‘First And Foremost, Twain Hated Bullies.’ Conan O’Brien Accepts Mark Twain Prize With Profound Speech

There’s been curiosity surrounding how Conan O’Brien, recipient of the 26^th Mark Twain Prize, might handle his designation in the first major event to be held at the Kennedy Center during the second term of President Donald Trump.

Capping a glorious evening of roasting and revere from an A list of comic genius including Bill Burr, Stephen Colbert, Will Ferrell, Nikki Glaser, Seth Herzog, David Letterman, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman and Reggie Watts, O’Brien delivered an acceptance speech at the March 23 event that left little to the imagination.

After sharing how meaningful it was to receive the award from Letterman, who closed out the tributes, O’Brien turned his attention to the comedian whose name graces the country’s highest award for comedy. “Accepting an award named after Mark Twain is a responsibility,” he said. “One cannot invoke Twain without understanding who he was and what he stood for.”

Twain, he continued, is “alive, vibrant and vitally relevant today. Yes, he is America’s greatest humorist but his enduring power springs from his core principles. First and foremost, Twain hated bullies and he populated his works with abusers, such as Huck Finn’s abusive father, and he made his readers hate those characters. He punched up, not down and he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak.”

O’Brien continued, “Twain was allergic to hypocrisy and he loathed racism. Twain wrote, ‘There are many humorous things in the world, among them the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.’ Twain empathized with the powerless in America. Former slaves struggling in reconstruction, immigrant Chinese laborers in California and European Jews fleeing antisemitism.”

Noting Twain’s remedy for ignorance was to travel the world, O’Brien quoted his words: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrowmindedness, and many our people need it sorely on these accounts.”

“Twain was suspicious of populism, jingoism, imperialism, the money-obsessed mania of the gilded age and any expression of mindless American might or self-importance. Above all, Twain was a patriot in the best sense of the word. He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed. Twain wrote, ‘Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.” (Perhaps not a coincidence, Letterman shared the same Twain sentiment from the stage when he received the Twain Prize in 2017.)

O’Brien suggested some might ask what the words he was sharing have to do with comedy, and he concluded with his answer.

“It has everything to do with comedy. Everything. The comedy I have loved all my life is comedy that’s self-critical, deflating and dedicated to the proposition that we are all flawed, absurd and wallowing in the mud together. Twain is funny and important today because his comedy is a hilarious celebration of our fears, our ineptitude and the glorious mess of being human.”

If we are to truly celebrate Twain, he said, “We acknowledge our commonality and we move just a little closer together. So I accept this award in the spirit of humility, stupidity, inanity, irrelevance, fear, self-doubt and profound unceasing silliness I think you, it’s the honor of a lifetime.”

Among his thanks, O’Brien brought the biggest applause of the night when he singled out “the people who invited me here several months ago,” former Kennedy Center chairman David Rubenstein, who in February was replaced in that role by President Trump, and former Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter, who was fired in February.

“And a special thanks to all the beautiful people who have worked here at the Kennedy Center for years and who are worried about what the future might bring. My eternal thanks for their selfless devotion to the arts,” he said.

Netflix, the home of The Mark Twain Prize since 2024, will stream the event beginning next month.