Stand-up comedian Louis CK, former late-night talk show host Jay Leno and television commentator Stephen A. The Smiths are among the big names who will join in celebrating Bill Maher when the veteran comedian and TV talk show host receives the Mark Twain Award for American Humor from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, June 28. Hollywood Reporter Can provide an exclusive report.
Others scheduled to participate in the ceremony in Washington, D.C., which will be filmed for later broadcast on Netflix, include comedian Whitney Cummings, actor Woody Harrelson, media mogul Arianna Huffington and singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, all regular guests on Maher’s HBO show. Real Time with Bill Maher.
The Mark Twain Award, named after 19th-century writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was established in 1998 to annually honor one of the world’s greatest comedians. Past winners include: Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), and Bill Cosby. (2009, canceled in 2018), Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013), Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), David Letterman (2017), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2018), Dave Chappelle (2019), Jon Stewart (2022), Adam Sandler (2023), Kevin Hart (2024), and Conan O’Brien (2025).
Maher, who specializes in social and political commentary in his stand-up routines and such at present (who has been hosting since 2003) is a polarizing figure at the moment, having drawn the wrath of both presidents. Donald Trump and much of the left with his harsh criticisms of the current White House and “wokeness” respectively.
Trump, who has long been the target of Maher’s jokes and sued Maher for $5 million in 2013 over one particular hoax, hosted the comedian for dinner at the White House in April 2025. But their détente was short-lived, as Maher continued to joke about Trump, leading Trump to believe the comedian is a “very lightweight, over-the-top person” and called the dinner a “waste of time.”
Back in March 2026, Trump, shortly after trying to rename the Kennedy Center as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, expressed through spokespeople his dismay at the institution’s selection of Maher for the Mark Twain Award. On May 29, a federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the institution’s exterior and interior signage by June 12.
