On Sunday night Bill Murray was awarded one of the most prestigious honors in comedy.
The comedic actor received the Mark Twain Prize during a star-studded event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
“The Mark Twain Prize recognizes people who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain,” the center’s site says. “As a social commentator, satirist and creator of memorable characters, Samuel Clemens was a fearless observer of society, who startled and outraged many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective of social injustice and personal folly.”
But Murray isn’t just the recipient of this year’s prize, he’s very much like the witty American hero for whom it is named.
Here’s how the “Groundhog Day” star resembles Twain:
They’re baseball fans
There was apparently some question as to whether the actor would make the ceremony if his beloved Chicago Cubs hadn’t won Saturday night and made it to their first World Series in 71 years.
“I’m glad they won last night so I could be here this evening,” the New York Times reported Murray said. “If they hadn’t won last night I would have had to have been there, because, honestly, I do not trust the media to report the story.”
Likewise Twain was a fan who supported the Hartford, Connecticut, baseball club and paid homage to the sport in his 1889 novel “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”
They’re political animals
Twain has been called “our first major stand-up political humorist” and Murray is no slacker when it comes to making yucks out of our government.
On Friday Murray crashed a White House press briefing to the delight of the journalists present.
They’re men of the people
There are few people that embody American populism more than Mark Twain. But Murray, too, is a man of the people.
Despite being a superstar for decades, Murray has no problem mixing it up with “civilians.”
Note how often he crashes people’s events, including bachelor parties, karaoke nights and even an engagement photo shoot.
