The National Comedy Center’s annual Lucille Ball Festival goes virtual this year, with many MOTs among the artists taking part. Taking place in cyberspace from Aug. 14-30, all programs will stream online for free here as well as live on Facebook.
Among the offerings: Tiffany Haddish discusses her work, comedy and Emmy nomination for “Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah” on Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. ET. Howie Mandel with talk with fellow comedian Harrison Greenbaum in a conversation on Aug. 21 at 9 p.m. ET. Greenbaum also hosts a chat with the creators of “Mad” on Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. ET and a talk with Gilbert Gottfried on Aug. 28 at 10 p.m. ET.
Judy Gold, the author of the new book “Yes, I Can Say That,” will discuss her career at 10 p.m. ET on Aug 22. She’ll also host the Margaret Cho convo on Aug. 14 at 10 P.M. ET. “Saturday Night Live” writer Alan Zweibel discusses his new memoir “Laugh Lines, My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier” on Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. ET,
The Festival will close with a special tribute presentation: a never-before-seen interview from the Comedy Center archives with the late comic legend Carl Reiner. It will be accompanied by a discussion of Reiner’s genius with Paula Poundstone and producer Stephen J. Morrison.
“As a non-profit cultural institution, the museum celebrates comedy’s great minds and unique voices, while providing an examination of the time-honed creative processes that have elevated comedy to an art,” said Journey Gunderson, Executive Director of the National Comedy Center. “I can’t think of a better way to tell the story of comedy than via these artists’ voices, at a time when we all need laughter more than ever.”
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