The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor

About the Mark Twain Prize | History of the Prize | Previous Winners

2007 Mark Twain Prize Recipient
Billy Crystal

Legendary actor-comedian Billy Crystal will be on hand at The Kennedy Center's historic Opera House on Thursday, October 11, 2007 to receive the 10th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in a star-studded, red carpet event. Bob Costas, Robert De Niro, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, Rob Reiner, Martin Short, Barbara Walters, Robin Williams, and other luminaries will celebrate Billy Crystal's career.The grand fete will be televised on most PBS stations for airing later this fall. Tickets for this event go on sale to the public on Aug. 10, 2007.

Billy Crystal has created one of the most versatile and prolific careers in the entertainment industry, finding success in front of the camera, as a performer in film and television, behind the scenes as a writer, director and producer, and as a dedicated human rights advocate. In the mid-1980's, Crystal was met with phenomenal national success on Saturday Night Live. He has hosted the Grammy Awards three times and, of course, the Oscars eight times. Crystal made his Broadway debut in 2004 with 700 Sundays, an autobiographical one-man play. The play opened to stellar reviews, and garnered him the Tony, Outer Critics Circle Award and the prestigious Drama Desk Award. Crystal is the recipient of six Emmy Awards, six American Comedy Awards and seven Cable Ace Awards. He has been married for 36 years to Janice, and has two daughters, Jennifer and Lindsay, and granddaughters Ella and Dylan.

Mark Twain, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Parker, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels...

American history is filled with countless comedians and writers of piercing wit who have left their mark on our ideas, attitudes, and language. The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was created to honor the brilliant minds that elbow American culture to see if it's still alive—and make us laugh about it. The award ceremony is a grand, star-studded tribute to the schtick, gags, wry anecdotes, and unflinching observations that remind us that we are human.

For a man who gleefully named characters Spinal Meningitis, Snodgrass, or Huckleberry, Mark Twain was always painfully aware of what he called "the baseness and hypocrisy and cruelties" of the human race. Twain's humor was always a thin veil, if any, of his social criticisms. His fearless observations outraged many while delighting many more. The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor thus recognizes an artist who has made a significant contribution to the world of American comedy.

Richard Pryor
1998

The first annual Kennedy Center Celebration of American Humor took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 18 through October 20, 1998. The celebration included lectures, symposia, and master classes, and culminated in the Concert Hall on Tuesday, October 20, 1998 when Richard Pryor was presented with the inaugural Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize, named after one of the world's greatest exponents of humor. The program featured a gathering of leading American artists including Chevy Chase, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Damon Wayans, and Robin Williams. It was taped by Comedy Central for cable television broadcast in January 1999.

As a social commentator, satirist and creator of memorable characters, Samuel Clemens—the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist also known as Mark Twain—was a fearless observer of society, who outraged many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective of social injustice and personal folly.

The Kennedy Center, as the nation's center for the performing arts, recognizes and presents all of the performing arts including opera, musical theater, drama, ballet and dance, as well as symphony and all kinds of smaller musical ensembles performing every imaginable kind of music. The Kennedy Center organized this "Celebration of Humor" weekend and established the Mark Twain Prize to recognize those who create humor from their uniquely American experiences.

Former Kennedy Center President Lawrence J. Wilker explained, "The humorist, who so often works alone, draws his material from himself and his own unique observations and experiences of the world around him. He is the one to whom we turn to make us laugh even while he reminds us of our own foibles. This prize will be an appropriate accolade for those who so entertain us—with honesty, surrealism, silliness, and sheer joy."

Wilker continued, "We hope that, as with our jazz programs, the educational and professional activities created to support The Mark Twain Prize and the Celebration of Humor will become a focal point for young humorists to meet and interact with seasoned professionals and leaders in the field."

"Richard Pryor was selected as the first recipient of the new Mark Twain Prize," said Wilker, "because as a stand-up comic, writer, and actor, he struck a chord, and a nerve, with America, forcing it to look at large social questions of race and the more tragicomic aspects of the human condition. Though uncompromising in his wit, Pryor, like Twain, projects a generosity of spirit that unites us." Wilker continued, "They were both trenchant social critics who spoke the truth, however outrageous."

Neil Simon 2006	Steve Martin 2005	Lorne Michaels 2004
Lily Tomlin 2003	Bob Newhart 2002	Whoopi Goldberg 2001
Jonathan Winters 2000	Carl Reiner 1999

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