- Steve Martin is a five-time Grammy Award winner for his work in comedy and bluegrass music.
- Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have won Grammy Awards for their audiobooks.
- Martin Luther King Jr. and Carrie Fisher were both posthumously awarded Grammy Awards for spoken word performances.
When you think of music's biggest night, you probably think of artists like Beyoncé and Paul McCartney, two of the biggest winners in Grammy Awards history.
But it's not just singers and musicians who are honored by the Recording Academy: comedians, politicians and activists have also won Grammy Awards.
Here are 16 people who won major awards at the Grammys.
Lily Tomlin won a Grammy for Best Comedy Recording.
Actress and former stand-up comedian Lily Tomlin won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1972 for her album “This Is A Recording,” which features her performance as one of the most iconic characters she created, telephone operator Ernestine.
According to the Grammy Awards' official website, Tomlin has been nominated a total of five times.
Steve Martin is a five-time Grammy Award winner.
Actor and comedian Steve Martin has won a total of five Grammy Awards since 1978, according to the awards' official website. Martin, a bluegrass musician, has also won two Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, as well as numerous music awards for his country and roots music songs.
Most recently, Martin's song “Love Has Come For You” won the award for Best American Roots Song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014. He was also nominated in 2015 and 2017.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson received a Spoken Word Grammy Award for his work on HIV/AIDS prevention.
Johnson won a Grammy Award for Best Speaking Performance for “What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS” at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards. The basketball legend, who publicly announced his HIV status in 1991, has been a vocal advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and education.
Zach Braff won a Grammy for the Garden State soundtrack.
Zach Braff's 2004 directorial debut, Garden State, attracted a cult following in part because of its indie-driven soundtrack, which earned Braff, who co-starred with Natalie Portman, a Grammy at the 47th ceremony.
Bill Clinton won two Grammy Awards.
Clinton won her first Grammy Award in the category of Best Children's Spoken Word Album in 2004 for her narration of Peter and the Wolf: Wolf Tracks, and won another Grammy in 2005 for her audiobook narration of her autobiography, My Life.
He was nominated two more times for his subsequent books, “Giving: How Each Of Us Can Change The World” and for his narration of “Back To Work: Why We Need Smart Government For A Strong Economy,” according to the Grammy Awards' official website.
Hillary Rodham Clinton also won a Grammy Award for spoken word performance.
Hillary Rodham Clinton won a Grammy Award for spoken word in 1997 for “It Takes a Village,” a nonfiction book about the future of America's children.
She was nominated again in the same category in 2004 for her White House memoir, “Living History,” according to the Grammy Awards' official website.
“Weird Al” Yankovic's comedy songs have won numerous Grammy Awards.
For someone whose music career has been predicated on parody, Weird Al has been hugely successful. In fact, the singer known for hits like “Eat It” and “Ebay” has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated 17 times, according to the Grammy Awards' official website.
Stephen Colbert is a two-time Grammy Award winner.
Late-night host Stephen Colbert has won two Grammys out of three nominations.
At the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010, Colbert won the award for Best Comedy Album for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, and then at the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, he won the award for Best Spoken Word for his recording of his book America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't.
Martin Luther King Jr. was posthumously awarded a Spoken Word Grammy Award.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches have made their mark on American history, but what's less known is that the pastor and activist also received a posthumous Grammy Award in 1971 for his anti-war speech, “Why Not? I Am Not Against the Vietnam War.”
Two of his most famous speeches — “I Have a Dream” and “We Shall Overcome” — were also nominated for Grammys, according to the awards' official website.
Barack Obama won two Grammy Awards for spoken word for his memoirs.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama won a Grammy Award in the spoken word category for narrating the recordings of his books, “I Can Hear Your Voice” and “The Audacity of Hope: A Look at Reclaiming the American Dream.” In 2022, he was nominated again for narrating the audiobook of his presidential memoir, “A Promised Land.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama also won a Grammy for spoken word for her autobiography.
The audiobook of the former first lady's memoir “Becoming” won a Grammy for spoken word in 2020. This year, she's nominated for best spoken word album for “The Light We Carry,” according to the Grammy website.
Orson Welles won three Grammy Awards for spoken word.
According to the awards' official website, groundbreaking film director Orson Welles has won three Grammy Awards in the spoken word category, the first of which was for his reading of the Declaration of Independence for “Great American Document.” Welles has also won awards for his masterpiece “Citizen Kane” and the sci-fi radio drama “Donovan's Brain.”
Maya Angelou is a three-time Grammy Award winner for spoken word.
In 1994, American poet Maya Angelou won the first Spoken Word Grammy Award for her poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” written for Bill Clinton's inauguration. She later won the same award for her poetry collection “Phenomenal Woman” and her autobiography “A Song Filled Up to Heaven,” according to the Grammy Awards' official website.
Betty White also won a Grammy for spoken word.
Betty White won a Grammy Award at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012. The Golden Girls actress won the Spoken Word award for her autobiography, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't).
Carrie Fisher was posthumously awarded a Grammy for spoken word performance.
At the 60th ceremony in 2018, Carrie Fisher received a posthumous Spoken Word Grammy Award for her memoir, The Princess Diarist.
Joaquin Phoenix won a Grammy for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.
Joaquin Phoenix played Johnny Cash in the 2005 musical biopic “Walk the Line.” Phoenix's portrayal of the country music singer won him the award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, according to the awards' official website.