The National Comedy Center announces that record-breaking comedian Nate Bargatze will headline the 2024 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival on Saturday, August 3rd at the Northwest Arena in Jamestown, NY. Bargatze joins previously announced headliner: acclaimed comedian Nicole Byer on Thursday, August 1st performing at Jamestown’s Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.
The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival will be held August 1 through 4.
Over 50 live events will be presented over four days in a festival that celebrates comedy’s contemporary stars and rising talent from across the country, while celebrating comedy’s great heritage.
Bargatze has been selling out shows and breaking attendance records around the world with his current “The Be Funny” tour. Last fall, he made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live, receiving rave reviews and drawing one of the highest television audiences of the season, with Vanity Fair calling him, “A Great Saturday Night Live Host,” and Entertainment Weekly exclaiming, “A frighteningly funny Halloween episode.”
His most recent comedy special, Nate Bargatze: Hello World, holds the record as Amazon’s most-watched comedy special of all time on Prime Video. He is widely known for his clean, relatable comedy for audiences of all ages, evident in his 13 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the most appearances by any comedian. He also appeared on Conan four times and has appeared on Seth Meyers’ and James Corden’s respective late night shows.
“I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the National Comedy Center and it’s just awesome. The interactivity of all the exhibits is amazing – there is nothing else like it. So, it’s a thrill for me to perform at the National Comedy Center’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival this August. I hope everyone will come out to see us in Jamestown – and visit the Comedy Center before our show,” said Nate Bargatze.
“Nate Bargatze has become a favorite of comedy fans across the country and one of the highest-grossing comedians of the year, selling out arenas nationwide,” stated National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson. “We were thrilled to have Nate visit the National Comedy Center last fall and look forward to bringing him back to Jamestown for a special headlining performance this August. He’s become a great friend and supporter of our mission.”
Hailed as “The Nicest Man in Stand-up” by The Atlantic magazine and a “Rising Star” by CBS Mornings, Bargatze was nominated for a Grammy® for Best Comedy Album for his 2021 Netflix special The Greatest Average American, which follows his previous acclaimed Netflix specials The Tennessee Kid and The Standups. His Saturday Night Live sketch “Washington’s Dream” went viral and was hailed as an instant classic and one of the funniest SNL sketches of all time.
“We truly have a stellar headliner lineup this summer,” stated Malachi Livermore, the National Comedy Center’s Vice President of Programming & Guest Experience. “Together with many of the best stand-ups from across the country, Lucy celebration events, bigger block parties with live music and more, the 2024 festival will celebrate the best of comedy’s past and present over four days.”
Bargatze was featured as one of Esquire's “Best New Comedians” by Jim Gaffigan, one of Marc Maron's “Comedians to Watch” in Rolling Stone, one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” for 2015, and as #1 on Vulture's ‘50 Comedians You Should Know’ in 2015. He also appeared on the cover of Variety’s annual comedy issue in 2022. He recently launched The Nateland Company, which develops and produces family-friendly content including comedy showcases, specials and podcasts including his own popular The Nateland Podcast, which featured Bargatze’s tour of the National Comedy Center.
Tickets for the Nate Bargatze show will go on pre-sale for National Comedy Center Members on Tuesday, June 25 at noon ET through Wednesday, June 26 at 11:59 pm. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday, June 27 at noon ET, at ComedyCenter.org.
To become a National Comedy Center Member in order to gain first access to available seats for Nate Bargatze during the pre-sale ticket window, visit ComedyCenter.org/membership or call the National Comedy Center at 716.484.2222. Memberships start at $75 and provide year-round benefits including a “season pass” for visiting the award-winning National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.
Tickets for the Nicole Byer show, along with other festival events, including Late Night comedy shows and Lucy legacy events, are currently on sale to the public at ComedyCenter.org.
Nicole Byer, performing Aug. 1, has become widely known as the host of Nailed It!, the Netflix Emmy-nominated reality-competition baking series, and is one of the most distinctive voices in stand-up comedy today.
“Nicole Byer is a fearless performer with a candid, razor sharp take that brings the audience along for a fun ride. I’m thrilled to have her in this lineup and welcome her to Jamestown, where fans from across the country celebrate this craft with our award-winning comedy museum visitor experience by day, and the best live comedy shows by night," said Journey Gunderson, National Comedy Center Executive Director.
Nicole Byer will perform Thursday, Aug. 1 and is one of the most versatile and recognizable voices in the comedy landscape 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?
Six Comedy Late Night shows will take place Thursday, Aug. 1 – Saturday, Aug. 3, featuring over 20 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.
“Our festival will honor the best of comedy’s past and present over four days from the nation’s best stand-ups, to three nights of bigger block parties with live music, Lucy celebration events featuring fan-favorites: Ball’s personal secretary Wanda Clark, and Diane Vincent, who has appeared as Lucy at Universal Studios Hollywood and the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival since 1999, in her final Jamestown festival appearance as we reunite the I Love Lucy “Fab Four” including Ethel, Ricky and Fred – and over 50 live events,” stated Malachi Livermore, the National Comedy Center’s VP of Programming & Guest Experiences.
The acclaimed National Comedy Center and Lucy Desi Museum are both welcoming visitors throughout the festival with over 50 interactive experiences providing laughter for all ages – the experience named one of TIME’s “World’s Greatest Places”, USA Today’s “Best New Museum”, and U.S. News & World Report’s “Top 25 Family Weekend Getaways.” Advanced purchase of museum admission is recommended to avoid sellout. Admission tickets may be purchased while purchasing festival event tickets.
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 34th year, the festival has featured comedy’s greatest stars and rising young comedians and has welcomed over 300 artists to Jamestown, NY, including Jerry Seinfeld, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, Trevor Noah, Jeff Foxworthy, Jay Leno, Sebastian Maniscalco, Amy Schumer, David Spade, Margaret Cho, Brian Regan, Ellen DeGeneres, Lewis Black, W. Kamau Bell, Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Nealon, Paula Poundstone, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers, and more than one hundred other comedic artists. Last year’s festival featured comedians Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and Taylor Tomlinson.