Conan O'Brien decries 'bullies' while receiving Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize

The Manila Times

Conan O'Brien decries 'bullies' while receiving Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize  Conan O'Brien accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, March 23, with a not-so-subtle broadside against US President Donald Trump, whose takeover of the Kennedy Center, which awarded the prize, has shaken the arts world.  A host of comedians including David Letterman, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman and Stephen Colbert celebrated O'Brien for comic greatness while ribbing the Trump administration and putting a spotlight on the renowned arts facility that is now overseen by Trump allies.  But it was O'Brien, the longtime late-night television host and comedy writer, who aimed his comments most directly at the Republican president without using his name.  REUTERS / THE KENNEDY CENTER VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #worldnews  #kennedy  #conanobrien

Transcript

00:00there to catch you before you really had to dig yourself out of a hole.

00:05Our country has been through many different sea changes and my thought is I will be here

00:12specifically to honor Mark Twain and the people that this award stands for and also all the

00:19young people, young, old, middle-aged that have worked here at the Kennedy Center for

00:23a long time and this is their livelihood.

00:26So that was my thinking and it's an incredible honor to be here.

00:32Twain hated bullies.

00:34He populated his works with abusers such as Huck Finn's alcoholic father, Tom Driscoll

00:38and Puddinhead Wilson and he made his readers passionately hate those characters.

00:43He punched up, not down, and he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak.

00:54Twain was allergic to hypocrisy and he loathed racism.

00:57So I accept this award in the spirit of humility, stupidity, inanity, irrelevance, fear, self-doubt

01:08and profound unceasing silliness.

01:12I thank you.

01:13It's the honor of a lifetime.

01:14Thank you so much.

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