Adam Sandler honored with 2023 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Adam Sandler was presented with the 2023 Mark Twain Prize ceremony at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Sunday night. The multi-talented Sandler was roasted and honored by friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry. He may have seemed like an odd recipient for the prestigious award but who would argue that he didn’t deserve it?

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Sandler has quite a list of accomplishments that he has developed throughout his career so far.

The comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician has more than 80 movies and seven albums under his belt. His work has grossed more than $4 billion — and he is beloved by everyone from your grandma to your nephew. And like every Sandler movie that’s ever been panned by critics and cheered by audiences, the 2023 Mark Twain Prize ceremony at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Sunday night felt like it might have just been an excuse for a giant reunion for the popular comedian’s goofball-cum-genius friends.

The event is being reported as more of a comedy roast than a formal ceremony. Maybe the more relaxed atmosphere was due to the absence of PBS this year. The show will air on CNN later this week.

The tenor of the evening felt even less formal than past years’ events and more like a comedy roast, the audience was even given a six-pack and pulled into the back of a van filled with Sandler’s gang on a spontaneous, late-night road trip. Perhaps the event’s producers loosened the reins because this is the first year since its inception in 1998 that PBS opted out of carrying the show (it will air on CNN on Sunday, March 26, at 8 p.m. ET) — a slight that Idina Menzel poked fun at during her opening homage to Opera Man. Dressed in a red-satin-lined black cape and waving a white handkerchief, à la Sandler’s SNL character, Menzel sang that PBS had decided “Suze Orman’s as low as we’ll go…that’s why it’s on the CNN-o!”

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The people paying tribute to Sandler were a mixed bag. They included fellow actors and comedians, like Dana Carvey and Ben Stiller, as well as his mom and wife. Conan O’Brien from Sandler’s days at Saturday Night Live kicked off the evening’s event.

Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Aniston — apparently two of the very few ladies cool enough to have broken into the fraternity — shared the stage to playfully one-up each other about the depth of their friendships with Sandler. David Spade offered an oddly short tribute before disappearing from the audience for most of the second half of the show. Pete Davidson — a last-minute addition to the roster — shared that he first crossed paths with Sandler when was just a kid, auditioning for Big Daddy. “Thankfully,” he said, “I didn’t get it, because I can’t even handle fame now.” Tim Herlihy, Sandler’s freshman roommate at NYU, who has now collaborated with him on “31 motion pictures with a combined Rotten Tomatoes score of 59,” said that, despite his laid-back appearance, Sandler is one of the hardest-working people in the business: “He makes hundreds of hours of work look like going on vacation with his friends.” Even Sandler’s mom, Judy, and wife, Jackie, offered intimate perspectives on the man who seems universally adored across generations.

Drew Barrymore, who recently lost her mind and kneeled before a trans woman who has a teen girl fetish during her television show, noted that she and Sandler are actively seeking their next collaboration. They do make a good team.

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“I think that comedians are the most vital people on planet earth in the sense that they find bravery to make us all laugh,” Barrymore said. “They find a boldness. They find a humor. They find a sharp wit that they hone in as their skill that’s so unique to them.”

That’s true. Humor gets us through the day, especially during these trying times. Sandler makes everyone laugh. He has a wide appeal and an audience that ranges from young to old. That’s a true gift. He’s not mean-spirited in his humor and he has a pretty clean act, as a rule. That, too, is rare these days.

Sandler has a strong work ethic, according to those around him, and continues to work. He’s currently doing sold-out stand-up shows across the country. He has a sequel to a Netflix comedy special that is set to be released at the end of the month.

Congrats to him. Well-deserved.

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Jazz Shaw 7:20 PM | March 18, 2024
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