Bill Cosby joined the ranks of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Billy Crystal and Steve Martin Monday night at the Kennedy Center as he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Besides his iconic 80’s sitcom, The Cosby Show, he has released six platinum  comedy albums, has graced the big screen,  and authored a number of best-selling books. To this day, Cosby continues to tour the nation with his stand-up comedy.

“Cosby is a force of nature,” said Carl Reiner before the show. “He’s always had the ability to take a piece of paper off the ground and talk about it for ten minutes — open a refrigerator and talk about what’s in the refrigerator and make you laugh. I mean, he is just extraordinary.”

The event  Bill Cosby: The Mark Twain Prize, will air on PBS stations nationwide November 4, 2009.