Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
# Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was a ceremony presented on October 27, 2019. The show honored comedian Dave Chappelle who was being awarded with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor which was presented at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Those who helped celebrate his accomplishments included Neal Brennan, Jon Stewart, Lorne Michaels, Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman, Bradley Cooper, and Morgan Freeman.

The event was filmed and shown on PBS as well as the streaming service Netflix in 2020. The broadcast of the ceremony was unique, because footage of the ceremony was interspersed with footage of Chappelle performing standup in various comedy clubs. The special earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Variety Special and Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming.

## Summary

In order of appearance:

* Morgan Freeman
* Tiffany Haddish
* Aziz Ansari
* John Legend
* Neal Brennan
* Sarah Silverman
* Jon Stewart
* Eddie Murphy
* Bradley Cooper
* Lorne Michaels
* Colin Jost, Michael Che and Kenan Thompson

## Musical guests

* The Duke Ellington Band
* Mos Def
* Yasiin Bey
* Common
* Erykah Badu
* Q-Tip
* Frederic Yonnet

## Reception

The New York Times critic praised the show writing but added "The ceremony did little to explain the breaking point in Mr. Chappelle’s career and life. In highlight reels of Mr. Chappelle’s comedy, there was often at least a decade-long gap between jokes or scenes, highlighting his older, more challenging, more thrilling skit-based humor against his more recent and uneventful stand-up comedy." USA Today gave a mixed review to the special declaring, "Chappelle’s punchlines don’t hit without controversy," specifically pointing out his defense of Louis C.K., downplaying of the allegations against Michael Jackson, and his comments regarding the Trans community.

## Release

The program was broadcast on PBS stations on Tuesday, January 7, 2020. It was also released on Netflix later in 2020.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2020 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Special | Rick Austin, Dalton Delan, David Jammy, Deborah F. Rutter, Kristen Wong, Chris Convy, Chris Robinson, Michael B. Matuza, Matthew Winer | Nominated | |
| 2020 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming | Brad Gilson, Chester G Contaoi, Jon Alloway, Pi Ware, Brian Forbes | Nominated | |
