Part of the fun of the annual Kennedy Center Honors telecast is the strange bedfellows nature of the high and pop culture recipients, all of whom are recognized for lifetime achievement in the performing arts.

That is certainly the case with this year’s disparate class — feted on Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBS — which celebrates veteran comic and talk show host David Letterman, blues legend Buddy Guy, prima ballerina Natalia Makarova, Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, and rock ’n’ roll gods Led Zeppelin.