Ellen DeGeneres Wins Mark Twain Prize For Humor

Once upon a time, the highest honor a comedian could receive was to be asked to sit down on the couch by Johnny Carson following a routine on The Tonight Show. With the host gone, it could be argued the new greatest honor for a comedian is to be given the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the Kennedy Center. Now Ellen DeGeneres can say she’s experienced both.

More than twenty-five years after Carson asked her to take a seat, DeGeneres has been announced as the 2012 recipient of the Twain Prize. The fifty-four-year-old has long been popular with comedy fans, but over the past nine seasons, she’s carved a special place in the heart of fans who watch her incredibly popular talk show five days a week.

According to The Washington Post, Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein praised Ellen for finding “hilarity in the mundane”, which is a pretty accurate description of how she’s always generated laughs. Far from the edgiest comedienne, DeGeneres has long used charm and witty observations to interact with her guests and audiences. The term “affable” seems to be regularly thrown around about her, and it’s a very fitting one. She has a way of making people completely relaxed, and that’s an incredible skill for both a talk show host and a comedienne.

Previous winners of the award have included Bill Cosby and Will Ferrell. DeGeneres absolutely belongs in their class, and Pop Blend wishes her a hearty congratulations over the very public honor.