24-03-2025
Conan O'Brien's Mark Twain Prize Ceremony Is A Spicy, Politically Charged Affair
Mark Twain would be proud. Conan O'Brien accepted the 26th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a star-studded gala at the Kennedy Center on March 23 that was sillier, spicier and, as the first major event at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump took office again and took over the chairmanship of the vaunted cultural bastion, more politically charged than previous years.
In the second of a new multiyear distribution deal with Netflix, audiences will get to witness much of the roasting and toasting when the streamer begins airing the event on May 4.
Comedy giants Bill Burr, Stephen Colbert, Will Ferrell, Nikki Glaser, Seth Herzog, David Letterman, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman and Reggie Watts were on hand to fete the man who counts late-night host—The Max Weinberg 7, the band for 17 years of 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien,' were on stage throughout—"Saturday Night Live' and 'Simpsons' scribe, and current purveyor of Team Coco among his comedic dynasty.
Video appearances by Bill Hader and Martin Short, Paul Rudd and Fred Armisen, who crushed it reoccurring in a variety of roles, peppered the proceedings. And not to be outdone, so did some of O'Brien's infamous sidekicks and creations including Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Cocaine Bear and PimpBot.
Aside from O'Brien's profound acceptance speech, in which he brought the spirit of Twain into the room, noting, 'One cannot invoke Twain without understanding who he was and what he stood for,' here are some of the standout moments of the night:
· John Mulaney joking that the Center, which bears the name of former President John F. Kennedy, would be renamed after Roy Cohn, the political operator who helped lead Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist investigations in the '50s, who served as an early Trump lawyer.
· After Kumail Nanjiani shared his introduction to America when he came to the States as a college student—'The first thing I saw on TV was a masturbating bear. And I remember thinking, I think I'm going to like it here,' he said… And then [I think] nothing represents America better than an unbelievably powerful predator pleasuring itself on television, delivering a 'Twain Talk' that compared the credit O'Brien receives for writing for 'The Simpsons'—O'Brien's name gets brought up 93% of the time people talk about writers for the show, vs his actual contribution—O'Brien wrote three of 781 episodes, 'a whopping 0.38%,' he deadpanned.
· Silverman reminiscing about an appearance on O'Brien's show. 'They wrote a bit where he interviews Hitler, who comes on because he's embarrassed because he's being compared to Donald Trump, and they cast me as Hitler. And it's this way of thinking that makes Conan great. Again,' she said. 'I just really miss the days when you were America's only orange asshole.'
· David Letterman musing, 'The Mark Twain Prize... let me just say one thing. I'm not a historian but I believe history will show, in history for all time, this will have been the most entertaining gathering of the resistance, ever.'
· Stephen Colbert, who engaged in his tribute while eating a succession of spicier wings with Hot Ones founder Sean Evans, noting that 'in light of the new administration of the Kennedy Center, these are all right wings.'
· Bill Burr waxing poetic about DC. 'Nothing says comedy like the free-flowing creative vibes of the District of Columbia,' he ribbed. 'I don't know what it is. There's something about staring and prolonging wars while crushing the working man for your own self-interest that really inspires all who gather on this furrowed ground. I always found this place weird. I was in Georgetown today, which is oddly quaint while sort of feeling like slavery is still legal. But lonely ay at a stage level. Like weed.'
· Tracy Morgan noting both he and O'Brien watched a lot of television and old movies when they were kids. 'I used to stay inside because I was in the projects in the Bronx and I didn't want to get shot,' he said. 'Conan, on the other hand, would stay inside and watch TV because he wasn't allowed to go out in the sun.'
