I ALWAYS DREAMT OF THE DAY COLONEL ANGUS WOULD REST HIS HEAD AT SHADY THICKET: For years, I have complained that the Mark Twain Prize -- sort of a lifetime achievement award for comedic talent presented by the Kennedy Center -- had a serious backlist of worthy recipients to honor before naming folks like Whoopi Goldberg (2001) and Billy Crystal (2007). The last two years have helped rectify things with the long-overdue recognition of George Carlin (2008) and Bill Cosby (2009) with well-deserved national praise for these humorists who changed American culture .
Your 2010 Mark Twain Prize honoree is Tina Fey.
Look: I think Tina Fey is phenomenal -- as a writer, actress, creator, risk-taker, ground-breaker ... she is a remarkable talent.
She's also just forty years old.
Back in 2007, I noted that the following people had yet to be recognized with this honor: David Letterman, Norman Lear, Eddie Murphy, Woody Allen, and Carol Burnett. (Mel Brooks, too, but he did receive a Kennedy Center Honor last year.) Indeed, the only justification I can think of for this is that they realized that a woman hadn't won since 2003 (Lily Tomlin) and Carol Burnett, Diane Keaton, Elaine May and Nora Ephron weren't interested. Too soon, too soon.
