Jennifer Coolidge to Receive Comedic Genius Award at 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards

Actress Jennifer Coolidge is slated to receive the Comedic Genius Award at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Drew Barrymore is set to host the show, which airs live on Sunday, May 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. 

Coolidge will become the sixth recipient of the award, following Will Ferrell (2013), Kevin Hart (2015), Melissa McCarthy (2016), Sacha Baron Cohen (2021) and Jack Black (2022). The award “honors actors who have made incomparable contributions to the world of comedy, providing a major influence through their work and transforming the genre at large,” according to MTV. 

Coolidge is nominated in two competitive categories at this year’s show. She is up for best comedic performance for the rom-com Shotgun Wedding, in which she starred opposite Jennifer Lopez, and most frightened performance her portrayal of the wealthy, unstable, and oblivious Tanya McQuoid in HBO’s The White Lotus. The latter performance has brought her several awards, including her first Primetime Emmy last year for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie.

Coolidge, 61, has been a Hollywood mainstay ever since playing Stifler’s mom in the 1999 comedy classic American Pie. She is well-known for her role as the love-starved beautician Paulette in the Legally Blonde franchise opposite Reese Witherspoon, and for her frequent collaborations with director Christopher Guest in Best In Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).

The actress and comedienne recently starred in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Watcher opposite Naomi Watts, and in Netflix’s family adventure We Have a Ghost opposite David Harbour. She has also made scene-stealing appearances in A Cinderella Story opposite Hilary Duff, and Promising Young Woman opposite Carey Mulligan.

Bet you didn’t know: She is a sixth cousin twice removed of Calvin Coolidge, who served as U.S. President from 1923-29. That pol, nicknamed “Silent Cal,” was never referred to as a Comedic Genius.

Executive producers of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards include MTV’s Bruce Gillmer, Wendy Plaut and Vanessa Whitewolf along with Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic and Barb Bialkowski. Jackie Barba and Alicia Portugal are executives in charge of production; Lisa Lauricella and Mike Ostolaza serve as music talent executives.