By Ashraf Khalil
Comedian and host Conan O’Brien was named the newest recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy on Thursday.
O’Brien, 61, has carved out an improbable decades-long career arc, moving from goofy television interloper to comedic elder statesman. Along the way, he survived one of the most public failures in the history of television on “The Tonight Show” — only to launch a successful, and sustained, next act.
His travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go” sparked popular and critical acclaim, with a second season coming. In March, O’Brien will host the Academy Awards three weeks before his own Mark Twain ceremony in Washington.
Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in a statement called O’Brien “a master of invention and reinvention, consistently pushing the envelope in search of new comedic heights.”
O’Brien offered his own tongue-in-cheek assessment, saying in the Kennedy Center statement that he would be
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