The White House Correspondents’ Dinner will feature not one, but two comedians this year, after organizers scrapped the comedy bit last year in the aftermath of comedian Michelle Wolf’s controversial set.
On Tuesday, the White House Correspondents’ Association announced that ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast member Kenan Thompson would take on a new role at the dinner, that of the ‘host.’
Then, Hasan Minhaj, who stars in the Netflix show ‘Patriot Act,’ and who headlined the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2017, will appear as the official entertainment.
Kenan Thompson (left) will host this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, while Hasan Minhaj (right) will return as the entertainment
Michelle Wolf’s over-the-top takedown of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had organizers of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner nixing the comedy bit
Comedian Michelle Wolf went after then White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (pictured) while she was sitting several feet away
In 2019, historian Ron Chernow spoke at the conclusion of the dinner instead of there being a comedy act
Donald Trump (left) has refused to appear at the dinner as president, but he’d come as a private citizen. He and now first lady Melania Trump (right) attended the dinner in 2015
Stephen Colbert (right), then the host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report,’ roasted President George W. Bush (center) at the 2006 dinner
Historically, the president of the United States would prepare a comedy bit to be delivered at the dinner.
He would then be followed by an actual comedian.
There was a tradition of biting comedy in the past, from Stephen Colbert’s roast of President George W. Bush in 2006, to Wanda Sykes making cracks about waterboarding in 2009, ushering in the Obama years.
But the dynamic has changed with President Trump because he refuses to attend the dinner, which is organized by the White House Correspondents’ Association, whose membership is made up of White House and political journalists.
In 2017, the dinner went off without a hitch with Minhaj as the headliner, though it didn’t attract the frenzy of Hollywood stars that the so-called ‘Nerd Prom’ did throughout the Obama years.
In 2018, Trump permitted some administration officials to attend, including press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who was seated with WHCA’s leadership up on the dais.
It was those optics that made Wolf’s jokes about Huckabee Sanders seem especially brutal.
With Huckabee Sanders seated only a few feet away, Wolf said, ‘Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited because I’m not really sure what we’re going to get. You know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams: “It’s shirts and skins and this time don’t be such a little b****, Jim Acosta!”‘
‘I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. Like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eyes,’ Wolf continued. ‘Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies.’
‘It’s probably lies,’ the comedian said.
President Obama (right) had Keegan-Michael Key (left) appear alongside him during the 2015 dinner to play the role of his ‘Anger Translator’
Celebrities used to flock to the dinner. Here Kim Kardashian (left) gabs with Chrissy Teigen (right) at the 2012 affair
Businessman Donald Trump can be seen taking in the dinner in 2011. That year, both President Obama and comedian Seth Meyers made fun of Trump from onstage
Katie Couric (left) poses with Jenna Dewan (center) and Chrissy Teigen (right) at the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Wolf also compared the press secetary to the menacing ‘Aunt Lydia’ character on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’
‘And I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders?’ Wolf said. ‘Like, what’s Uncle Tom, but for white women who disappoint other white women?’
‘Oh, I know, Ann Coulter,’ Wolf said, name-dropping the sharp-tongued conservative pundit.
Wolf’s bit was met with mixed reactions in the Washington Hilton’s ballroom and snowballed into a full-blown controversy outside of it.
The following year, then White House Correspondents’ Association president and chief Washington correspondent for Sirius XM Olivier Knox decided to nix having a comedian and had historian Ron Chernow give remarks at the end of the dinner instead.
But this year’s president, ABC News’ Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, wanted the comedians back.
‘Kenan and Hasan are two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America. I’m thrilled they’ll help us celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy,’ Karl said Tuesday in a statement. ‘We’re looking forward to a lively evening honoring the most important political journalism of the past year.’
The dinner provide a glitzy backdrop to give journalism students from around the country WHCA scholarships.
This year’s dinner will take place April 25.