Jay Leno is the funniest of them all

Washington  — Newly retired from The Tonight Show, television host Jay Leno is now being awarded the top US humour prize by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Leno will be honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour by his fellow comedians in a performance on 19 October in Washington.

Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein says Leno followed in the tradition of Twain and has offered a lifetime's worth of humorous commentary on American life.

In a statement, Leno says he's a big fan of Twain's. He said A Tale of Two Cities is one of his favourite books. But that novel was written by Charles Dickens.

Since leaving NBC, Leno has gained an international following online with his new creation, JayLenosGarage.com.