Conan O’Brien Explains Why It Felt “Important To Show Up” For Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize

deadline.com:

Despite Donald Trump‘s growing chokehold on the Kennedy Center, Conan O’Brien was determined to fill the venue with laughs.

After the 5x Emmy winner received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, O’Brien explained why he went through with the Kennedy Center ceremony following the president’s enforced regime change. “There was obviously for the last couple of months with the new administration, there’s been some controversial stuff going on with the Kennedy Center, and there was the question of should I go, should I not go?” he explained on his Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. “And I felt like it was important to show up.

First of all, we were brought in under the old regime, and the people who brought me in are no longer there, but I thought we should honor their decision.” Meanwhile, O’Brien said the Kennedy Center’s new atmosphere “added to the evening somehow” as his fellow comedians came together with a common goal. “It really made it feel like this is — and without being pompous, it just felt like this is not a normal event.

Something, and we all need to be on our toes and kind of be funny, but also bring some optimism, maybe,” he explained. “I have such respect and admiration and awe for everybody who showed up, and I was, you know, there’s that part of you that feels like, ‘Oh no, people have to fly here.