The National Comedy Center

Now, in a multimillion-dollar gamble that will test the power of giggles versus geography, the State of New York has invested nearly $10 million in the hopes that it can turn Jamestown — which has no comedy clubs, no velvet ropes and no two-drink minimum — into an A-list tourist destination and a prime example of civic pluck triumphing over chronic malaise.

The draw? A $50 million museum and yuk-yuk Hall of Fame known as the National Comedy Center, featuring an array of artifacts and high-tech exhibits, including — no kidding — holograms of comedians, both dead and alive.

from the NYTimes

The National Comedy Center

Is looking for works to display

The nation’s humorous mindset

That people can look at -- and pay.

I suggest bricks and some mortar

From that wall down on the border.

Or a seat that’s been yanked from an airplane --

Such hilarious things are in order.

How about all of the marbles

That Congress has lost recently?

Or restrooms from down there in Texas,

Where nobody knows where to pee.

Stiletto heels gleaned from the White House.

Organic food that costs a mint.

Anything from California --

It all makes us laugh without stint.

The National Comedy Center

Should capture the soul and the heart

Of America’s countrywide spirit --

Which is either a burp or a fart.