An Unlikely Recipient for the Twain Prize

You could measure the on-and-off feud between President Trump and the comedian Bill Maher in weeks, years, or decades. Last month, Trump called Maher a “highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT” in a lengthy Truth Social post. Years ago, he briefly sued Maher for suggesting his father was an orangutan.

All of which makes Maher an unlikely pick—at least at first blush—to receive the last marquee honor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts before it shuts down for two years, at Trump’s direction, in July. Maher has been chosen to receive this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, two people familiar with the selection told us. One of them, who works at the center, said an announcement is expected soon. A third person said that Maher had been offered the award—and that Trump had been supportive of the idea—but was not sure whether Maher had accepted it. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because Maher has not yet been officially announced as the award recipient. As with all decisions involving this president, the move could still be reversed until publicly announced. The White House declined a request for comment.

The Twain Prize ceremony, which streams on Netflix, is one of two major broadcast events at the Kennedy Center, along with the Kennedy Center Honors. Trump took over the Kennedy Center last February by replacing its trustees with loyalists, and was soon fantasizing to them about selecting the Honors recipients himself. Although he would go on to personally approve the honorees (including Sylvester Stallone and the glam-metal stars KISS), it was too late to swap out the 2025 Twain winner, Conan O’Brien, who had been tapped by the previous Kennedy Center leadership. The event functioned as a last hurrah for the old Kennedy Center, with Will Ferrell and Sarah Silverman among the comics roasting both O’Brien (who was there) and Trump (who was not). John Mulaney’s best line was that the Kennedy Center would soon be renamed the “Roy Cohn Pavilion of Big Strong Men Who Love ‘Cats.’”

In fact, the board of trustees eventually renamed it “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” a change that prompted a new wave of artist cancellations (Philip Glass, the San Francisco Ballet) and more anemic ticket sales. By this February, when Trump said the center would shutter for a two-year renovation, the attractions on the calendar had thinned. At the same time, one notable recent trend has been the booking of right-coded comedians such as Tony Hinchcliffe, Adam Carolla, and Jeff Foxworthy.

[Read: What the Kennedy Center closure really means for art]

With his largely center-left views, the 70-year-old Maher doesn’t belong in that cohort, though some of his positions are idiosyncratic, and he has a tendency to punch left as well as right. Moreover, Maher hasn’t been immune to Trump’s reality-distortion field. After Maher frequently jabbed the president's first administration, he visited Trump at the White House in 2025, in a meeting arranged by Kid Rock. Describing the dinner on his HBO show Real Time, Maher called Trump “gracious and measured” and willing to “listen and accept me as a possible friend.” The blowback among other comedians, like Marc Maron, came fast. The proximate subject of a satirical essay Larry David wrote for The New York Times—titled “My Dinner With Adolf”—was obvious.

By this February, Maher and Trump were back on the outs. Writing that Maher’s program had reverted to its old, anti-Trump ways, the president posted, “It was a total waste of time for me to have this jerk at the White House.” He was still sharing links to articles about their “Valentine’s Day breakup” as recently as March 6. Maher unpacked the dispute on his show the same day. “Someone has to help Donald Trump understand that I don’t suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he said. “He suffers from Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome.” But he gave Trump credit for a few wins, including removing violent criminals who were in the country illegally and “taking out Iran’s nuclear capability.”

Now Maher will receive one of comedy’s highest honors in a building widely associated with one of his favorite punching bags. If that sounds awkward, remember that the Twain Prize differs from the Kennedy Center Honors in a key way: Historically, the president doesn’t attend. Yet depending on where Trump and Maher are in their on-again, off-again bromance, attendees should not necessarily be surprised to find the president sitting among them.