museum and national archive dedicated to presenting the vital story of comedy and preserving its heritage for future generations. Opened in 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,” TIME magazine named it one of its “World’s Greatest Places,” and U.S. News & World Report selected it as one of the “25 Top Family Weekend Getaways in the U.S.,” while 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.” The museum has been featured in The New York Times, on CBS Saturday Morning, CBS Sunday Morning and on NBC’s TODAY Show, which called it “the Smithsonian of Comedy.”

Based on the vision of Jamestown native Lucille Ball for her hometown to become a destination for comedy, the non-profit National 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 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 annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, produced and presented by the National Comedy Center, has showcased comedy’s greatest stars and rising comedians over 35 years, including Jerry Seinfeld, Trevor Noah, Nate Bargatze, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, Taylor Tomlinson, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Jeff Foxworthy, Nicole Byer, Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, Margaret Cho, Amy Schumer, Sebastian Maniscalco, W. Kamau Bell, David Spade, Jim Gaffigan, Paula Poundstone, Kevin Nealon, The Smothers Brothers, and more than 300 comedic artists.

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.

www.ComedyCenter.org

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The Joan Rivers Joke File Exhibit Opens at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY on Saturday, Aug 9