Cappy McGarr is an American entrepreneur, fundraiser, author, and

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

-nominated producer based in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. He is a co-creator of the Kennedy Center

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. annually since 1998 (except 2020-2021). Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is prese ...

, as well as the Library of Congress

Gershwin Prize for Popular Song The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is an award given to a composer or performer for their lifetime contributions to popular music. Created in 2007 by the United States Library of Congress, the prize is named after brothers ...

. He was appointed to the board of trustees of the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1996, and re-appointed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in 2011. He has also produced several shows for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

’s

In Performance at the White House ''In Performance at the White House'' is a PBS television series of performances from the White House, the residence of the president of the United States. The series began in 1978. The first series was broadcast in 1978 during the presidency of ...

series.

Early life and career

McGarr attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1973, a

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

in 1975, and a

Master's in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ar ...

in 1977. In 1996, McGarr was appointed by President

to the

's Board of Trustees for a six-year term. During that time, McGarr helped create the inaugural

Mark Twain Prize The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. annually since 1998 (except 2020-2021). Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is prese ...

ceremony in 1998 honoring

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...

. McGarr then served as an executive producer on subsequent Mark Twain Prize ceremonies, extending after his term on the Kennedy Center board was complete. McGarr also co-created the Library of Congress

, which was first awarded in 2007 to

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

, and has since been given to

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born and raised in New ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

and more. For his work on the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...

, McGarr received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nomination in 2009 in the category of Outstanding Special Class Programs. He was also nominated for a 2010 NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Variety category for the 2009 Mark Twain Prize. President

re-appointed McGarr to the Kennedy Center board in 2011, making McGarr one of only two people at the time to receive that appointment from multiple presidents. McGarr has served on the board of the

Foundation for the National Archives The National Archives Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that works to increase public awareness of and showcase the United States National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration ...

and currently serves on the board of the

Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969). It is located on the grounds of ...

and the

MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center and autonomous university of the University of Texas System in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the wo ...

Board of Visitors. He is also a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

. In 2021, McGarr published a memoir about his life and the founding of the Mark Twain Prize titled ''The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Other Comedy Venues.'' In 2024, McGarr was honored as a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Texas at Austin. In 2025, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

awarded McGarr the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

on his last full day in office.

Personal life

McGarr married Janie Strauss in 1978, and they live together in

. They have two children, Elizabeth McGarr McCue and Kathryn McGarr, as well as two grandchildren.

Works

* ''A Texas-Size Health Care Failure'' (The New York Times, 2009) * ''Why Washington Needs a Laugh'' (Politico, 2011) * ''Coronavirus Is No Joke, But It’s Why Comedy Must Go On'' (USA Today, 2020) * ''The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Other Comedy Venues'' (Simon & Schuster, 2021) * ''Sis Boom Baa!: The Adventures of Princess Lil' Cap and Sir Hud the Brave'' (Simon & Schuster, 2024)

References

External links

*
University of Texas profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarr, Cappy Living people University of Texas at Austin alumni