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Ellen DeGeneres Nabs Mark Twain Prize For American Humor

With a wildly successful daytime talk show, a spokesperson gig for JCPenney, and a history of groundbreaking activism, Ellen DeGeneres is the perfect person to win the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this year.

Ellen will be honored (and hopefully roasted by some star performers) on October 22 in a tribute show to be televised later.

Her hilarious take on the whole she-bang: “It’s such an honor to receive the Mark Twain Prize. To get the same award that has been given to people like Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell, it really makes me wonder… Why didn’t I get this sooner?”

It can be easy to forget that, when Ellen came out on her eponymous sitcom in 1997, that she began to lose viewers as she was accused of getting overly political. Her career bounced back when she voiced Dory in Finding Nemo in 2003 and launched her talk show Ellen in the same year.

Congrats, Ellen! I’ve always been jealous of her casually hilarious brand of observational humor. Perhaps she’ll teach me a thing or two someday.

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