• Events
    • Los Angeles Open Mics
    • Los Angeles Shows
    • New York Open Mics
    • New York Shows
  • Book A Tour
  • Venues
  • News
  • Podcast
  • About
    • About The Comedy Bureau
    • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Digital Wall of Trustees

white house correspondents dinner

divider

The White House Correspondents Dinner Is Happening Again and Roy Wood Jr. Will Be Hosting
February 2, 2023
News
nerd prom, roy wood jr, white house correspondents dinner

It wasn’t too long ago that the annual tradition of the White House Correspondents Dinner was absent from the calendar after being a time honored tradition of the President, news media at large, and the rest of Capitol Hill got roasted live on C-SPAN. Between Trump and COVID-19, “nerd prom”, as it’s sometimes affectionately referred to, had been forgone or done with a historian rather than a comedian. Alternatives like Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s Not the White House Correspondents Dinner happened instead because of Trump whining about not showing up to be ridiculed again (at the very event that many experts point to being the spark for him running for POTUS).

The White House Correspondents Dinner wasn’t going to be done over Zoom during quarantine/lockdown, so the WHCA waited until last year and tapped Trevor Noah to reset the annual event and, now, it seems like we’re back on track, on to some sort of “normal”. Today, the WHCA announced that this latest WHCD will happen on Apr. 29th and The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. would take on hosting duties. Roy’s prowess as a stand-up and being a crowd favorite on The Daily Show should make for a damn good WHCD (and maybe will highlight why Comedy Central might go with him to replace Trevor Noah at The Daily Show desk).

Roy follows Trevor as the next host of the WHCD, so it kind of makes sense that Comedy Central would follow suit with their flagship show, right?

The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 99: Will Miles & Keeping it Chicago
February 16, 2022
News, The Comedy Bureau Field Report
hbo max, kanye, nikki glaser, south side, white house correspondents dinner, will miles

This week’s TCB Field Report has the marvelous Will Miles takes his through his journey that has seen him start out in stand-up in Chicago and brought him to writing and acting in an acclaimed sitcom, South Side, about Chicago. Miles came full circle with this path while having a family with a great full time comedian, by the way.

Also, “hot” takes on this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner, Nikki Glaser’s new reality show, Kanye offering up Michael Che double his SNL salary, and more.

Follow Will @mrwillmiles across socials and watch South Side, now streaming on HBO Max.

The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger).

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Trevor Noah to Be First Comedian to Host White House Correspondents Dinner Since 2018
February 14, 2022
News
trevor noah, whca, white house correspondents dinner

(via Politco)

It seems like eons ago when there was a civil enough discourse that would allow for the President of the United States to be roasted on C-SPAN by one of the country’s most renowned comedians. Because Donald J. Trump is a narcissistic twerp, perhaps one of the biggest of all time, he chose to be absent from the White House Correspondents Dinner and consequently made it more acrimonious when Hasan Minhaj and Michelle Wolf took on hosting duties. Many experts actually point to Seth Meyers taking Trump to task at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011 as the fiery spark that made him run for POTUS to expedite the disillusionment of the American Empire.

That’s all to say we haven’t had a White House Correspondents Dinner like Colbert did of George W. Bush in a very long time. After Trump and COVID making the WHCD into a footnote over the last few years, the White House Correspondents Association is set on having it return to form on this side of the pandemic come Apr. 30th. Trevor Noah, the current host of The Daily Show, is set to host, and, hopefully, he’ll get to satirize President Biden and Vice President Harris to their face and tell off mainstream media on one of the least watched cable channels live on air.

That will make it six years since we even had a WHCD to watch and that ought to make it a certain type of special. With all that in mind, we really hope that Noah and his writing staff spares no punches.

