A Kennedy Center news release describes this as a “multi-year partnership” with the streaming service, but does not specify how many years. Representatives for Netflix and the Kennedy Center declined to provide further details about the partnership.
According to the center, the award, named after the author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain), is “like Mark Twain, the award’s namesake, who influenced American society with his humor.” It is said to be given to a comedian who gave the award. Hart becomes the 25th recipient of the award, joining Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, Carl Reiner and Carol Burnett. Last year’s award went to Adam Sandler.
“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Netflix and continue the Center’s 25-year tradition of honoring outstanding comedians like Kevin,” Kennedy Center Director Deborah F. Rutter said in a statement. “The Mark Twain Awards bring together the comedy community each year to recognize excellence and influence in comedy, and are consistent with Netflix’s status as a prominent home for comedy programming. We’re excited to bring a night of joy and merrymaking to Netflix.”
The streaming service has invested heavily in stand-up comics, attracting a wide range of comics including Tom Segura, Mike Epps, Jimmy Carr, Bo Burnham, Ali Wong, Seth Meyers and Jerry Seinfeld. Netflix has launched the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival in 2022. This year’s festival will feature more than 300 live events across 35 Los Angeles venues and will run from May 2nd to 12th, featuring comics such as Nate Bergatze, Seth Rogen, Bill Burr, John Mulaney, Taylor, and more. The work will appear. Tomlinson, Sarah Silverman, Nikki Glaser.
Netflix will be the fourth broadcaster of the Mark Twain Awards Ceremony. Comedy Central aired prerecorded telecasts of the awards ceremonies honoring Richard Pryor in 1998 and Jonathan Winters in 1999, and PBS broadcast all subsequent ceremonies until CNN took over last year. .
CNN acquired the broadcast under then-Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht, who sought to expand the network’s offerings. In a statement to The Washington Post at the time, he called the ceremony “one of the most uplifting and joyful events of the year” and said the network was “thrilled” to broadcast it. .
Prior to joining CNN, Richt executive produced Stephen Colbert’s late-night comedy show on CBS and produced two other Colbert-centric comedies.
After Chappelle won the award in 2019, the Twain Award was on hiatus for two years due to the pandemic. Traditionally held in the fall just before the Kennedy Center Honors, it has returned as a spring ceremony.
During the ceremony, several friends and sometimes family members of the honoree also take to the stage to praise and sometimes gently taunt the comedian of the moment. The evening concludes with speeches from the winners. This year’s guests include actresses Tiffany Haddish and Regina Hall, comedians Chappelle, Jimmy Fallon, Seinfeld, Chris Rock and rapper Nelly, the center said in a Thursday news release. It was announced at
