The 2018 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor has been announced. This year’s prize will be given to Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the Kennedy Center later this year. Louis-Dreyfus joins previous Mark Twain Prize winners Bill Murray, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Burnett, and last year’s winner David Letterman. “Like Mark Twain, Julia has enriched American culture with her iconic, unforgettable, and outright hilarious brand of humor. Over four decades, her wildly original characters and her gift for physical comedy have left us in stitches. Julia is a role model for so many, and we look forward to honoring her on October 21,” Kennedy Center president Deborah F. Rutter said on the news. Added Louis-Drefyus: “Merely to join the list of distinguished recipients of this award would be honor enough, but, as a student of both American history and literature, the fact that Mr. Twain himself will be presenting the award to me in person is particularly gratifying.”