The White House Correspondents Dinner, That Annual Roast of the President, Is Set to Return in 2022
December 3, 2021
News
whca, white house correspondents dinner

(via Deadline)

Because Donald Trump is a thin-skinned narcissist, the annual White House Correspondents Dinner was not held or observed in any of the manner that it had been held in quite awhile. There were years where it wasn’t held due to Trump and COVID, a year where historian Ron Chernow was a speaker rather than a comedian, and then there even was Samantha Bee’s Not The White House Correspondents Dinner as a response to the happening’s absence.

This extended indefinite hiatus from the White House Correspondents Dinner being a platform for a comedian to roast all of Washington D.C. and mainstream news outlets and POTUS to do the same in kind might be coming to an end in 2022. The White House Correspondents Association, the organization responsible for putting on “nerd prom” every year, announced plans for holding the dinner in 2022, specifically on April 30th, 2022 for a fully vaccinated crowd.

There was, unfortunately, no other word about what the format or the host for the evening would be. One can only hope that it’ll be someone who will pick up right where Michelle Wolf and Hasan Minhaj left off with a scorch the earth approach to the night with many of the most powerful people in America sitting just mere yards away from the stage.

If that is the case, who would they get? Trevor Noah? John Mulaney? Jon Stewart? Jena Friedman? Samantha Bee? Maybe Stephen Colbert might re-emerge as the Colbert we knew from his last WHCD performance. We’ll just have to hope the WHCA will book someone and reveal it as a holiday gift.

White House Correspondents Dinner Cancelled Again (Though It’s Just Because of COVID-19)
April 14, 2021
News
whca, white house correspondents dinner

It’s yet another year without the top shelf roast of the first, second, and fourth estate. The WHCA announced today that their annual White House Correspondents Dinner will be yet again cancelled. Though, at least it’s not because we’re politically divided as much as we have ever been and mostly due to COVID-19.

Throughout Trump’s administration, the specter of the White House Correspondents Dinner very much remained a ghost of its former self. Many experts often point to Trump’s lambasting by Seth Meyers at a White House Correspondents Dinner as the spark that lead to his presidential run and eventual victory in 2016.

Of course, as Trump is a wimp and coward and can’t nearly take it as much as he can dish it out, the lauded “nerd prom” that hoisted a comedian to roast all of news media and both sides of the political aisle through the zeitgeist was not something Trump was ever going to take part in. So, for the last few years, it hasn’t really been the same leading to a historian taking the reins to the evening one year and alternative events such as Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s Not the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Whatever you think of President Biden, he is more along the lines of past POTUSes that were game for such an affair, but gathering en masse for such an event is still not such a great idea since the pandemic isn’t over and we’re not anywhere near herd immunity yet.

Like most big time events, we’ll just have to wait for 2022.

WHCA will not hold 2021 dinner, plans spring rollout of other salutes to journalism. Details here: https://t.co/kETPNnFalo

— WHCA (@whca) April 14, 2021

White House Correspondents Dinner on Aug. 29th Cancelled, Virtual Event in the Works
June 23, 2020
News
whca, white house, white house correspondents dinner

Just announced today, the White House Correspondents Dinner that was going to rebound from having a historian and having comedians roast the D.C., the press, and, of course, Trump with a live, in-person event on Aug. 29th is now cancelled. They had Hasan Minhaj and Keenan Thompson on deck and it looked like it’d be one of the few live events that might signal a tide turning in the pandemic as well as a great follow-up to the on-going cruel joke that is the Trump Administration.

Yet, cases are back on the rise in the U.S. and things that had reopened too fast are now scaling back. The fate of live performance is definitely hanging in the balance and thus, the event often referred to as “Nerd Prom” has cancelled its in person engagement. The WHCA says that they’re working on transitioning to a virtual event, but nothing else has been announced as of yet. One could only hope that Minhaj and Thompson stay on.

As more details come, we’ll keep you in the loop.

