Tina Fey to Receive Nation's Top Comedy Award

By John Mitchell Posted May 25th 2010 01:28PM

Tina Fey is a pretty funny lady. From her early days as a featured player in Chicago's famed Second City improv comedy troupe to her turn as Liz Lemon on NBC's Emmy-winning '30 Rock,' Fey's razor sharp wit and self-deprecating humor have made her a fan favorite.

Now, according to the Associated Press, the 40-year-old comedienne is being honored with the nation's top humor prize -- the Kennedy Center for the Performing Art's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

In a written statement, Fey joked, "I am truly thrilled to receive this honor. I assume Betty White was disqualified for steroid use."

"Like Mark Twain, Tina Fey offers her brilliance unconditionally," Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein told the Washington Post. "Throughout her career, she's earned legions of fans for her quick, unapologetic wit and social commentary."

Fey is the youngest person to receive the award in its 13-year history, and joins the ranks of Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Simon, Lily Tomlin, Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin, the late George Carlin and her one-time 'Saturday Night Live' boss, Lorne Michaels, in receiving the esteemed honor. The award will be presented during an all-star Nov. 9 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"She's politically conscious, she's a writer, she's a filmmaker, she's a producer, she's a performer," Mark Krantz, co-executive producer of the Twain salute, said. "Her body of work is as inclusive and far-reaching as anyone else's, and she's just funny."

Krantz added that Fey has "kind of broke the ceiling for many, many women in comedy" and noted that while many recipients have been older, the honor has never been intended as a lifetime achievement award. "It feels to the world that she has just broken out, but she hasn't," Krantz said. "There is a whole generation of what I consider to be almost classic, groundbreaking entertainers under 40. It is not the oldest that count, but who makes us laugh."

The honor will take its place in a very crowded trophy case. Fey has won seven Emmys, three Golden Globes, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Writers Guild of America Awards.

Tags: 30 rock, awards, tina fey

Comments

(20)

Tuesday 25 May

By Jesse

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It's too bad they couldn't award it to somebody that's actually funny.

By LORI

SHE WAS GOING DOWN THE TUBES TILL SHE STARTED HER NASTY JOKES BAOUT PALIN ON SAT NIGHT LIVE. SHE IS NOT FUNNY JUST RUDE!! SUDDENLY HER STUPID SHOW WON AWARDS TOO.!! HER REWARD FOR BEING MEAN!!!

By WD Simmons

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Are you high. Fey has been receiving steady acclaim as the head writer of SNL. You are no doubt a sarah Palin fan taking your ques from her and just making crap up to carry tour point.

By AMF

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Why are you yelling?

Friday 15 October

By Kent Dean

Lori, how old are you?

By whamhammer

I never even knew who she was before she did the Palin skits. She was able to impersonate her well, albeit for the purposes of representing Palin negatively. I wonder where she would be if she hadn't been used as a politcal attack tool.

By lavalampoon

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The only person more over rated than Tina Fey is Sarah (is her 15 minutes up yet) Palin!

By J Henderson

Hmmm.. I wonder if NBC is televising the event. Has anyone seen the ratings for "30 Rock?" Not everyone seems to find her clever and witty.

By Shar

They couldn't find anyone truly talented to give this award to? That is sad

Monday 31 May

By Ronald

I'm quite sure if we LOOKED and ACTED alike here on earth, LIFE WOULD BE PRETTY DARN BORING !

By peapers

Anyone who believes this award isn't politically motivated must lie to themselves on a regular basis. "I'm a winner, I'm a winner!"

By Barbara

I think she is very funny. When she did the Palin skit it was fantastic.I feel sorry for all of you "Palin the quitter and liar fans". It is too bad that she is such a joke. One of our colleges is paying Palin an enormous amount of money which infuriates most of the people because they feel the money would be much better spent to help the students than to pay a person who does not even keep her vows. Thank you Tina Fey for being a breath of fresh air.

By sndnczeet

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Tina Fey deserves an award just for impersonating Sarah Palin. She doesn't quite master Palin's annoying screech of a voice, but all in all, Fey is spot on. I'm sure this news will have the Palin worshippers spitting fire and brimstone. rofl

By Boetica

And Barack Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize...for what? Another award given to someone for being a "useful idiot". Alinsky would have been so proud. If you can't win in the arena of ideas, ridicule your opponent or call them a racist. The really pathetic thing is that people actually believe that Sarah Palin said the things that Tina Fey said. That shows just how intelligent and informed the Palin haters are (not).

Wednesday 26 May

By lauren

dude, the second skit was almost verbatim... look it up. Like 95% of the words are identical and in the same order. Sorry to break it to you -- Palin really is THAT dumb!

By jeffrey

I will tell you what's really funny is all the time she was being rude to Palin, now Palin is making MILLIONS and shoving it in Tina's ugly face. Now that's funny!!!!!

By nahnah

whether or not you are a fan - tina's emmy/golden globe/sag award winning show 30 rock wins these awards for a reason. it's been nominated for 79 awards, and has won 29. and for the record in most of her SNL skits, tina actually was quoting palin verbatim which is why it was such a funny JOKE! palin provided all the material needed for tina to succeed so don't shoot the messenger (oh unless you are a member of the NRA then shooting is expected)! go on hating - and even if 30 rock went off the air today...tina fey is still a winner. palin is not.

By izikavazo

Plus they were hoping to skew younger and get some attention.
(I do think she deserves it)

By tom

Not funny at all. Can't watch her.

Hell yeah Tina! 30 rock is by far the funniest thing on TV, and her Palin spoofs were absolutely brilliant (both acting AND content).

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