Dave Chappelle To Receive Mark Twain Prize At Kennedy Center

WASHINGTON, DC -- D.C.-born comic Dave Chappelle will be honored with this year's Mark Twain Prize in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center this fall, the Center said in a statement.

Chappelle can add the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to an already crowded mantle that includes two Emmys and two Grammys.

“Dave is the embodiment of Mark Twain’s observation that ‘against the assault of humor, nothing can stand,'" Deborah F. Rutter, the Kennedy Center president, said in a statement. "For three decades, Dave has challenged us to see hot-button issues from his entirely original yet relatable perspective.”

He will receive the prize in a ceremony on Oct. 27. It will be aired on PBS on Jan. 6.

Previous winners include David Letterman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy. The Kennedy Center rescinded the award it gave to Bill Cosby in 2009 after he was convicted of sexual assault.