White House Correspondents Dinner Rescheduled for Aug. 29th; Hasan Minhaj and Kenan Thompson Still Set to Host
April 14, 2020
News
hasan minhaj, kenan thompson, whca, white house correspondents dinner

(via Deadline)

Originally, the annual White House Correspondents Dinner held by the White House Correspondents Association that usually has been a scathing comedy roast of the media and the current POTUS (except for last year) was going to be held in March. The COVID-19 pandemic of course made sure any such events of that magnitude would be postponed several months from then, if not outright cancelled.

This year’s WHCD was set to see a return of comedians being at the helm, namely both SNL‘s Kenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj of his own Netflix series, Patriot Act. Now that there has been a new date of Sun. Aug. 29th set by the WHCA for the event, we’re thrilled to see that both Thompson and Minhaj are also back on board to speak. The roast aspect of the evening definitely has taken a “scorch the earth” (as comedy roasts are supposed to be) under the Trump Administration (especially since Trump is too much of a thin-skinned to show up) and we can only ponder what it might be, possibly even more no-holds-barred, than it has ever been.

We’ll have to just wait and see if the Aug. 29th sticks and, if it does, what Thompson and Minhaj will exactly do.

White House Correspondents Dinner Returns to Having Comedians with Kenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj
February 18, 2020
Uncategorized
hasan minhaj, kenan thompson, white house correspondents dinner

White House Correspondents Dinner Returns to Having Comedians with Kenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj

It would seem the shift to having a historian preside over the White House Correspondents Dinner didn’t really stick for a night that essentially celebrates our (supposed) American rights to free speech and freedom of the press. 

Kenan Thompson will be set up as host and, as Trump is a vain coward and will never change and will very likely sit this one out once more as a vain coward only to tweet how unfunny it is (because he’s, again, a vain coward), Hasan Minhaj as the featured speaker, returning to the WHCD stage once more. 

We’d imagine that Minhaj will scorch the earth as he hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner, but we are curious how Minhaj and Kenan Thompson will balance/focus both of their monologues. It’s historic as two comedians are essentially hosting the WHCD and will undoubtedly be double the amount of hate-tweeting from Trump. 

In any case, we can be assured that all the jokes will be picked apart by news outlets when decorum in politics hasn’t been the standard for years now. 

The stage for the White House Correspondents Dinner is set for April 25th.

Next Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Won’t Have Trump or a Comedian
November 19, 2018
Uncategorized
whca, white house correspondents dinner

Next Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Won’t Have Trump or a Comedian

Instead, the White House Correspondents Association has opted to have historian and author Ron Chernow to host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner next year, Saturday, April 27th, 2019. He’ll be focusing on the First Amendment, specifically freedom of the press, at this point in history.

It’s an unfortunate decision by the WHCA (and, if we had more conspiracy theory leanings, might think this has something to do with getting Jim Acosta’s White House press credentials back). Though it may not have been explicit intention of the WHCD at its inception, it has become a perfect symbol of how much us Americans get to speak against power, staring it right down the face while doing so. 

We’re sure Chernow will have something very eloquent to say, possibly still critical of Trump and everything tangential to his Administration as well as the media covering it, but it’s hard to imagine it being as visible and effective as a skilled comedian roasting D.C. to their faces (even if Trump isn’t there).

Look, we’re not going to on and on about how it feels like the WHCD is chickening out here (not unlike Trump chickens out on never showing up to the dinner himself because he is a coward that rules out of fear), but we’re sure, above everyone else, C-SPAN is furious that this night of guaranteed ratings/views is very likely gone. 

Watch Michelle Wolf Serve Up Blistering WHCD Performance and Teaser for Her Netflix Series “The Break”
April 29, 2018
Uncategorized
michelle wolf, netflix, roast, roast jokes, the break with michelle wolf, trump, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

While the Internet debates their biased nuanced takes on Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondents Dinner remarks, forgetting that it has always been an unapologetic roast, we applaud Wolf for diving right into her set and not letting up for her whole 20 minutes with both poise and fury, especially since Trump skipped again, but clearly watched it on TV and whined about it on Twitter.  

