Awards are becoming old stuff, Nathan Lane jokes at presentation of Monte Cristo honor, with Matthew Broderick and Brian Dennehy

Theater great Nathan Lane was down, but far from out, while receiving the 15th annual Monte Cristo Award at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

“If I look a little under the weather it’s because I’m a little under the weather,” Lane joked. “I’ve been fighting a bug for a couple of weeks, but tonight has done wonders for my health.”

Lane literally teetered between laughter and tears while receiving Monday night’s honor.

“I have to admit I must be getting older, because in the last few years I’ve received a couple of lifetime achievement awards, and I guess this is what happens when you’ve been acting this many years,” he said.

The Monte Cristo Award is given to a theater artist who exemplifies the spirit of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

“It is a little disconcerting,” Lane noted. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gesture, it’s just as Hillary Clinton might say, ‘I’m not quite done yet.’ ”

Lane’s “Producers” co-star Matthew Broderick remembered when he first met the night’s honoree 15 years ago at director Susan Stroman’s apartment. He saw Nathan buy a newspaper and walk into the building, but was too star-struck to introduce himself right away.

“I’m not sure why I just didn’t say hello, but maybe I wanted to take the moment in a bit,” he told us.

“I felt I was heading toward Yankee Stadium and I had just seen Joe DiMaggio arriving at the clubhouse, and in a little while I would get to play ball next to the Sultan of Swat. … I just wanted to watch him, so I took a few breaths and I walked into the building and the rest is, as they say, some sort of history.”

Broderick and Lane are keeping that history going with “It’s Only a Play” at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.

“I’m still working with Nathan eight times a week,” he said. “And I’m now talking about him on a Monday. That’s love, my friend.”

Lane was presented the Monte Cristo award by his friend of 30 years and “Iceman Cometh” co-star, Brian Dennehy, who told us he’s glad they got to do that show in Brooklyn and not on Broadway.

“The Brooklyn audiences are better,” he told us. “These are all subscribers to BAM, so they really are sophisticated theatergoers and they knew they were seeing something special. If you were doing it on Broadway, everyone at 11 o’clock is looking at their watch and walking out because we were on till 12 (and) they’ve got to catch their train, so it’s a different thing.”