Journey Gunderson Daily Variety podcast explores saving comedy history
Journey Gunderson’s new Daily Variety episode makes the case for preserving comedy records, from Mel Brooks papers to live festival moments.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
The Journey Gunderson Daily Variety podcast episode arrived Aug. 4, 2026, putting the National Comedy Center chief’s case for saving comedy history front and center. iHeart lists the episode at 17 minutes, while Variety reported that it examines why comedy needs a dedicated institution for study and preservation.
Gunderson leads the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York, Lucille Ball’s hometown. The center is both a museum and a home for comedy papers and memorabilia, according to the episode listing and Variety.
What does Journey Gunderson say about preserving comedy history?
Gunderson’s central point is that archives do not save themselves. She told Variety that preservation requires a person or institution to decide material is worth keeping before it disappears, and said the center created its archive to fill that conservation need.
That work has given the Jamestown institution archives connected to George Carlin, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Variety reported. Brooks’ collection alone includes more than 150,000 documents and more than 5,000 photographs, offering a tangible record of how a major comic’s work developed over time.
Gunderson joined Jamestown’s then-Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum in 2011, according to Variety. The organization expanded in 2018 to include the National Comedy Center, which opened that year. In a 2023 PBS interview, Gunderson said Ball wanted her hometown to be a place that celebrated comedy and the people who make it, rather than a place focused only on Ball herself.
The new podcast also arrived just before the 2026 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, scheduled for Aug. 7 through Aug. 9 in Jamestown. Variety and iHeart said Jerry Seinfeld, Bert Kreischer and Seth Meyers were listed as headliners.
For Gunderson, live shows and archival work belong together. As she described it in the iHeart episode transcript, a visitor can watch a comedian perform and then connect that moment to the wider history of the art form. The transcript is automatically generated and iHeart cautions that it may not be fully accurate.
Listeners can find Daily Variety on iHeartPodcasts, Apple Podcasts, Variety’s YouTube Podcast channel, Amazon Music and Spotify, Variety said. The episode is also available through iHeart’s program page.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.