NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Writers Guild of America East Thursday named James L. Brooks as the inaugural recipient of its Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.
The prize will go each year to someone who has exhibited excellence and inspiration through comedy writing. Brooks will get the honor during the WGA Awards ceremony in New York Feb. 4, Daily Variety reported.
Brooks has three Oscars, 15 Emmys and three WGA awards.
His Oscars were for producing, writing and directing "Terms of Endearment" and he was nominated for "Broadcast News," "As Good As It Gets" and "Jerry Maguire."
Among his many TV productions were "Taxi," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Rhoda," "Lou Grant," "Room 222," "The Tracey Ullman Show" and "The Simpsons."
The award is named for longtime WGA East President Herb Sargent, who died in May. He spent more than 20 years as a writer/producer of "Saturday Night Live" and wrote a number of variety TV specials.
