Festival comedians take in Norfolk, comedy history in Johnny Carson's hometown

NORFOLK, Neb. – Comedians from across the country took in the history of Johnny Carson and his hometown during the latest edition of the Great American Comedy Festival over the weekend.

Nationally recognized performers visited Carson’s boyhood home in Norfolk, as well as the Elkhorn Valley Museum, giving them a look at the history of the former Tonight Show host's upbringing in northeast Nebraska.

The festival’s committee planned activities for the comedians, taking them through Norfolk between weekend performances.

“It’s kind of surreal because, you know, I’m from a small town too,” said comedian Tyler Rothrock, who traveled to Nebraska from Philadelphia but grew up in a town of 6,000 people roughly 90 minutes north of the metropolitan area. “It’s awesome to see how the town still carries on his legacy, but then also to see how he felt about his hometown.”

Comedians and magicians performed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with performers traveling to northeast Nebraska from Los Angeles, New York, London, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Chicago, Florida and Massachusetts.

“I grew up watching Johnny Carson long before I got any of the jokes,” magician Eric Buss said. “But when he had a magician on, I was allowed to stay up late and watch...Just based on my dad’s laughter watching him, I could understand that this guy was very funny. So being here is pretty amazing, and seeing the magic put forward here in town, that it’s not forgotten that he was a magician first, it’s really cool to see.”

The entertainers were shown documentary footage displaying Carson revisiting his hometown before they played basketball in the driveway of Carson’s former home, which is now owned by festival board member Jim McKenzie.

“It’s just awesome to learn all this stuff and see how he loved the town as much as obviously his town loved him,” Rothrock said.

The festival began Thursday with a comedy/magic show featuring Buss, Tina Lenert and Mike Caveney.

That was followed by a Friday comedy performance at the Johnny Carson Theatre that showcased Rothrock, Sean Grant, Danielle Perez, Marcella Arguello and headliner Michael Ian Black.

Saturday’s festival gala featured Josh Day, Chanel Ali, E.L. Smith, Amy Silverberg and headliner Vicki Lawrence, who was presented the festival’s Comedy Legend Award.

The festival also included a late-night bar show at The Stables featuring Smith, Rothrock, Perez, Grant, Day, Ali, Silverberg and Arguello.

“It felt like I was performing on the Tonight Show,” Buss said of the festival performances. “I’m in heaven.”