The joke was on Jay Leno this weekend as comedians saluted the former Tonight Show host who received the nation’s top humor prize. Jimmy Fallon, Jerry Seinfeld and Wanda Sykes celebrated and poked fun at Leno on Sunday night as he received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Garth Brooks, Kevin Eubanks and Chelsea Handler also will pay tribute. The show will be broadcast nationally Nov. 23 on PBS. The award honors people who have had an impact on American society in the tradition of Samuel Clemens, the writer, satirist and social commentator better known as Mark Twain. Past honorees include Carol Burnett, Ellen DeGeneres, Will Ferrell and Bill Cosby. Leno built his career in stand-up comedy and still performs live more than 100 times each year. He inherited the Tonight Show from Johnny Carson in 1992, beating out David Letterman, and for years was the top-rated late-night host. The 64-year-old stepped down from the show for the second time this year, passing the Tonight Show mantle to Fallon. Now Leno is developing a new TV show from his Los Angeles garage about his other great passion: cars. Jay Leno’s Garage will premiere on CNBC in 2015. Leno also plans to continue his live performances and will help launch a new comedy series next year at the Kennedy Center.
Brad Pitt brought the London Film Festival to a storming conclusion Sunday with Fury, David Ayer’s mud- and blood-splattered tale of a tank crew in the closing days of World War II. The film offers a brutal depiction of combat, but Pitt said filming it has made him a better father to his six children with Angelina Jolie. “This role is a real study in leadership and learning to command respect, and because of this, I am now a better father,” said Pitt, who plays a hard-bitten sergeant in command of a Sherman tank crew played by Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal. “This film is about the soldiers’ exhaustion from the cold, hunger and the accumulative effect on a daily basis,” Pitt told reporters before the movie’s black-tie European premiere. “We took that to heart. I hope … soldiers will walk away from this and feel they are recognized.”