Also, thanks for Wolf letting us know that you can drop the F-bomb, which she did twice, on C-SPAN. Let’s hope that becomes a time honored tradition at the WHCD. 

It’s a pretty great “trailer” of sorts for her upcoming weekly Netflix show The Break with Michelle Wolf.

By the way, it just so happens that Netflix just released an official teaser trailer for said show set for Sundays starting on May 27th. 

Michelle Wolf Hosts the WHCD This Saturday and Her Netflix Show “The Break with Michelle Wolf” Premieres May 27th
April 27, 2018
Uncategorized
michelle wolf, netflix, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

Michelle Wolf Hosts the WHCD This Saturday and Her Netflix Show “The Break with Michelle Wolf” Premieres May 27th

This weekend, Michelle Wolf will be roasting the White House and the White House Correspondents as host of the Annual White House Correspondents Dinner. 

Then, just about a month later, her new weekly topical series at Netflix, The Break with Michelle Wolf, is set to premiere. Trump will not be in attendance for either, but we’re sure he’ll be watching it somehow and probably whine about both on Twitter.

In any case, mark down 4/28 and 5/27 on your calendars.

Trump Will Skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Again Because, Of Course, He’s Trump
April 6, 2018
Uncategorized
michelle wolf, sarah huckabee sanders, trump, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

Trump Will Skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Again Because, Of Course, He’s Trump

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a childish, ill-tempered, egotistical, sociopathic bully who is unfortunately President of the United States will yet again ignore the White House Correspondents Dinner, which is essentially (and has thankfully always been) a “POTUS Roast”. It should be noted that if you can’t take a joke, that’s one big reason amongst many big reasons you shouldn’t be in a position that used to be referred to as “leader of the free world”.

In an interesting twist, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be in attendance and other White House staffers are encouraged to attend as well.

Michelle Wolf is hosting this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner and we have no doubt that will pull absolutely zero punches. What will be interesting to see if Trump tweets about it in real time and if Wolf would potentially to respond to it during the broadcast. That may sound crazy, but, then again, crazy is pretty normal these days.

Michelle Wolf Will Be Hosting the Next White House Correspondents Dinner
February 22, 2018
Uncategorized
michelle wolf, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

Michelle Wolf Will Be Hosting the Next White House Correspondents Dinner

Michelle Wolf’s star keeps rising with a new late night show coming at Netflix and the gig of hosting this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner. She definitely is game for the task of roasting news outlets and the government, the main task for the host of the WHCD.

As Trump didn’t want to hear biting jokes at his expense delivered to his face, he skipped last year’s WHCD and with Wolf (a Daily Show alum and staunch feminist) on deck for this year, you can expect Trump to skip this one too. 

In any case, we feel like Hasan Minhaj spared no fools in 2017 when he hosted and we’re pretty sure that Wolf will do the same, possibly even more so.

Hasan Minhaj Delivers (and Then Some [and Even More]) as Host of 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
April 30, 2017
Uncategorized
cnn, daily show, free speech, msnbc, trump, whca, whcd, white house correspondents association, white house correspondents dinner

It was only a year ago that Hasan Minhaj was at a different podium as host of the RTCA Dinner (the “JV nerd prom”?), delivering a set that was both unapologetic in its clever barbs as well as heartfelt in its message.

Most RTCA Dinner hosts don’t get to graduate to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner the very next year. Then again, these are times that are often without precedent. 

Hasan Minhaj, as we’ve seen him do time and time again as a stand-up, storyteller, and a correspondent on The Daily Show, dished out his finely detailed jokes last night with a certain brutal grace and was more on point than several WHCD hosts before him. Had this been the Obama Administration, we think Hasan might have not had trouble following him like other comedians have had over the years.

Don’t be surprised if Hasan ends up getting his very own show soon from this performance.

