The first names for Bill Maher’s Mark Twain Prize ceremony are in—and, appropriately enough, they are not exactly controversy-proof.
Louis C.K., Jay Leno, and Stephen A. Smith are among the names set to appear when Maher receives the 2026 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center on Sunday, June 28, according to new reporting from The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg.
Also scheduled to participate are Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, and John Mellencamp—all past guests on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher.
The lineup is both unsurprising and revealing. Past Mark Twain Prize ceremonies have tended to draw a who’s who of A-list comedy stars—last year’s tribute to Conan O’Brien featured the likes of John Mulaney, Will Ferrell, Stephen Colbert, Adam Sandler, and David Letterman—but Maher’s was never likely to look like a conventional comedy-world coronation.
C.K. remains one of stand-up’s most divisive figures following the sexual misconduct scandal that derailed his mainstream career in 2017. Leno is a former Mark Twain recipient and late-night institution, but also a figure whose place in late-night history has never been exactly uncomplicated. Smith is not a comedian at all, but he is a professional provocateur, a cable-ready combatant, and a Maher guest whose inclusion makes sense in a ceremony honoring a host who has long blurred the lines between comedy, commentary, and televised argument.
In other words: of course this is Bill Maher’s Mark Twain lineup.
As we’ve reported, this morning’s news follows an unusually twisty road to the ceremony. Maher’s selection was first met with a White House denial, then confirmed days later, with the White House explaining that the situation had changed after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers. Maher responded on Real Time by calling his relationship with Trump “complicated.”
Since then, the ceremony has only gotten stranger: A federal judge has ordered Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center and temporarily blocked the planned two-year closure that was supposed to begin shortly after Maher’s gala, prompting Trump to say he planned to transfer the “failing Institution” back to lawmakers.
Maher is now set to accept the prize after Trump’s Kennedy Center project has been checked by a court, stripped of its new nameplate, and disowned by Trump himself.
The ceremony will be filmed in Washington, D.C., and streamed later on Netflix.
This is just more proof of how much Bunghole Bill Maher is a despised embarrassment! Only people with excessive baggage were willing to be seen with him! No one who’s popular and important wants to go near that toxic narcissistic fuckface!
Of course, Bunghole Bill will try and spin that to make himself seem popular to everyone!🙄😒
LOL. Jay Leno doesn’t get invited to shit, so he’s riding shotgun with some miscreants who are about as funny and entertaining as getting explosive diarrhea while on a date.