Ellen DeGeneres Receives Twain Prize

Last night at Washington DC's Kennedy Center, Ellen DeGeneres was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for humor.

As her friends made clear Monday night at the Twain ceremony, DeGeneres has played splendidly across the media gamut. She’s been an awards show host (trifecta: Grammys, Emmys, Oscars), a sitcom star (two bore her name), a voice actor (”Finding Nemo”), a commercial shill (American Express, JC Penney, and on and on) and an advocate for various causes. She was even a judge on “American Idol.” DeGeneres probably deserves a Twain award just for one legendary quip. While hosting the Emmy Awards just after the terrorist attacks of 2001, she asked, “What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?” For all the talk of equal rights, DeGeneres is just the fourth woman to receive the Twain Prize in its 15 years, following Whoopi Goldberg, Tomlin and Tina Fey.

(Tipped by JMG reader Alan)