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NYT: At the Kennedy Center, Conan O'Brien Gets Honored, and the Trump Jokes Are Plentiful
NYT - At the Kennedy Center, Conan O’Brien Gets Honored, and the Trump Jokes Are Plentiful (Gift article)
The star-studded Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony was the most notable event at the Washington arts center since the president installed himself as its chairman.
By Julia Jacobs
Reporting from Washington
March 24, 2025, 12:57 a.m. ET
In honoring Conan O’Brien at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, a lineup of big-name comedians made the veteran late-night host and comedy fixture the main focus of roasting — but President Trump and his recent takeover of the Washington arts center quickly became the second-favorite target of the night.
John Mulaney joked that the Kennedy Center would soon be renamed “The Roy Cohn Pavilion for Big Strong Men Who Love ‘Cats.’” Stephen Colbert, who makes Trump a nightly target on his late-night show, announced two new Kennedy Center board members: “Bashar al-Assad and Skeletor.” Will Ferrell complained that he did not have time to be there because he was “supposed to be shutting down the Department of Education.”
When David Letterman took the stage late in the show to give Mr. O’Brien the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, his nod to the upheaval in Washington was more solemn.
“In history for all time,” he said, “this will have been the most entertaining gathering of the resistance, ever.”
Mr. O’Brien is among more than two dozen comic performers and writers to receive the award since its inception. No other ceremony came at a time of such upheaval at the institution.
/snip
The star-studded Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony was the most notable event at the Washington arts center since the president installed himself as its chairman.
By Julia Jacobs
Reporting from Washington
March 24, 2025, 12:57 a.m. ET
In honoring Conan O’Brien at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, a lineup of big-name comedians made the veteran late-night host and comedy fixture the main focus of roasting — but President Trump and his recent takeover of the Washington arts center quickly became the second-favorite target of the night.
John Mulaney joked that the Kennedy Center would soon be renamed “The Roy Cohn Pavilion for Big Strong Men Who Love ‘Cats.’” Stephen Colbert, who makes Trump a nightly target on his late-night show, announced two new Kennedy Center board members: “Bashar al-Assad and Skeletor.” Will Ferrell complained that he did not have time to be there because he was “supposed to be shutting down the Department of Education.”
When David Letterman took the stage late in the show to give Mr. O’Brien the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, his nod to the upheaval in Washington was more solemn.
“In history for all time,” he said, “this will have been the most entertaining gathering of the resistance, ever.”
Mr. O’Brien is among more than two dozen comic performers and writers to receive the award since its inception. No other ceremony came at a time of such upheaval at the institution.
/snip
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
As everyone knows.
Thus, one need not be a Mystic Ketchup-splotch Reader to appreciate the certain reality that this joyful American celebration--in the best jester traditions of our nation--will not go down well with the draft-dodging object of G.O.P. worship.
