Ken Jeong Will Host Jerry Lewis Arranged Comedy Awards Show in NYC in December
KEN JEONG
Before he passed, Jerry Lewis set up an Academy of Comedians to award honors to comedy’s top performers. The Academy will hold its first-ever Legacy Awards on December 10th in New York City. The evening will be hosted by comedian Ken Jeong at Cipriani Wall Street and will include several special performances and special guest appearances.
The Academy, titled the Legionnaires of Laughter (LOL), consists of 130 comedians or Legionnaires, inducted by Lewis who will vote on the honorees. Some of those inducted include Tina Fey, Woody Allen, Danny Devito, Dan Aykroyd, Howie Mandel, Jeff Dunham, Susie Essman, Jimmy Fallon, Alec Baldwin, the Farrelly Brothers, Samantha Bee, Seth Rogen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Connolly, Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Norm Macdonald.
Awards will honor writers, performers and programming in categories like the best male and female stand up comedians, political comedians, performances in musical comedy, web series and children’s comedy artists- in fact there’s a whole run of childrens comedy categories. Lewis himself will receive the first Lifetime Achievement Award.
“As comedians, we learn from the ones who came before us. From the uncle who asks us to pull his finger at our 5th birthday party, to the legends who broke ground in the art form of comedy and showed us where to find our funny bone. I wanted comedians to understand that it is not how long your funny bone lasts, it is what you do with it. I want ‘The Legionnaires of Laughter Legacy Awards to be the ‘Oscars for Comedy.’ Representing all forms of comedy from standup, film, tv, theatrical, to web-based. I want those who have carried the baton of comedy and those who will continue to, to have the opportunity to be celebrated for their work. Comedy is hard and not many can do it well. And it isn’t valued by the other awards properly. It needs its own Awards nominated and voted on by its own,” said the late Jerry Lewis.
The full category list and nominees include:
LOL Lifetime Achievement Award: Jerry Lewis
Achievement Award in Comedy Social Impact
· Mr. Alex Brooker
· Mrs. Ellen Degeneres
· Mr. John Oliver
· Mr. Eddie Izzard
· Dr. Phil Hammond
Best Stand Up Comedian Male
· Mr. Dave Chappelle
· Mr. Kevin Hart
· Mr. Dana Carvey
· Mr. Jerry Seinfeld
· Mr. Hasan Minhaj
Best Stand Up Comedian Female
· Mrs. Jo Brand
· Mrs. Maria Bamford
· Ms. Hannah Gadsby
· Ms. Tiffany Haddish
· Mrs. Ali Wong
Best Children’s Comedy Artist Male
· Mr. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee – Kim’s Convenience
· Mr. Andres Burgos – Eh Bee Family
· Master Iain Armitage – Young Sheldon
· Mr. Steve Harvey – Family Feud and Little Big Shots
· Master. Nolan Gould – Modern family
Best Children’s Comedy Artist Female
· Mrs. Carol Burnett – A Little Help with Carol Burnett
· Ms. Dominique Moore – Horrible Histories
· Miss. Gabriela Burgos – Eh Bee Family
· Miss. Olivia Rodrigo – Bizaardvark
· Miss. Madison Hu – Bizaardvark
Best Comedy Musical
· School Of Rock
· Book Of Mormon
· Waitress
· Aladdin
Best Children’s Comedy Writer
· Mrs. Carol Leifer – A Little Help With Carol Burnett
· Mr. Ben Ward – Horrible Histories
· Mr. Ins Choi, Ms. Amelia Haller, Mr. Kevin White – Kim’s Convenience
· Ms. Christine Ferraro – Sesame Street
· Mr. Josh Lehrman, Mr. Kyle Stegina – Bizaardvark
Best Comedy Musical/Theatrical Male Actor
· Mr. AJ Holmes – The Book Of Mormon
· Mr. Alex Brightman – School of Rock
