Tribute George Carlin at the Mark Twain Prize
The first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was presented to comedian Richard Pryor on October 20, 1998. The first two years of The Mark Twain Prize (Richard Pryor and Jonathan Winters) were taped and broadcast on Comedy Central. Since then, the award presentations have been taped for broadcast on PBS.
In 2007, the Mark Twain Prize celebrated its 10th anniversary and presented the prize to Billy Crystal. For the first time in 10 years, the show was held in the Opera House of The Kennedy Center on October 11, 2007 and was broadcast on November 12, 2007 on PBS. The evening's presenters included Bob Costas, Robert De Niro, Danny DeVito, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, David Letterman, Jon Lovitz, Rob Reiner, Paul Shaffer, Martin Short, Joe Torre, Barbara Walters and Robin Williams.
George Carlin died on June 22, 2008, just four days after the Kennedy Center announced he would be that year's honoree and at first, and commentators wondered whether there would be alterations to the presentation.[1] After consulting with both Carlin's family and PBS, the ceremony took place as scheduled, with no major changes in the presentation format.[2]
Bill Cosby, the 2009 recipient, accepted his award at the Kennedy Center on October 26, 2009.,[3] although he had twice refused the honor, stating that he was disappointed with the profanity used in the inaugural ceremony honoring Richard Pryor’
In 2010, 40-year-old Tina Fey became the youngest person to ever receive the award, which raised questions about how performers like Fey and Will Farrell could be honored before Carol Burnett and other more established contributors to American humor. Recipients of The Mark Twain Prize
Left: Richard Pryor was the first recipient of Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Middle: Bill Cosby received the award in 2009. Right: Tina Fey is the youngest recipient of the award.
