Eddie Murphy to Receive Top Comedy Award - the Mark Twain Humor Prize

Eddie Murphy will be awarded the nation's top prize for humor this year by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, officials said Thursday.

The center announced yesterday that Murphy, 54, will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 18. The humor prize honors those who influence society through their social commentary and satire in the tradition of Mark Twain.

"I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Kennedy Center and to join the distinguished list of past recipients of this award," Murphy says in a statement.

"We look forward to paying tribute to Eddie Murphy's important and lasting impact on American culture," said Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter in a statement. "Through his appearances on Saturday Night Live, groundbreaking stand-up comedy, and work as a movie star, Eddie Murphy has shown that like Mark Twain, he was years ahead of his time."

Murphy got his break in comedy in 1980 when he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live." He went on to become one of the film industry's top box-office performers ("Beverly Hills Cop," "The Nutty Professor," "Shrek," "48 Hrs.," "Trading Places").

The Kennedy Center says Murphy is the most commercially successful African-American actor in film history.

Murphy joins previous honorees of Mark Twain prize that include Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Cosby.