{"id":1396,"date":"2026-06-08T13:07:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:07:21","slug":"louis-c-k-jay-leno-and-stephen-a-smith-among-big-names-set-for-bill-mahers-mark-twain-prize-ceremony-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396","title":{"rendered":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n\tStandup comedian Louis C.K., former late night talk show host Jay Leno and TV commentator Stephen A. Smith are among the big names who will participate in the celebration of Bill Maher when the veteran stand-up comedian and TV talk show host receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, June 28, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> can exclusively report.<\/p>\n

Read more Pink Kicks Off 2026 Tonys With \u201cLady Marmalade\u201d Parody Boasting Megan Thee Stallion, Neil Patrick Harris and Dylan Mulvaney<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tOthers set to participate in the ceremony in Washington, D.C., which will be filmed for subsequent streaming on Netflix, include standup comedian Whitney Cummings, actor Woody Harrelson, media mogul Arianna Huffington and singer\/songwriter John Mellencamp, all of whom are regular guests on Maher\u2019s HBO program Real Time with Bill Maher<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mark Twain Prize, named after the 19th century writer who was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was created in 1998 to annually honor one of the world\u2019s great humorists. Previous recipients include Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009, rescinded in 2018), Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013) Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), David Letterman (2017), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2018), Dave Chappelle (2019), Jon Stewart (2022), Adam Sandler (2023), Kevin Hart (2024), and Conan O\u2019Brien (2025).<\/p>\n

\n\tMaher, who specializes in social and political commentary in his standup routine and on Real Time<\/em> (which he has hosted since 2003), is a polarizing figure at the moment, having angered both Pres. Donald Trump and much of the left with his acerbic criticisms of the current White House and the \u201cwoke,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Star Trek\u2019 60th\u00a0Anniversary\u00a0Celebration, Stars Set for Italian Global Series\u2019 Second Edition<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tTrump, who has long been a target of Maher\u2019s jokes and sued Maher for $5 million in 2013 over one particular crack, hosted the comedian for dinner at the White House in April 2025. But their detente did not last long, as Maher continued to joke about Trump, prompting Trump to opine that the comedian is \u201ca highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT\u201d and to describe the dinner as a \u201cwaste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBack in March 2026, Trump,\u00a0not long after attempting to rename the Kennedy Center as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, expressed, via spokespeople, displeasure with the establishment\u2019s selection of Maher for the Mark Twain Prize. On May 29, a federal judge ordered that Trump\u2019s name must be removed from the establishment\u2019s outdoor and indoor signage by June 12.<\/p>\n

Read more John Waters, Billy Porter and Julio Torres Set For Second Season of \u2018Finding Fire Island\u2019 Series<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith are among the big names set to appear at Bill Maher’s Mark Twain prize ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[854,1225,881,1226,1227,1228],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-bill-maher","tag-jay-leno","tag-kennedy-center","tag-louis-c-k","tag-mark-twain-prize","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"yoast_head":"\nLouis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith are among the big names set to appear at Bill Maher's Mark Twain prize ceremony.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"headline\":\"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396\"},\"wordCount\":474,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Bill Maher\",\"Jay Leno\",\"Kennedy Center\",\"Louis C.K.\",\"Mark Twain Prize\",\"Stephen A. Smith\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396\",\"name\":\"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp\",\"width\":1296,\"height\":730},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?p=1396#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"US Property Moves\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uspropertymoves.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves","og_description":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith are among the big names set to appear at Bill Maher's Mark Twain prize ceremony.","og_url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396","og_site_name":"US Property Moves","article_published_time":"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"headline":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive)","datePublished":"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396"},"wordCount":474,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp","keywords":["Bill Maher","Jay Leno","Kennedy Center","Louis C.K.","Mark Twain Prize","Stephen A. Smith"],"articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396","name":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive) - US Property Moves","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-08T13:07:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/699d7a272da3324bf7f60658577423cd.webp","width":1296,"height":730},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1396#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Louis C.K., Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith Among Big Names Set for Bill Maher\u2019s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony (Exclusive)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/","name":"US Property Moves","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f6dcb1ef8e64fe67b72b772b81aa822c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/uspropertymoves.com"],"url":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}