Legendary comic Dave Chappelle will be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this year in a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in northwest D.C.
The annual award honors influencers whose impact on American society is reminiscent of 19th-century novelist and satirist Mark Twain’s.
The D.C.-area native “is an internationally recognized stand-up comedian and actor whose trademark wit and sharp, irreverent social commentary explores race, popular culture, sex, drugs, politics, and fame,” the Kennedy Center said Tuesday in a statement.
Chappelle will join a prestigious group of comedians who have previously received the award, including Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, Carol Burnett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ellen DeGeneres and Richard Pryor, who won the inaugural award in 1998.
