Bill Cosby Awarded The Mark Twain Prize For American Humor 10/26

Bill Cosby has been awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The Kennedy Center will present the comedian with this award on October 26th at the Center's concert hall.

Along with the accompanying festivities, the award ceremony will be filmed for later broadcast on PBS.

According to the Kennedy Center site, "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."

Past winners include Billy Crystal, Neil Simon, Lily Tomlin, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin and George Carlin.