Friday, September 20
It is 56 degrees this morning around 7:30 as we depart. How nice! We stop at a nearby McDonalds for breakfast. We are heading through Erie today to Jamestown, New York - around 220 miles. Beth naps a bit, but wakes up to look for a place for an oil change in Erie.
No Jiffy Lubes in this area (our usual choice), so we end up at a Pennzoil 10 Minute Lube, and they really are that fast! Into New York at noon, and we reach our next destination - The National Comedy Center – in Jamestown about 12:30. We had read and heard good things about this place, which opened about a year and a half ago. This is the hometown of Lucille Ball and there is a Lucy & Desi museum in town as well.
This place is amazing, using lots of technology! Our entrance band was personalized by completing an on-screen survey of our favorite comics, tv sit-coms, movie comedies, etc., chosen from an extensive list.
To enter and activate many of the displays, we just touched our band to a small panel near the activity. The activity was then geared to the person whose band was used. I used my photo, Greg used the monkey avatar.
The first thing we saw was a short hologram show about stand up comedy. After an introduction about stand-up and clubs, a hologram of comedian Jim Gaffigan walked out and talked to us, introducing several clips of himself doing stand-up comedy over a 20-25 year span, which show how he and comedy evolved.
There were clips and notes from many comics, including George Carlin, Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, Paula Poundstone and more.
There was a small area set up like a comedy club with a big screen where the stage would have been. By scanning your bracelet, it brought up clips from comedians you had chosen as favorites.
There was a whole area on George Carlin, (one of our favorites), as his career was quite lengthy and he changed from young short-haired straight, to long-hair counter-culture and more philosophical over the years. There were photos, three screens showing video clips of performances, interviews and other comics’ comments, as well as personal notes, journal notations, etc.
Throughout the museum there were individual costumes that were well known, such as Seinfield’s puffy shirt,
Lucille Ball’s polka dot dress, a Ghostbusters jumpsuit, and more. A display of the Smother’s Brothers with their instruments, and a letter to President Johnson, apologizing for some of the skits that were perhaps overly critical of him personally. There was an answer from Johnson, saying that anyone in the public eye should expect to be made fun of and that humor was an important part of our culture. Their show was eventually cancelled because it was so controversial - particularly their objections to the Vietnam War.
Another area had a set of heavy resin “props”.
By choosing one and sitting it on a lighted table, it told you about the prop and then gave you four or five choices of videos that showed comedy using that prop. Props included things like squirting flowers, eyeglasses, a banana peel, and a light bulb.
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There were sections on late night shows, where you pointed a tv camera at an individual and saw and heard clips from their shows.
Another area was all about roasts – we chose to watch President O’Bama roast Donald Trump, Robin Williams roast Richard Pryor and an old Bob Hope roasting Dean Martin.
There were jokes and photos throughout, between activities.
There were nods to writers, and improv with a lot of Second City and Saturday Night Live materials as well as others.
And a section that showed actual scripts versus clips from tv comedies.
Also a whole section about comic books and comic strips, with lots of artwork and some interviews and quotes from people like Charles Shultz and Bill Keane.
There were interactive screens where you could create a comic character by chosing from a selection of eyes, noses, hair, etc.
Another area featured old radio shows, and another area called “Sounds Funny” that talked about how sound effects contributed to humor in films and tv shows. You could chose a film clip and then add sound effects from a half dozen or so choices, trying to get the sounds to coordinate with the action. Beth tried a three stooges clip - you can imagine the sound effects!
An elevator took you to The Blue Room, which featured more risqué humor, with a warning that children and those easily offended should not go there.
Interesting that what Lenny Bruce was arrested for as “indecent” seems quite tame by today’s standards. George Carlin’s list of 7 words you couldn't say on tv, and Richard Pryor’s groundbreaking use of the “N” word were also given space.
Back upstairs there were opportunites to do karaoke or your own stand up,
and other areas featuring USO performances, political humor and more…. Just too many things to mention!
Greg had to go put more money in the parking meter, and we ended up spending a good 4 hours plus there! A final machine gave you a printed “joke to go” to take with you. What a fun place!
After this, we headed to another boondocking spot in a State Forest area near the tiny town of East Otto, NY - nearly a two hour drive. Lots of farm land and empty spaces here – not what you think of usually as “New York”. Occasional farms and other homes with signs offering pumpkins, eggs, veggies, handmade leather goods, New York maple syrup, etc.
There were a dozen or so primitive campsites scattered throughout the forest and we found a nice level one just up the road from a small pond on Kriedeman Forest Road. Many of the others were occupied but none were close together. The trees on the edges of the forest were beginning to change color, so there were spots of yellows and a little red. The end of Summer flowers, too.
