Robin Williams set for Stand-Up Icon honor

Robin Williams is to be presented with the Stand-Up Icon Award at next month's Comedy Awards ceremony in New York, organizers said Wednesday. The honor is bestowed on an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to stand-up comedy and whose impact and innovations have changed the landscape and inspired future generations of entertainers, the network said. "Robin Williams is a comedic force of nature whose intensity and explosive free-associating style as a stand-up comedian made him a superstar," Casey Patterson, executive producer of The Comedy Awards and executive vice president of event production for Viacom Entertainment Group, said in a statement. "Academy Award-winner, beloved TV star and passionate activist, Robin used stand-up comedy to literally change the world with Comic Relief. Robin Williams is more than an 'icon.' He is one of the most important comedic voices of our time. We're thrilled, and just a little bit scared, to be honoring Robin at The Comedy Awards this year." The 2nd annual show is to tape at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom April 28. It will premiere on Comedy Central May 6.