Chris Rock Riffs On Potential Donald Trump Arrest At Mark Twain Prize Ceremony For Adam Sandler
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As he accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Adam Sandler peered at the bronze bust of the legendary humorist and, per the AP, said, “As I look at this goofy award I’m holding, I can’t help but think that one day it might be the weapon used to bludgeon me in my sleep by a disgruntled intruder or possibly Mr. Rob Schneider.”
Sandler is the latest comic and former Saturday Night Live alum to get the honor, on a night that was part roast, part tribute and part politically charged humor.
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Chris Rock noted the big news of the weekend: The potential arrest of Donald Trump in New York, as the former president has called on his supporters to protest.
“Are you guys really going to arrest Trump? Do you know that this is only going to make him more popular? It is like arresting Tupac. He’s just going to sell more records. Are you stupid? He slept with a porn star and paid off someone so his wife wouldn’t find out. That’s romantic.”
Also appearing were Dana Carvey, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Aniston, Conan O’Brien, Drew Barrymore and Judd Apatow were among the celebrities at the event, which will air at 8 PM ET on CNN on March 26.
Despite wild success in movies like Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer, some of his friends also noted some less memorable projects, or those that didn’t get great reviews. Per the AP, Sandler’s writing partner Tom Herlihy said that they had been responsible for “31 motion pictures with a combined Rotten Tomatoes score of 59.”
O’Brien said, “A lot of amazing people have flown to D.C. to say nice things about Adam Sandler. But have you asked yourself, why so many of Adam’s friends were available to speak tonight? I’ll tell you why: Because when Adam isn’t working, they aren’t working!”
One stand out moment came when Rock made a reference to being slapped by Will Smith on the Oscar stage last year. He quipped that Paul Pelosi, who was in the audience, was “the only guy who knows how I felt.” Pelosi, the husband of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, was seriously injured in a hammer attack by an intruder last year. He was in the audience with his wife.
“Just you and me Paul. Just you and me, babe,” Rock said.
In tributes to Sandler, Buscemi said, “Nobody makes me laugh like you, and nobody has taken better care of me in this business than you.”
Ben Stiller recalled that they both started out in New York and met around 1989. “That was also the year a miracle happened to me. I was hired by Saturday Night Live. I got the job when my blood, sweat and tears finally paid off, when my father called Lorne Michaels.”
He said that as he was working on short films, Sandler was on an MTV game show “playing a character named stud boy.” He said that Sandler “would put on a silk robe and ask contestants to guess what celebrity he most recently had sex with.”
He praised Sandler’s work because “it all seems effortless. I don’t want to say lazy, because that is not the right word.”
Sandler, 56, is among two dozen former Saturday Night Live cast member who have received the Mark Twain Prize. Others include Bill Murray, Tina Fey and Eddie Murphy. The first honor went to Richard Pryor in 1998.
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