The Mark Twain Prize, Yet Again

Back in January 2017 – you know, five years ago – I updated my list of comedians who deserved the Mark Twain Award for American humor. Since then, one of the people on my list got the award – congrats Julia Luis Dreyfus, 2018 – alongside two other deserving winners: Dave Letterman in 2017, and Dave Chapelle in 2019. But no award was given these past two years. And, compared to my 2017 list, some of the greats who I wanted to see win have died: Dick Gregory, Mort Sahl, and most recently, Betty White. I’ve also removed Louis CK and Garrison Keillor, as I suspect there’s little chance either would be eligible to win, post-2017.

So, with a few other minor tweaks, here are a dozen nominees who will hopefully win, starting in 2022.

 

1.       Dick Van Dyke, 96. He is so talented – one of the great physical comedians. The plots of The Dick Van Dyke Show were clever, and he was always so sincere. And Mary Poppins!

 

2.       Mel Brooks, 95. Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers. The man worked with Sid Caesar and won an EGOT.

 

3.       Tom Lehrer, 93. He wants to be remembered for mathematics, and that’s nice and all, but his comedy recordings are part of the National Recording Registry, and his math isn’t.

 

4.       The Smothers Brothers, 84+83. After a string of noteworthy comedy albums, they got their own show, The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour, which helped change the comedic landscape of television.

 

5.       Bette Midler, 76. An all-arounder, Midler wrote her own show and has won Grammys, Emmys, and Tonys, alongside her recent Kennedy Center Honor. She is considered an icon for a reason.

 

6.       Matt Groening, 67. The Simpsons, alone. But let’s not forget the off-beat Life in Hell or Futurama, or the recent success of Disenchantment.

 

7.       Harvey Fierstein, 67. A pretty big force in Broadway’s comedy world. His play La Cage Aux Follies successfully crossed into film, and Kinky Boots won Best Musical. Hairspray helped prove his acting chops.

 

8.       “Weird Al” Yankovic, 62. The inheritor of the legacy of Tom Lehrer, Weird Al defined parody songs for both Gen X and Millennials, and is still going strong, winning comedy Grammys well into the 2010s.

 

9.       Jon Stewart, 59. Basically changed how media, news, and television works. Fought an eight-year crusade against George W. Bush and spawned the careers of Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert, among others.

 

10.   Conan O’Brien, 58. They gave it to Letterman, Ellen, and Leno. The guy had a 28-year run of late-night shows, just shy of Johnny Carson. Before that he was a legendary SNL and Simpsons writer.

 

11.   Chris Rock, 56. He’s had a great standup career. His television and movie work is mixed, but usually he’s one of the highlights of whatever he’s in. Four Emmys and three Grammys aren’t nothing.

 

12.   Margaret Cho, 53. Cho’s work has always been there, simmering in the background of the standup world. She never quite got the big breaks, and, honestly, I'm not a fan, but her work in both Asian American and LGBTQ representation in comedy has been important.