· Mr. Jeremy Morse – Waitress
· Mr. Major Attaway – Aladdin
· Mr. Rob McClure – Something Rotten
Best Comedy Musical/Theatrical Female Actress
· Ms. Charity Angel Dawson – Waitress
· Ms. Emily Borromeo – School Of Rock
· Ms. Arielle Jacobs – Aladdin
· Mrs. Tisha Campbell-Martin – Mamma Mia
· Ms. Lenne Klingaman – Waitress
Best Children’s Comedy Television Program
· A Little Help with Carol Burnett – Netflix
· Kim’s Convenience – CBC
· Horrible Histories – ABC
· Sesame Street – PBS
· Spongebob Squarepants – Nickelodeon
Best Children’s Comedy Film
· Thor: Ragnarok
· Despicable Me 3
· Incredibles 2
· Peter Rabbit
· Paddington 2
Best Comedy Artist Male
· Mr. David Mitchell
· Mr. Ben Stiller
· Mr. Michael McIntyre
· Mr. Dwayne Johnson
· Mr. Ken Jeong
· Mr. Martin Short
Best Comedy Artist Female
· Mrs. Melissa McCarthy
· Mrs. Catherine O’Hara
· Ms. Rebel Wilson
· Mrs. Kristen Bell
· Ms. Leslie Jones
Best Children’s Comedy Web Series
· Eh Bee Family
· Peppa Pig
· The Little Bus Tayo
· Angry Birds
· Lego
Best Political Comedy Artist of Group
· Ms. Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live
· Mrs. Melissa McCarthy – Saturday Night Live
· Mr. Trevor Noah – The Daily Show
· Ms. Michelle Wolf – The Daily Show
· Mr. Alec Baldwin – Saturday Night Live
Best Comedy Writer
· Mr. Eric Pearson, Mr. Craig Kyle, Mr. Christopher Yost – Thor Ragnarok
· Mr. Steven Rogers – I Tonya
· Mr. Noah Baumbach – The Meyerowitz Stories
· Mr. Peter Chiarelli, Ms. Adele Lim, Mr. Kevin Kwan – Crazy Rich Asians
· Ms. Elizabeth Berger, Mr. Isaac Aptaker, Mrs. Becky Albertalli – Love, Simon
Best Political Comedy Writer
· Ms. Madeleine Smithberg, Ms. Lizz Winstead – The Daily Show
· Mr. Lorne Michaels – Saturday Night Live
· Ms. Brona C. Titley – The Last Leg
· Ms. Emmy Blotnick – The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
· Mr. Tim Carvell – Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Best Comedy Television Program
· Would I Lie to You – BBC
· I’m Dying Up Here – Showtime
· Saturday Night Live – NBC
· The Late, Late Show With James Corden – CBS
· The Graham Norton Show – BBC
Best Political Comedy Television Program
· Daily Show – Comedy Central
· Saturday Night Live – NBC
· The Project – Network Ten
· The Last Leg – Channel 4
· The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – CBS
Best Comedy Film
· Tag
· I Feel Pretty
· Ocean’s 8
· Thor: Ragnarok
· The Spy Who Dumped Me
Best Political Comedy Film
· The Death of Stalin
· BlacKkKlansman
· War Machine
Best Comedy Web Series
· Jerry Seinfeld – Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
· Between Two Ferns
· Flula
· Jonathan Pie – Back to the Studio
· 555
Legionnaires of Laughter’s Legacy Awards are executive produced by Emmy & Grammy Award winning producer, Rikki Hughes; Veteran Entertainment Executive Barry Florence; and Australian film producer, Louise Schultze.
Profits from sponsorship of the evening will be donated to Jerry Lewis’ charity, Jerry’s House. Legionnaires of Laughter Legacy Awards is proudly brought to you by Australian Production House, BDC Entertainment, Magic Lemonade Productions, Magnify, Yes Captain (SFX), DWA Entertainment Lawyers, GSM Entertainment, Star Group AV, R.S. Owens, KMG Jewelry, Cipriani, Baldessari & Coster LLP, Stewart Falcon Design & Illustration, David Windsor Legal, Bader Media Group, Impulse Event Group and Pamela Taylor Hair & Makeup
For more information please visit https://legionnairesoflaughter.com/
The foundation was launched in 2017 at an event that honored Robin Williams.
