How did you get involved in the project?
Up until 2011, I was executive director of the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum. Honouring actress Lucille Ball – best known for the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy – and her co-star and husband Desi Arnaz, the museum celebrates the couple’s lives.
It was Lucille’s idea, before her death in 1989, to create a destination comedy centre celebrating comedy and comedians. I left my position in 2011 to make that dream a reality in her hometown of Jamestown.
Who were your main partners on the development?
JRA handled early concept design, working very closely with myself and the organisation. Later on we brought in interactive design firm Cortina Productions. We also recruited Herzog and Company, who are mainly media producers and documentary makers.
What challenges did you face?
Comedians are a cynical, intelligent and sceptical bunch. It was daunting to make a museum about them, knowing they’re very good and making fun of things. Also, Jamestown is not New York. It was an uphill battle for credibility from the start and we knew the authenticity would be paramount in making it a success. It could have easily become the butt of a joke if we didn’t get it right, but thankfully we did.
How have comedians been involved in the project?
We formed a 22-person advisory board of people in the comedy industry. We also worked closely with the estates of people like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and Harold Ramis to inform our approach.
What are your aims for the attraction?
Our goal has been to build an engaging and immersive attraction that would be enjoyable for the average American tourist or the ardent comedy nerd. I’m proud to say that it’s being lauded by the comedy industry and everyday visitors alike.
How does technology play into the experience?
The museum approaches comedy in a way that’s appealing to people from all eras and with all tastes. The way we do that is with use of an RFID chip, implanted in a wristband.
The first step in any visitor’s arrival is the creation of a sense of humour profile. When a visitor indicates that they like an artist from a film, television show, or form of new media like a podcast, behind the scenes we have a content management system that reads that and applies sense of humour attributes, such as sarcasm, dark humour, irony and slapstick among hundreds of choices.
Exhibits respond to your sense of humour, presenting content based on those attributes. The exhibit itself will read the room, just like a comedian has to. Taking into account the sense of humour of the people in the space, it presents stories and content accordingly.
What’s the visitor experience?
After completing your sense of humour profile and being equipped with a laugh band, visitors are greeted with a theatre show currently starring Jim Gaffigan, presenting holograms of himself from three different eras of his career.
After that, visitors are greeted with artefacts that include everything from Charlie Chaplin’s cane to the iconic puffy shirt from Seinfeld.
For comedian George Carlin – who died in 2008 – we’ve scanned and digitised extensive joke files from his 60-year career. Visitors can really see the trajectory of his comedy – from a scrap of paper with a musing on a topic all the way through to a finished performance on an HBO special.
After that they walk through an area that has exhibits on late night comedy, looking at everybody who’s sat at the hosting desk.
There’s also an exhibit called the Comedy Continuum, which is a more than 70-foot-wide (21 metre) wall with a touch screen interface. It’s a neverending web of connections in comedy that connects artists to one another.
Built into the environment of a comedy club, we have a stand-up comedy exhibit. Exhibits also include comedy in television, comedy in film, cartooning, sketch and improv.
The lower level of the museum is called the Blue Room. That’s for a completely uncensored experience. It’s laid out like this so that if you’re uncomfortable with controversial or explicit subject matter, you can completely avoid it.
The experience ends with the participatory wing. In there, they can try out ‘Comedy Karaoke’, where they deliver lines of some of the most successful comedy bits of all time from major artists. They can also play out comedy scenes using green screen technology.
What are your future plans?
We’re already talking about a possible expansion. It’s important that we keep our finger on the pulse of comedy and that the experience is ever changing. It’s been designed with that in mind. The content management system acts as our exhibits’ central nervous system, making them easily updatable.
