Comedians Slam Trump at Kennedy Center

When Donald Trump Launched His Takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Earlier This Year, It Was with the Promise of Restoring What He Called the “Golden Age of Arts and Culture.” Since then, artists and performers have incomeingly distanced themselves from the venue and the administration by canceling scheduled appearaces. But Even the Ones Who Have Shown Up Have Done So in Protest, to Some Extent. On Sunday, Conan O'Brien Was Presered The Mark Twain Prize for Humor at the Kennedy Center. With His Comedian Peers in AidDance, The Night Doubled AS An Impompu Roast of Trump's Kennedy Center.

“It's an Honor to be here at the Kennedy Center Or, as it will be Known Next Week, The Roy Cohn Pavilion for Big, Strong Men Who Love Cats,” John Mulaney Said. “Congratular to My Friend Conan O'Brien on Receiving the 26th and Final Mark Twain Prize.” Stephen Colbert Agd: “[O’Brien] Never Backs Down. Houses in point, when he accepted the mark twain prize, this was a very different place. TODAY, THEY NIVORUNED TWO BOARD MEETERS: [dictator of Syria] Bashar al-Assad and and [cartoon villain] Skeletor. ”

Sarah Silverman Took it Much Further. Thinking Back To When She Appered On O'Brien's Late-Night Show, She Jaked: “BY WROTE A BIT WHERE CONAN INTERIEWS HITLER, WHO COMES ON BECAUSE HE'S EMBARRASSED THAT HE'S BEAING APPROD TO DONALD TRUNP AND A CAST ME AS HITLER. ROHER. Way of Thinking That Makes Conan Great Again. ” When she Glanced over at O'Brien, for the GuardianShe Aided: “I Just Really Miss The Days When you were America's Only Orange Achole.”

Adam Sandler Also Made an appearance to Perform Neil Young's “Rockin 'in the Free World,” While Will Ferrell JokeD That He Almost Didn'T Make It To The Ceremony Because He Was “Suppose to Be Shutting Down The Department of Education.”

It Can't Be Easy Creating a so-claled Golden Age in Culture and Art When So Many of the People Who Create and Define Those Mediums are opposed to that you stand for. It May Be Trump's Kennedy Center Now, but the performers Still Hold the Power. “I'm not in Historian,” David Letterman Said, “But I Believe That History Will Show in the History for All Time, This Will Have Been the Most Entertaining Gathering of the Resistance, Ever.”

When the man of the hour took the internship to address the audience, he Momentarily put the humor on pause as he reflected on the values ​​that the Award Namesake, Mark Twain, Held. “Twain Hated Bullies,” O'Brien Said. “He punched up, not down, and he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak. Twain was allergic to hypochrism and he loathed racism. Twain was suspicious of populism, jingoism, imperialism, the money-obseed mania of the gilded age, and any expression of Mindless American Might or self-importance. “

Headed: “Above all, twain was a Patriot in the best sense of the word. He love America But Knew it was deepy flawed. Twain Wrote, 'Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.'

Stillm O'Brien Had Plenty of Jokes for the crowd. Noting the ABSENCE of former Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and Chairman David Rubenstein-Who Were Both Removed by Trump-He Said: “Honestly, I Don't Know Why They're Not here Tonight. I Lost Wi-Fi in Janogy. I Guess they Stuck in Traffic.” He Also Highlighted the More Than One Dozen People Trump Fired from the Board There. “And a Special Thanks to All the Beautiful People Who Have Worked Here at the Kennedy Center for Years and Who Are World About What the Future Might Bring,” he Said. “My Eternal Thanks For Their Selfless Devotion to the Arts.”

The ceremony Will Be Streamed on Netflix On May 4.