The Latest: Bill Murray receives prize at Kennedy Center

By Ben Nuckols, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Latest on Bill Murray being honoured at the Kennedy Center (all times local):

10:43 p.m.

Bill Murray accepted a bust of Mark Twain for his lifetime achievement in comedy — and immediately handed it to the audience to be passed around.

Murray was honoured Sunday night at the Kennedy Center by more than a dozen of his co-stars and collaborators, including David Letterman, Sigourney Weaver and his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray.

Murray thanked his brother for helping him get his start in improvisational theatre, saying, “My brother had more guts than anyone I ever knew.” Murray then added, “He’s been waiting a long time to hear that.”

Performers introduced clips from Murray’s movies and appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” and the evening was also a roast of sorts, with jokes about Murray’s well-known tendencies to turn down roles and not return phone calls.

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10:01 a.m.

Bill Murray will get the sort of attention he doesn’t usually seek out when he’s honoured with the nation’s top prize for humour.

The notoriously elusive and publicity-shy actor will be at the Kennedy Center on Sunday to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The 66-year-old Murray joins several other “Saturday Night Live” alumni who’ve received the prize, including Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and last year’s winner, Eddie Murphy.

The prize was first awarded in 1998 and goes to those who influence society in the tradition of Samuel Clemens, the writer and satirist better known as Mark Twain.

Murray declined interviews ahead of the event, save for a brief conversation with The Washington Post that took place only after the newspaper published a lengthy profile.

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