Visitors to the 2017 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival are invited to a formal introduction with the “Queen of Mean.”

The annual Jamestown comedy festival’s 2017 lineup — already loaded with A-list comedians such as Jim Gaffigan, Kevin James and Lewis Black — was recently expanded to include a Saturday, Aug. 5, stand-up appearance by Lisa Lampanelli at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, beginning at 9 p.m.

Known and loved throughout the U.S. and Canada for her racy and raunchy humor, Lampanelli will make her first visit to Jamestown to participate in this year’s festival. With a reputation for saying things that most people are afraid to think, Lampanelli has been described as an “equal opportunity offender” who has been a regular on late night television, and a frequent guest and guest host on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM satellite radio shows.

Although a well-established comedian with an extensive performance background, Lampanelli said she is eagerly anticipating her upcoming show as part of the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival lineup.

“Being a part of this festival is something I like to call a ‘resume-builder,'” she said. “I like the fact that it’s a large festival with big-name headliners, and it’s been amazing to see my name alongside someone like Kevin James — who I love. So, when I was asked about it, I looked at the headline and gave a big ‘yes.'”

Making her first foray into the world of stand-up comedy in the early ’90s at the age of 30, Lampanelli became a household name when she joined 17 other celebrities on the fifth season of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” hosted by the now current president Donald Trump. The fifth installment of the show, with the largest-ever lineup of famous faces competing for charities of their choice, was a ratings bonanza for NBC. As a final four contestant, Lisa raised well over $100,000 for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

Lampanelli joined the ranks of comedy greats with her 2009 HBO comedy special, “Long Live the Queen,” and that same year, released her first autobiography, “Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat and Freaks.” As a writer, she was a monthly contributer to the Women column in Playboy Magazine. Her first Greatest Hits album was released earlier this year.

Labeled an “insult comic,” ethnic humor and racial minority insults, slurs and stereotypes are a predominant part of Lampanelli’s comedy routine. Her stand-up material was highly influenced by the Dean Martin roasts that televised when she was growing up. She said she didn’t start watching other stand-up comedians until she became one herself, but has since participated in several celebrity roasts.

“I literally never watched stand up as a kid, but my parents and I were obsessed with the Dean Martin roasts, and so now it’s all kind of come full circle,” she said. “So the roast and the insult format was a good fit for me. There’s something about some performers where the audience knows you’re kidding and so you can say anything you want. Smart people with no agenda know you’re joking so you can say things that others couldn’t get away with. I could do any racial joke in the book and not piss anyone off if they understand it’s being said without hate behind it.”

For more information about Lampanelli, visit www.insultcomic.com.

Tickets to Lampanelli’s Saturday, Aug. 5, show in Jamestown range from $17.50 to $77.50. They can be purchased at lucycomedyfest.com, where more information and a complete lineup for the 2017 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival can be found.