Watch Jay Leno Receive the Mark Twain Prize
Jay Leno received the highest honor in comedy that the country has to give, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in a ceremony that was taped last month at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Last night PBS aired the ceremony in its entirety, and now you can watch it below courtesy of pbs.org.
The evening included tributes from Jimmy Fallon, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Eubanks, Chelsea Handler, Kristin Chenoweth, Seth Meyers, Garth Brooks, JB Smoove and Wanda Sykes, which were more than a little on the “roasty” side, but seemed to be full of love for Jay. Jimmy Fallon remarked, “He did so much for NBC that we have to celebrate his career on PBS.” And Garth Brooks making the comment, “I just hope PBS runs this at 11 pm because it’s proven no one will watch Jay at 10”, referring to Jay’s failed primetime experiment on NBC. Jay’s less than stellar movie career, his obsession with cars and his early wardrobe were also brought up.
Jay watched the tributes from a box at the Kennedy Center with his wife Mavis. In his acceptance speech, Jay Leno joked about getting old, dealing with the younger people at the Tonight Show and how he had a great relationship with his parents which is so different than many comedians working today. Jay finished by calling it “the most wonderful night” of his life and saying how the Mark Twain award will be the new hood ornament on his ’55 Buick.
Past recipients include Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Ellen DeGeneres and Carol Burnett.
The highlight of the ceremony were the clips of Jay Leno’s first television appearance on a Freddie Prinze HBO special in 1976, followed by Jay’s first time performing on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in 1977. Head to the 4:20 mark to watch those clips.
