Is It Something He Said?

Richard Pryor will get the first Mark Twain Prize for humor, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced on Tuesday. The award will be presented Oct. 20 at the center’s first annual “Celebration of American Humor.” Performers invited include Chevy Chase, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Damon Wayans and Robin Williams. The event will be broadcast on television in January. “I feel great about accepting this prize,” Pryor said. “Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud that, like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humor to lessen people’s hatred.”