The 84th Peabody Awards made their long-awaited debut at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles with Oscar-nominated writer and Emmy-nominated actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani as host.
Founded in 1940, the event was originally scheduled to premiere in Los Angeles in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to those plans, leading to it being held virtually for two years and then being canceled last year in support for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes.
During Sunday’s ceremony the legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks received the Lifetime Achievement Award for “blazing a path through the use of comedy as a form of resistance” throughout his historic career, according to the Peabody Awards website.
This particular honor is “reserved for individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and streaming media have left an indelible mark on the field and American culture.”
Described as a pioneer of parody comedy, filled with farces and parodies, Brooks has received a wealth of accolades over his seven-decade career, including four Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Oscars and three Tonys, placing him in a small and illustrious list. Only 19 people achieve EGOT status.
Mel Brooks, 97, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for “blazing a path through the use of comedy as a form of resistance” throughout his storied career at the 84th annual Peabody Awards in Los Angeles. on Sunday.
Brooks, who will actually turn 98 on June 28, stopped to pose for cameras before the ceremony, dressed in a black double-breasted suit, a short white dress and a gray patterned tie.
He also wore a pair of black dress shoes and had short gray hair.
And of course, while sitting on a stool for photos, the New York City native showed off his still-fun and upbeat personality, which included plenty of laughs.
The actor, comedian, filmmaker, composer and playwright was born at the kitchen table of a tenement in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, but grew up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of the borough.
He began his career as a comedian and writer for Sid Caesar’s variety show Your Show Of Shows (1950-1954), which would lead him to work in collaboration with Carl Reiner, resulting in several comedy albums, as well as with Buck Henry. , who as The Team created the television comedy Get Smart (1965-1970).
In the late 1960s, Brooks hit a high note and won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Producers (1967).
The New York native rose to fame by becoming one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s with The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Film (1976 ), High Anxiety (1977).
His success continued with films such as A History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987), Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995).
The Peabody Careen Achievement Award is “reserved for individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and streaming media have left an indelible mark on the field and American culture.”
Brooks, who will turn 98 on June 28, stopped to pose for cameras before the ceremony, dressed in a black double-breasted suit, a short white dress and a gray patterned tie.
Established in 1940 by a committee of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Peabody Awards were created to honor excellence in broadcasting.
Television awards were finally introduced to the program in 1948 and then in the late 1990s, additional categories were added for material distributed over the World Wide Web.
The Peabody Awards, which reflect excellence in quality storytelling rather than popularity or commercial success, are distributed annually to 30 of 60 finalists after starting with more than 1,000 nominations.
The final Peabody Award winners are selected unanimously by the program’s Board of Juries.
Overnight, Quinta Brunson was honored with the Trailblazer Award for shedding ‘light on the challenges facing public school teachers’ through her ABC series Abbott Elementary, as well as opening ‘doors for the next generation of Black leaders in the television’.
Brooks is among 19 people who have ever achieved EGOT status, which is the acronym for winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards; The iconic filmmaker is seen accepting his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Producers (1967)
Many fans know Brooks as the director of the classic film Blazing Saddles (1974); He is working on scene with star CVleavon Little between scene takes.
The Trailblazer Award recognizes visionaries who are impacting culture and affecting social change through innovative storytelling.
Brunson joins Issa Rae as the only two winners of the Peabody Trailblazer Award.
Brooks joins Rita Moreno, Sam Pollard, Dan Rather, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett and Cicely Tyson as recent recipients of the Peabody Career Achievement Award.
Among his many honors, including the EGOT, Brooks received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010, the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, among many others.