Thus far, Trump has not tweeted about the happenings of the WHCD dinner directly, but we can imagine that it might include something like “Sad!” a few dozen times.

So, for free speech, for free press, for comedy, and for all of our sanity, you now might want to watch and enjoy Hasan at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s Not The White House Correspondents Dinner Is Tonight
April 29, 2017
Uncategorized
full frontal, live stream, not the whcd, samantha bee, tbs, twitter, whcd, white house, white house correspondents dinner

Tonight, tune in at 10PM on TBS or 8PM PST on a Twitter livestream (with a 6PM PST red carpet) for Samantha Bee and Full Frontal doing their own White House roast, The Not The White House Correspondents Dinner.

Nothing like this has been really done as other presidents, even Bush, show up to the White House Correspondents Dinner and make that spectacle enough for the weekend.

It would be great to see if the ratings for both Sam Bee’s Not The White House Correspondents Dinner and the actual WHCD with host Hasan Minhaj got “fantastic ratings”, partially because Trump wasn’t there.

Modern Family’s Danny Zuker Imagines What a Trump White House Correspondents Dinner Speech Might Be Like
April 28, 2017
Uncategorized
danny zuker, modern family, parody, satire, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

Modern Family’s Danny Zuker Imagines What a Trump White House Correspondents Dinner Speech Might Be Like

Since Trump will not be attending this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner probably because he gets his ego and feelings hurt enough on a daily basis, Danny Zuker, writer and EP on Modern Family, has done us all a favor and whipped up a version of Trump’s speech might be like.

Here’s a fun excerpt:

“Melania couldn’t be here tonight because she’s already been in the same room with me this month and a deal’s a deal! I’m kidding. We’re very much in love. Thank you. It’s very physical and tender. (Hold for the audience to say “awwww” for five minutes.)”

When reading it, you might think it might be overdoing it, but then we’d urge you to revisit Trump’s “performance” at the Al Smith Dinner and see how potentially close to reality this piece could have been.

With Trump Planning to Be Absent, Hasan Minhaj Will Host This Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner
April 11, 2017
Uncategorized
hasan minhaj, trump, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

With Trump Planning to Be Absent, Hasan Minhaj Will Host This Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner

We love that Hasan Minhaj will be the host for this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner. Not only is he a great Daily Show correspondent, but he hosted last year’s RTCA Dinner and took no prisoners with both his jokes and his message.  

Even though Trump isn’t attending, Hasan will very likely make the most of the evening and, perhaps, a very historic roast of what might be one of the most despised Presidents in U.S. History.

The 2017 White House Correspondents Dinner is set for April 29th.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Will Be Having a “Not the White House Correspondents Dinner” Opposite the Actual WHCD
January 30, 2017
Uncategorized
full frontal, notthewhcd, samantha bee, tbs, whcd, white house correspondents dinner

Every year, a comedian hosts an evening poking fun at Washington D.C. and press members that cover it at The White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

As you might imagine, with Trump as President and how an overwhelming majority of comedians and celebrities feel about him, the event will have a bit of a different feel this year. 

We’d wager that the WHCD for 2017 won’t even be similar to when Colbert hosted it during the Bush Administration in 2006. 

In anticipation of that, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will be hosting an alternative to watching the impending mess that the actual WHCD might be. On the same evening, Saturday, April 29th, Bee will lead the “Not The White House Correspondents Dinner”. More details as to what they have planned to come.

Watch Obama and Larry Wilmore from Last Night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner
May 1, 2016
Uncategorized
barack obama, c-span, drop the mic, Larry wilmore, president obama, white house correspondents dinner

As it was President Barack Obama’s last White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he made sure that people were going to remember, among several things, that he was the funniest Commander-in-Chief in recent memory.

A mic drop, and several sharply written and delivered barbs, just the right amount of Trump jokes made for about a solid half hour of stand-up for Obama.

