JAMESTOWN, NY – September 14th, 2012 – The city of Jamestown, the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy, and the annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival will all be included in a segment of the two-hour Barbara Walters Special, “The Best in TV – The Greatest Shows of Our Time,” airing September 18th on ABC at 9pm EST.
The results of an online poll conducted by ABC News and People Magazine, which nearly one million people voted in, will be announced during Tuesday’s special. I Love Lucy is nominated in two different categories; Best Television Comedy of All Time and Best Television Show of All Time.
A team of producers and cameramen from ABC News and People Magazine visited Jamestown in August during this year’s Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy to record footage for the nationally televised special. A portion of the 2-hour special will feature Jamestown’s annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, the first-ever Lucy World Games, and footage from the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy’s dual museum attraction (Lucy Desi Museum and Desilu Studios).
“We’re excited to find out the results of the poll, and to share on national television what goes on here in Jamestown with the Queen of Comedy’s legacy,” said Journey Gunderson, executive director of the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy. “We hope it will bring even more visitors to our year-round museum attraction and to our annual comedy festival each August.”
About The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival
The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, or “Lucy Fest,” embodies Ball’s vision for her hometown legacy: a celebration of the comedic arts held annually on the weekend closest to her birth date, August 6th. This year’s festival ran from August 1st-5th and featured performances by Paula Poundstone, Lucie Arnaz, Tammy Pescatelli, Story Pirates, Billy Gardell from CBS’s Mike & Molly, the best “Lucy, Ricky, Fred & Ethel” impersonators in the world and much more. This year’s festival was brought to you in part by YNN, the TV media sponsor of Lucy Fest 2012. Lucy Fest 2013 will be August 1-4. Additional information on the festival can be found at www.LucyComedyFest.com.
According to an economic impact study conducted by Buffalo firm Paradigm Economics and commissioned by the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy and the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the 2011 five-day festival saw 13,000 in attendance and had a direct impact of $3.6 million on Chautauqua County.
The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival is the first pillar in a four-pillar Legacy of Laughter vision for the organization, including a comedic arts education program, comedy film festival and the establishment of the first national comedy center and hall of fame.
The mission of the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is to preserve the legacy of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and enrich the world through the healing powers of love and laughter through its commitment to the development of the comedic arts.
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