JAMESTOWN, N.Y. -- At times, Thursday's event in Jamestown seemed more like an audition for the coinciding Lucille Ball Comedy Fest. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-NY, and Empire State Development President Howard Zemsky traded perspectives on their ride at Watkins Glen race track earlier in the day.
"I thought it was very funny," comedian Lewis Black said. "I hadn't seen their act but they're a tremendous duo."
At the future site of the National Comedy Center, nearly everyone came prepared with a joke. In all seriousness though, the governor was in Chautauqua County to announce $500,000 to promote the center next year, through the I Love New York campaign.
"You can feel it coming together," Cuomo said. "You can feel it building on the energy that Jamestown is developing already. I believe in it. I want to invest in it on behalf of the people of the state of New York."
Black said he would love to participate in the campaign.
"I would love to do it and I hope we can get a ton of really, I mean I think we would be able to get a ton of really great comics to do it. I think it's huge to have that, that advertising. That's big," he said.
Black is familiar with Jamestown. He was a regular performer when the now well-known Lucy Fest launched. He said he's been impressed with the area's recent development.
"When I came back last year, the town had changed," he said. "There was new business in this town. It looked like people actually started painting their houses again."
Black has also been a strong supporter of the National Comedy Center. He said he got involved after discussing the project with late comedian George Carlin's daughter, Kelly. The state has invested $14 million in the center, which is scheduled to open next year.
"Comedy needed a center and as I've said a thousand times now, even if it misses which I don't think it will, you've got to give it a shot," Black said.
He said if the vision for the facility is fully-realized, it could absolutely become a destination.