Comedian and talk show host Bill Maher received the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Sunday night.
The night happened with the backdrop outside of a tarp covering the front of the Kennedy Center, ever since President Donald Trump’s name was removed.
On the red carpet, News4 asked Allison Lutnick, a member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and the wife of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, when the tarp will come down and why it’s still up.
“I’m not sure. They’re fixing the stone, so I’m not sure how much that should help,” she said.
The rigging remains so crews can address maintenance needs of the marble and the soffit panels, according to a Kennedy Center spokesperson.
And some members of Congress, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), didn’t want to talk about it at all on the red carpet.
“We’re talking about a tarp. Don’t we have bigger things?” he said. “Like I don’t care about the ballroom, I don’t care about the Reflecting Pool. I mean, so it’s turned into small ball.”
“You come in here, it’s like the Hunger Games, Trump’s face is on the wall, it’s like I’m in the Capitol. I don’t even know what’s going on, right?” said comedian Matt Friend on the red carpet. “This is just so surreal. Either way, it’s great for comedy.”
Maher has made taking on both political sides a pillar of his shows for decades, and for that, he was honored.
“It’s a lot safer in the bubble of either team, you know. You always have a team around you. My team is my fans,” Maher told News4 on the red carpet.
“I’m always doing a Bill,” Friend said when asked if he’s been practicing his impression of Maher. “Tonight’s the night to do it. It’s in the lip clack. ‘The left is wrong, the right is wrong, everybody’s wrong.’ He does this thing, he puts his hand in his belt during the monologue. I don’t know, it’s like a vocal fry. Either way, I’m happy to not be here supporting him. Okay, yeah. Now we’re in the Trump-Kennedy, whatever the hell this place is called now.”
Maher will be honored on the Netflix show by friends like Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno and Stephen A. Smith.
“Candor, being unapologetic, as knowledgeable as you possibly can be, that’s not going to be enough. It still requires courage,” Smith said about what he’s learned from Maher.
“I’d rather there be fighting than no talking at all,” Maher said. “ You know, call me names, whatever. Just call me.”
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/tyFh3zG
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