Trump–Kennedy Center Confirms Bill Maher Will Receive 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Comedian and television host Bill Maher has been named as the 27th recipient for the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, after the White House initially denied reports of his selection.

The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts confirmed the news in statement on Mar. 26, reversing earlier public comments from administration officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt who dismissed the report as “fake news.”

“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” said Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Trump–Kennedy Center. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse—one politically incorrect joke at a time.”

The prize will be awarded at a gala performance in the Trump–Kennedy Center Concert Hall on June 28, in Washington, and will later stream exclusively on Netflix. Following the event, the Trump–Kennedy Center is expected to close for a two-year renovation.

“Thank you to the Mark Twain people: I just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win,” Maher joked. “I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”

Last week, a report published by The Atlantic indicated that Maher had been chosen for the award with the White House quickly pushing back. At the time, White House communications director Steven Cheung echoed Leavitt’s sentiments on social media calling the story “literally FAKE NEWS.”

Established in 1998, the award recognizes humorists who have had an impact on American society and whose work reflects the social insight and satirical edge of its namesake, the 19th-century novelist and essayist Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain.

Maher, widely known for hosting his HBO talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” has built a decades-long career blending political satire and cultural criticism that has garnered him 42 Emmy nominations.

In 2022, he launched his “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast, which features one-on-one unfiltered conversations with a number of high-profile guests across entertainment, politics, science, and culture. The show hit No. 1 on Apple Podcasts within its first week of launching.

Maher was named the 14th most influential person in media by Mediaite in 2025, and more recently released a New York Times bestselling book titled: “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.”

Previous recipients of the Mark Twain Prize include Carl Reiner, Carol Burnett, Jay Leno, Eddie Murphy, David Letterman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Conan O’Brien, among many others.