ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Funny Man: Actor Steve Martin will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th annual American Comedy Awards Feb. 6 at the Shrine Exposition Center in Beverly Hills. Best known for his comedic performances on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and in movies such as “The Jerk,” “Parenthood” and “Bowfinger,” Martin will be presented with the award by close friend and sometime co-star Goldie Hawn. The event will be broadcast on Fox March 24 at 8 p.m.

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Sundance Webcast: Singer-songwriters Aimee Mann, Lisa Loeb, Dwight Yoakam and Blues Travelers’ John Popper take the stage at VH1’s “Storytellers at Sundance” in Park City, Utah, today to perform and explore the marriage of musical artists and independent film. The event will be Webcast live at 4:30 p.m. at https://www.VH1.com., and will allow viewers to e-mail questions directly to the artists.

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‘Supernatural’ Again: Santana’s “Supernatural,” powered by its recent Grammy nominations, is the nation’s No. 1 album for the third straight week and has topped 5.3 million in copies sold. Celine Dion, Dr. Dre, Christina Aguilera and DMX round out the Top 5 album sellers for the week, while the No. 1 single is “I Knew I Loved You” by Savage Garden.

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‘Bookworm’ Women: Starting today at 2:30 p.m. and for nine consecutive weeks, KCRW-FM (89.9) presents “Women, Writing and the Imagination” on its “Bookworm” series. Produced and hosted by Michael Silverblatt, the series will feature conversations with nine authors, including Susan Sontag, Joyce Carol Oates and Jamaica Kincaid. Today, Isabel Allende discusses her new novel, “Daughter of Fortune.”

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New Talent in New Media: Microsoft Corp. is backing a national talent search that will allow people to submit videos of themselves via the Internet, and users to evaluate who the winners should be online. Ed McMahon, former host of “Star Search,” and producer George Schlatter (“Laugh-in”) are associated with the venture (https://www.nextbigstar.com), which promises the winners--chosen every 13 weeks--$1 million in cash and prizes.

QUICK TAKES

The cinematographers behind “The Sixth Sense,” “American Beauty,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Snow Falling on Cedars” and “The Insider” were nominated in the feature film category of the American Society of Cinematographers’ awards competition. The winner will be named Feb. 20. . . . Melissa Etheridge will be the guest of honor at a fund-raiser/roast Friday night at the Friars’ Club in Beverly Hills to benefit the “No on Knight” campaign against Proposition 22, banning gay marriage. Tickets are $500-$2,500 through (310) 559-9841.