Bill Maher will be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, comedy’s highest honor, from the least comedic group of presenters in the show’s 28-year history.
Maher, 70, will be celebrated as comedy’s best humorist on June 28 by a group headlined by disgraced comedian Louis C.K., former Tonight Show host Jay Leno (a previous recipient), and comedian Whitney Cummings, according to an exclusive report by The Hollywood Reporter.
The presenters will also feature a slew of frequent Real Time guests and non-comedians, including Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, singer John Mellencamp, and Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington.
Maher’s panel is the least comedy-driven in the show’s history, with its three comedians totaling less than half the Mark Twain Prize’s average of eight.
By contrast, Conan O’Brien, who won the award last year, was honored by a murderer’s row of comedians including three former Mark Twain Prize recipients, David Letterman, Will Ferrell, and Adam Sandler, in addition to comedians John Mulaney, Stephen Colbert, Nikki Glaser, Bill Burr, and Sarah Silverman, among others.
Even comedian George Carlin’s posthumous ceremony in 2008—at which Maher presented—was hosted by an array of heavy hitters, including Jon Stewart, Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Garry Shandling, Margaret Cho, Lewis Black, and Denis Leary.
Former Mark Twain Prize recipients also include some of comedy’s greatest legends: Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, and Eddie Murphy, among many others. Bill Cosby, who was honored in 2009, had his award rescinded a decade later.
Maher’s wide-ranging list of presenters reflects his sometimes controversial proclivity for political and social commentary on both Real Time and Club Random, where his guests vary widely in their professions, affiliations, and political leanings.
Maher, who has repeatedly complained about rarely winning awards despite over 40 Emmy nominations, drew Trump’s ire for his Mark Twain Prize win.
Through a spokesperson, Trump called initial rumors of his Mark Twain Prize win “fake news” in March. Behind the scenes, Trump reportedly even tried to intervene to snub Maher, apparently to no avail.
Maher joked days later on Real Time that he and Trump had “reached a compromise.”
“I am going to get it, and then I’m going to give it to him,” he said in an apparent reference to Trump’s embarrassing touting of the Nobel Peace Prize after being “presented” with it by winner María Corina Machado.
“Me and the president, we have a complicated relationship… this has been going on a long time, so him trying to block me from getting it? I respect the move," he added.
Maher, who continues to trade shots with the president, will further spurn Trump by receiving the award at the John F. Kennedy Center, where all traces of Trump’s name have been ordered to be removed just two days before his 80th birthday on June 14.
Maher and Trump’s embattled relationship has seen the pair trade barbs for years, including multimillion-dollar lawsuits, late-night roasts, and a White House dinner that turned sour.
The comedian kindly noted that the president was both “gracious” and “measured” during their dinner, which was immediately met with Trump writing a scathing Valentine’s Day Truth Social post, where he called Maher “a highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT” and the dinner “a total waste of time.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
