‘Mark Twain meets Tony Awards’: Lincoln Theatre to host American humor writing awards ceremony

Michael Napolitano
Wed, 20 Apr 2022 01:17:05 +0000
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The 21st annual Thurber Prize for American Humor will be presented during a ceremony at the Lincoln Theatre Friday. Credit: Courtesy of Zo? Lathan

A battle for the wittiest person — and a $10,000 check — will commence at the Lincoln Theatre Friday during the 21st Annual Thurber Prize for American Humor award ceremony.

Boasting past winners such as Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart, Laurie Lathan, executive director of Thurber House and executive producer of the Thurber Prize, said the prize is given out each year to a single author and their book. Each year, nominees are rated by 50 judges based on several categories including writing style, format, grammar and, most importantly, humor, she said.

“As you know, art is subjective, and that is why we work really hard each year to have a diverse panel of judges, so each book is carefully considered and read thoroughly,” Lathan said.

The finalists for this year’s award are Mike Birbiglia’s “The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad,” James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong” and Alexandra Petri’s “Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why,” according to the Thurber Prize website.

Lathan said Thurber House — located at 77 Jefferson Ave. — is a nonprofit, literary arts center and museum that was once home to cartoonist and author James Thurber. Lathan said the predecessors of the organization decided to create the Thurber Prize in 1997 to preserve Thurber’s legacy of comedy writing and provide an award to an author of humor writing.

“There are many awards and accolades for dramatic writers and such, but there really are not that many at all for humor writing, and we’re probably one of just a handful throughout the whole country that honors and recognizes humor writing,” Lathan said.

The awards show was previously produced in New York City before moving to Columbus, Thurber’s hometown, in 2018, according to the Thurber Prize website. The prize was awarded every other year until 2005, when it began to be presented annually.

David Glover, director of show for the Thurber Prize, said Thurber House came to him with the idea of elevating the awards show, so Glover said he approached the event as if he were directing a theatrical project. He said the event will be hosted by previous Thurber Prize winner John Kenny and will include music composed and directed by Counterfeit Madison, along with the finalists each reading excerpts from their books during the show.

“I am looking forward to having a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to seeing all of the hard work pay off and I’m really looking forward to meeting the talented finalists and giving them a night that celebrates their accomplishments and their humor,” Glover said.

Setting up this event is the first time Glover has worked with Thurber House, he said. Award ceremonies such as this one are not something he normally works on because he said he primarily works as a director, actor and trained theater artist. Despite coming from the theater world, Glover said working with Thurber House has been a wonderful experience.

“They were very wonderful about giving autonomy and a blank slate; there were very few things that they wanted other than to have an evening of fun and to elevate the awarding of the Thurber Prize,” Glover said. “That’s kind of daunting in the same sense but also freeing because, essentially, we get to do a little bit of whatever we want throughout the evening.”

Lathan said she is looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts to the surprises this show has in store.

“For those who have never been to the show, I think they will spend the hour and a half or so of the show laughing continuously,” Lathan said. “It’s going to be very funny and unlike any other event that you can go to in this city.”

The ceremony will take place Friday at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, located at 769 E. Long St. Tickets are available to purchase through the CBUSArts website.