Jon Stewart, Lily Tomlin honor George Carlin

Washington – The late comedian George Carlin – famous for those “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” – was honored Monday night with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the only award he saw as a legitimate comedy prize.

Jon Stewart, Lily Tomlin and Joan Rivers were among the comedians performing at the awards ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The prize was announced shortly before Carlin died of heart failure in June at the age of 71. This is the first time in its 11 years that the award will be presented posthumously. The program will be aired later on PBS stations.

“He was thrilled,” Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin McCall, told The Associated Press shortly before the award ceremony. “I think he represented a lot of what Mark Twain did for our country, not only being smart and funny but also being a sharp commentator.”

The Twain Prize was instituted in 1998 and first given to comedian and actor Richard Pryor. Recent recipients have included Billy Crystal in 2007 and Steve Martin in 2005.

4 more years for MSNBC’s Olbermann

New York – Barack Obama, the presidential candidate Keith Olbermann championed this fall, just won a four-year term. So, too, has Olbermann.

MSNBC announced Monday that Olbermann, its headlining prime-time star, has signed on to continue hosting “Countdown” each weeknight at 7. MSNBC essentially tore up an existing contract Olbermann had, adding a year and a half and more money. (Exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.)

It’s also four more years of cable television’s most sizzling rivalry. Fox News Channel said last month that Bill O’Reilly, whose show airs opposite Olbermann’s, had also agreed to a new four-year contract.

Olbermann’s fans made him a folk hero during the campaign for his sharp-tongued criticism of John McCain and President Bush. The size of his audience has more than doubled, from an average of 776,000 in October 2007 to nearly 2.2 million this October, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Beyonce on offers for pics: ‘Ridiculous!’

New York – Beyonce insists she would have never considered selling photos of her hush-hush wedding to Jay-Z to a glossy celebrity magazine. Still, the singer acknowledges that she was amazed at the amount of money that was offered.

“Now, they offer crazy money that’s just ridiculous,” she said in a recent interview, laughing. “But in the end, absolutely not. It’s so not worth it. If anything, if you wanna put something out, then put it out, not for (money).”

Beyonce and Jay-Z were married in April in an intimate ceremony in New York City.

She’s due to release her new CD, “I Am : Sasha Fierce,” on Nov. 18. MySpace Music is giving listeners worldwide the first official preview of the CD on its Web site starting at 2 a.m. today.

Britney Spears’ son hospitalized in Miss.

New York – The youngest son of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline has been hospitalized for some kind of reaction but was expected to be discharged soon.

Two-year-old Jayden James was admitted to the Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center on Sunday after having “a reaction to something he ingested,” a representative for Spears’ family said in a statement.

He is expected to be discharged today, the statement said, signing off with “Get well soon, Jayden!”

The hospital is near Spears’ home in Kentwood, La., where she was reportedly staying with family. Representatives for Spears and her family didn’t immediately return messages left Monday.

Spears and ex-husband Federline are also parents to 3-year-old Sean Preston.

Tim McGraw to host ‘SNL’ later this month

Nashville, Tenn. – Live from New York! It’s Tim McGraw.

His spokeswoman, Jessie Schmidt, says McGraw will host NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” on Nov. 22, joining a short list of country stars, including Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, to host the show.

McGraw’s hits include “Live Like You Were Dying,” “Where the Green Grass Grows” and his latest, “Let It Go.”

He co-stars with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon in the upcoming holiday movie “Four Christmases,” due out later this month.

African musical legend Miriam Makeba dies

Johannesburg, South Africa – Miriam Makeba, the “Mama Africa” whose sultry voice gave South Africans hope when the country was gripped by apartheid, died Monday of a heart attack after collapsing on stage in Italy. She was 76.

In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world – jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, and Paul Simon – and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.

Her distinctive style, which combined jazz, folk and South African township rhythms, managed to get her banned from South Africa for over 30 years.

“Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us,” Mandela said in a statement.