National Comedy Center To Display Kovacs Material

Ernie Kovacs

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — The National Comedy Center will give the public its first glimpse of creative papers and artifacts that belonged to the late comedian Ernie Kovacs.

The materials have been packed away since Kovacs’ death nearly 60 years ago, but his estate is collaborating with the western New York comedy museum to showcase it beginning in August.

The National Comedy Center announced plans for “The Ernie Kovacs Centennial Exhibit” on Wednesday, on what would have been the television star’s 100th birthday.

Kovacs was killed in a car crash at age 42.

The National Comedy Center opened in August 2018 in the city of Jamestown, the hometown of the center’s inspiration, the late Lucille Ball.

The Kovacs exhibit will debut during the five-day Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, which begins Aug. 7.