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Conan O’Brien to Receive 2025 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Conan O’Brien is the 2025 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He’ll receive it on March 23, three weeks after he hosts the Oscars.

Jay Leno, who was both O’Brien’s predecessor and successor as host of that legendary late-night comedy franchise, received the honor in 2014. “For four decades, Conan O’Brien has brought his unique blend of the smart, silly, insightful, and hilarious into our homes,” Deborah F. Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said in a statement. Previous recipients are 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Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009; rescinded in 2018), Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013), Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), David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), and Kevin Hart (2024).

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