whca – The Comedy Bureau

White House Correspondents Dinner Cancelled Again (Though It’s Just Because of COVID-19)

April 14, 2021

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.

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

November 19, 2018

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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.

Hasan Minhaj Delivers (and Then Some [and Even More]) as Host of 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

April 30, 2017

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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.

Joel McHale to Host the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner

February 14, 2014

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joel mchale, whca, white house correspondents

Joel McHale to Host the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner

Following a line-up of years previous of Jay Leno, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O’Brien, The White House Correspondents Association is branching out past late night after a few years and going with primetime TV’s own Joel McHale who can be seen before 11PM on The Soup and Community.

It would be fun if McHale brought a bunch of clips a la The Soup to his night as host of the WHC Dinner.

Here’s Conan O’Brien Hosting WHCA Dinner & Using a Gavel The Whole Time

April 28, 2013

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conan o'brien, dinner, president obama, whca

Last night at the White House Correspondent Association Dinner, Conan O’Brien found that there was a gavel on the podium where he delivered his jokes. Luckily, he didn’t miss the opportunity to use it.

Watch 27 min. of Conan at WHCA Dinner and a round of President Obama delivering jokes as well.