SHOULDN'T HE BE GETTING THE BOB AND DOUG MCKENZIE PRIZE INSTEAD? Not quite sure how we missed this, but Lorne Michaels is getting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Monday night, with a suitably bizarre list of presenters, including David Spade, Sen. John McCain, Candice Bergen, Chevy Chase (who's apparently back on good terms with his "SNL" peers), and Tracy "What Happened To My Career?" Morgan. This also explains why no new "SNL" this week, so we have to instead endure "The Best of Jimmy Fallon."
Michaels is the seventh winner, after Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, and Lily Tomlin. Honestly, I might not have given it to Michaels as an individual, but to "SNL" as an institution, as Michaels' non-SNL achievements don't really warrant much, aside from the discovery and promotion of Conan.
So who deserves to win next? The fact that Whoopi Goldberg has one while Mel Brooks and Woody Allen don't is simply absurd. For all the bad things you can say about late-career Robin Williams, he should probably be a contender for the early years. I suspect the only reason Johnny Carson doesn't have one is because he's unwilling to accept one in the gala format, but he deserves one without question. If the award didn't bar posthumous grants, Steve Allen should also have one. My bet on next year is probably Mel's year--what with two movies coming soon ("Spaceballs 2" and "The Producers: The Musical"), he'll be back in the spotlight and have recovered from some things--let us not speak of "Robin Hood: Men In Tights." Other suggestions are invited.
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