Kevin Hart will receive the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy

By ASHRAF KHALIL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian Kevin Hart has been chosen to receive the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in American humor. The honor caps a three-decade career that has seen the comic rise from the open mics of Philadelphia to become one of his generation’s most successful performers. The 44-year-old Hart has honed a style that combined his diminutive stature, expressive face and motormouth delivery. It’s made him a wildly successful touring act. He’s gone on to become one of the country’s most bankable and ubiquitous performers. Hart says in a statement that “comedy is my outlet for social commentary and observations on life.”