Conan O’Brien to receive 2025 Mark Twain Prize for comedy

Before hosting this year’s Oscars, comedian Conan O’Brien will accept his own big award.

The Emmy Award winner, set to host the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, will be honored with the 2025 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday that the former late night host is the 26th recipient of the award, which “recognizes individuals who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th-century novelist and essayist Samuel Clemens, colloquially known as Mark Twain.”

Past recipients include Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Burnett and Dave Chappelle.

“I am honored to be the first winner of the Mark Twain Prize recognized not for humor, but for my work as a riverboat pilot,” O’Brien joked in the announcement — with a nod to the prize’s namesake, who took his pen name from a navigation term used by steamboat captains on a river.

“For four decades, Conan O’Brien has brought his unique blend of the smart, silly, insightful, and hilarious into our homes,” Deborah F. Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said in the announcement.

“From ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘The Simpsons’—including the unbelievably funny monorail episode—to late night, podcasts, and all things Team Coco, Conan is a master of invention and reinvention, consistently pushing the envelope in search of new comedic heights,” she continued.

O’Brien, 61, was on hand at the 2023 Mark Twain Prize ceremony where his longtime friend Adam Sandler was honored.

Like his predecessors, he will receive a copy of an 1884 bronze portrait bust of Twain sculpted by Karl Gerhardt.

The event will take place at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall on March 23 in Washington, D.C. The program will be streamed on Netflix at a later date.