USC celebrates the funny with Conan O’Brien, James Burrows and others

Conan O’Brien, Betty White and Lisa Kudrow will be featured at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Comedy@SCA Festival this Saturday and Sunday at USC.

The second annual festival is part of the film school’s Comedy@SCA initiative, an interdisciplinary program that trains students in the creation of comedic entertainment in film, TV and interactive media.

The festival will feature panel discussions, including one on the Harvard Lampoon in Hollywood with O’Brien, producer Greg Daniel, (“The Office”), “The Simpsons” writer/executive producer Al Jean and writer John Bowman (“Saturday Night Live”), as well as a sneak of the holiday comedy feature “Grudge Match” with Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone, followed by a Q&A with director Peter Segal.

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On Saturday afternoon, James Burrows, the co-creator of “Cheers” and a director on numerous TV series, including “Taxi,” “Friends,” “Frasier” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will be honored with the Jacke Oakie and Victoria Horn Oakie Masters Award for Comedy. That will be followed by a conversation between the director and Kudrow.

Later that evening, producers Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas and Susan Harris (“The Golden Girls,” “Soap”) will discuss their career with special guests White, writer Mitchell Hurwitz (“Arrested Development”) and producer/director Jay Sandrich (“Cheers”).

The panels, which takes place at the Ray Stark Family Theatre on the USC campus, are free and open to the public, but reservations are necessary.

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