PARIS -- For only the second time in its 102-year history, the prestigious Academe de Artes Comique Francais has bestowed its highest honor, the Joseph Pujol Award, on a non-French entertainer.
Jacques Leon de la Tour, president of the Academe, announced Thursday that the Pujol Trophy, which is presented annually and specially designed for each recipient, was to be awarded to American radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
"Monsieur Limbaugh's inimitable style, his flair, his strong delivery and his unique subject matter have made him a strong contender -- if not a prime candidate -- for the award for some time, but this year, after listening to one of his shows in the original English, the selection committee's vote was immediate and unanimous," Monsieur de la Tour told reporters.
Limbaugh, contacted in his studio high atop the Excellence In Broadcasting (EIB) Radio Network building in New York, "Its about time the frogs at the Laughing Academy got around to recognizing me, too!" He told gathered reporters, "I am honored to share this prestigious award with my good friend Jerry Lewis. I only wish my good friend Mr. Newt could be here to join me in celebrating. I don't know of anyone who deserves this award more than he does. Except me, of course," he added with a laugh.
In a whispered aside to loyal employee James "Bo" Goldman, Limbaugh chuckled, "I guess all that boatload of neckties to those frog judges worked after all!" Goldman, who was polishing Limbaugh's Australian sheepskin Ugg Boots at the time, merely nodded and said, "Yes, master."
As Limbaugh pointed out, the only other American to receive the award was comedian Jerry Lewis, who was named in 1980. Several other American performers are reputed to be runners-up, including the then Rosanne Barr, who lost out to French actor Gerard Depardieu in 1991, and this year's runner-up, comedian Jim Carrey, who came in second to Limbaugh.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: There was no immediate explanation from the Academe as to precisely how Carrey could be "runner-up" if the vote on Limbaugh "was immediate and unanimous". When asked, de la Tour only said, "Mon Dieu! We are French! Who the hell knows HOW we think? Any nation that views Monsieur Lewis as 'a comedy genius' and snails as 'food' obviously would certainly see no contradiction in having a 'runner-up' to a unanimous vote!"]
The Pujol Trophy is traditionally given each year to the entertainer who most closely emulates in his or her performance the memory of France's beloved "Le Petomane," as Pujol billed himself. One of the most unusual performers of the last (or ANY!) century -- and one of the most successful, too! -- Pujol entertained not only the cream of Parisian society, but the crowned heads of Europe as well.
When questioned about this year's unusual design, de la Tour reminded the group that the trophy is specially crafted and hand-cast in the image of its recipient.
"This year," de la Tour explained, "the Pujol is very large on the bottom, inflated at the top, with very little in between. We did this especially in honor of Monsieur Limbaugh." He showed a photograph of the unusual 1980 award to comedian Jerry Lewis. That year's trophy was a tall, skinny, tuxedo-clad shaft, perched atop an overturned wheelchair, topped with a large, overstuffed globular ball filled with hot air, exuding copious crystal tears, and covered with a shiny black substance which appeared to be crude oil.
(It was rumored that the design for Jim Carrey, had he been the winner this year, was to be a duplicate of Lewis's except without the wheelchair. It was also reputed to have an exaggerated midsection. Reporters who saw the design for Barr in 1991 said it was an immense, lumpy gasbag with a tattoo, filled with hot air. It was reproduced almost exactly for presentation to Depardieu, with the exception of the tattoo.)
Pujol, or "Le Petomane," the trophy's namesake, was reputed to be the highest paid performer of his day. According to John Nohain and F. Caradec, authors of Le Petomane, 1857-1945, "As star of the Moulin Rouge in Paris, he (Pujol) drew gates of 20,000 francs while Sarah Bernhardt only managed 8,000 francs. His audiences acclaimed him the greatest amuser of all time.
"He could emit sounds tenderly or aggressively," Nohain and Caradec wrote, "make noise like a rapidly firing machine gun or the slow, deep roar of a cannon. He could ring out like the voice of an opera singer or blare like a well-played trombone."
"You can easily see," said de la Tour, "why Monsieur Limbaugh was the unanimous choice this year, n'est pas?"
"With extraordinary courage and the virtuosity of his performance, Le Petomane imposed his unique art on a stupified but defenseless Europe," de la Tour read from the biography. "You see?" he said, touching the tips of his fingers to his lips, "Pujol/Limbaugh, Limbaugh/Pujol! One and the same! They are brothers, no? C'est magnifique!"
Of runner-up Carrey, de la Tour said, "He has volume. He has range. He has experience. But depth? This he does not have. Depth and resonance. Perhaps with time...." His voice trailed off with respect. "Next year. Yes, maybe next year."
After more than an hour huddled with his research staff, Limbaugh hurriedly left the studio through a side door, dodging reporters' questions and was driven away in his limousine. He could not be reached for comment later in the day. A woman who answered the phone at his apartment and identified herself only as "Marta...I mean Martha. That's it, Martha," would say only "Snugglebunny said to tell you he had a headache tonight."
The Pujol Trophy, the Academe's equivalent of the American Emmy or Tony awards, is known officially as the French Academy Risibility Trophy, or the Farty, in honor of its namesake, Le Petomane. It is known affectionately to the French as the Artsy-Fartsy Cup.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Questions have been raised as to why we substituted an apparent photo of Jim Carrey for that of Jerry Lewis. Extensive examination of dental records and DNA testing have shown them both to be the same person. Likewise, de la Tour emphatically denies that the handles of the award for 1996 were originally designed for a tribute to H. Ross Perot. "Monsieur Perot is NOT funny," de la Tour stated. "Not intentionally, anyway."]