Larry Wilmore, at the start of his set, mentioned the notable task at hand of following President Obama (which has been the case for pretty much every WHCD during Obama’s administration by the way), and worked his way up to a solid finish (that included dropping the N-word, which has to be a C-SPAN first).

However, the current field of presidential hopefuls, when it comes to slinging roast jokes at the WHCD, will probably have a much harder time than Larry trying to follow Obama.

President Obama’s Last White House Correspondents’ Dinner Is Tonight
April 30, 2016
Uncategorized
barack obama, c-span, Larry wilmore, nightly show, president obama, white house correspondents dinner

Also, Larry Wilmore is hosting, which should make for one hell of a night.

President Barack Obama might be the funniest president that has ever taken the podium at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This particularly insane election year should also make this an extra special WHCD  and certainly provides plenty of material for President Obama and Wilmore (who is more than ready for this with his time at The Daily Show and his own The Nightly Show).

That being said, his final appearance/address/set/roast is tonight that will be broadcast live on C-SPAN. According to this handy guide from Washington Post, coverage starts at 3PM PST/6PM EST with a dinner at 4:30PM PST/7:30PM EST, the the POTUS and Wilmore will start somewhere between 6:45PM-7:15PM PST/9:45PM-10:15PM EST.

For those of you who don’t want to find what channel C-SPAN is on, you can livestream the whole thing at C-SPAN.org, MSNBC.com, and washingtonpost.com. CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC will also be providing coverage.

We’re sure they’ll note the absence of presidential candidate Donald Trump plenty. 

Larry Wilmore to Host 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner
December 16, 2015
Uncategorized
Larry wilmore, nightly show, president obama, white house correspondents dinner

I’m beyond excited for this!
Larry Wilmore to host White House Correspondents’ dinner https://t.co/d0YB7VkUEH

It’s exciting to see Larry Wilmore get to fire off jokes in the biggest political comedy arena as the host of next year’s White House Correspondents Dinner with some of D.C.’s most powerful in attendance, especially because he delves into political comedy on a nightly basis at The Nightly Show as opposed to last year’s host, Joel McHale.

This will also be President Obama’s last year doing The White House Correspondents Dinner, which makes us believe that arguably one of the funniest U.S. Presidents ever has one of his best performances saved for last.

Barack Obama Cemented His Legacy as Our Funniest President Ever with His Anger Translator Luther and Cecily Strong Spared No One at Last Night’s White House Correspondents Dinner
April 26, 2015
Uncategorized
anger translator, barack obama, cecily strong, keegan michael key, key and peele, luther, whcd, white house, white house correspondents dinner

What was being called “Nerd Prom” turned out to be a pretty great roast. 

Last night’s Annual White House Correspondents Dinner will be a night to remember whether you were in attendance, watching it on YouTube, or actually tuning into C-SPAN.

President Obama delivered another great performance and even brought along Keegan Michael-Key as his “Anger Translator” Luther. It’s pretty undeniable that he’s the funniest president in American history. 

Host Cecily Strong really cut deep with a lot of her jokes when she took the stage and dished it out throughout the whole room including President Obama himself and even Hillary Clinton who she favors. In fact, some jokes probably hit too close to home for some in the room and play way better to those watching it on screen. 

Even though HBO has picked a showrunner to fill in after Armando Iannucci leaves Veep, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see Barack involved in the show after his leaves the White House.

Recent News

divider

  • The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 276: Andy Sandford & Keeping Jokes as Tight Possible - Andy Sandford's philosophy of trimming all the fat from all his comedy has served him… Read More
  • The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 274: Spaghetti Festival & Sticking on the Wall (Together) - The Spaghetti Festival @ The Elysian represents a wholly rejuvenating spark of imagination and creativity… Read More
  • The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 273: R.M. Aranda & Bringing Clown to All - The popularity of the corner of comedy that is clown continues to burgeon, especially in… Read More

Sign up For The Newsletter

Copyright © 2020 The Comedy Bureau
All rights reserved