Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Mike Redmond | News | June 8, 2026
Bill Maher’s desperate need for prestigious awards (that he believes have been wrongly denied him because he’s such a bold truth-teller) finally struck paydirt this year, and all he had to do was kiss the president’s butt in front of Kid Rock. After a weird back and forth in March, Maher finally secured his Mark Twain Prize, which somehow got even weirder last month after a judge stepped in and ripped the Kennedy Center out of the White House’s grubby mitts. I’m talking they’re taking Trump’s name off the building, prompting him to pull the classic “You can’t fire me, I quit” maneuver. What an incredible time to be alive.
Anyway, as of this writing, Maher’s prize ceremony is still happening on June 28. Should whoever’s in charge of the Kennedy Center not pump the brakes after Googling “who is Bill Maher,” he’ll get even luckier because his award won’t have certain someone’s name on it. Maher squeaked out quite an impressive little maneuver here. However, he’s going to need someone to speak glowingly about his skills as a comedian, and that’s where this whole production smacked into a wall.
Check out this lineup via THR and get ready for one heck of a jump scare:
Standup comedian Louis C.K., former late night talk show host Jay Leno and TV commentator Stephen A. Smith are among the big names who will participate in the celebration of Bill Maher when the veteran stand-up comedian and TV talk show host receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, June 28, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively report.
Louis C.K., Jay Leno, and Stephen A. Smith. That sounds like the act that greets you at the gates of Hell. At least Maher didn’t use this as another excuse to talk about how much weed he smokes with Woody Harrelson. They’re very into marijuana, I’m not sure if you’ve heard.
Others set to participate in the ceremony in Washington, D.C., which will be filmed for subsequent streaming on Netflix, include standup comedian Whitney Cummings, actor Woody Harrelson, media mogul Arianna Huffington and singer/songwriter John Mellencamp.
Oh, Bill, never change.
In the meantime, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Seth MacFarlane turned down this invite. You know he was asked, but that’s OK. It’s fine. Jay Leno is going to be there. That’s just as good, right? He’ll probably talk about cars!
