President Biden and Colin Jost’s Best Jokes From the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Live, from the Washington Hilton Ballroom, it’s… the Nerd Prom!
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Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost this Saturday evening was the lead entertainer at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, a fundraiser for scholarships for aspiring journalists. The annual event is held in the Washington Hilton Ballroom, and this year airs on C-SPAN, CNN and MSNBC.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, were all in attendance.
After the actual dinner was served, the evening opened with — fittingly, given this year’s lead entertainer — an SNL “time capsule” of the sketch comedy’s more than 50 years of political humor.
Awards were then handed out, followed by a pre-taped “bit” in which NBC News’ Steve Kornacki walked us through a “map,” election night-style, of the ballroom tables and why it feels so crowded. Then, after impressionist Matt Friend cycled through his takes on Trump, Obama, Mitch McConnell and others, this year’s student scholarships were acknowledged.
Former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr emceed last year’s WHCD, which was the second to be held in person since a pre-pandemic 2019. The gala before that, hosted in 2022 by Trevor Noah, was the first to actually be attended by the sitting president of the United States since 2016. (Donald Trump is the only president who never attended the dinner while in office.)
Watch a livestream above, and weigh in on your favorite moments. We’ve share a few below:
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S BEST JOKES
Arriving at the podium, Biden thanked everyone for the applause, “but please, not so loud. Donald was listening,” he warned. “‘Sleepy Don’…. I may use that again.”
Biden acknowledged that in this year’s presidential election, which will again pit him against former POTUS Donald Trump, “yes, age is an issue. I’m a grown man. Running against a six-year old.”
“Age is the only thing we have in common,” Biden noted. For one, “My vice president actually endorses me.”
“A lot of people think what goes on in congress is ‘political theater.’ That’s not true,” Biden asserted. “If congress were a theater, they would have thrown out [Colorado congresswoman] Lauren Boebert a long time ago.”
Alluding to grumblings that he hasn’t given many interviews, Biden said, “The New York Times issued a statement that blasted me for actively and effectively avoiding independent journalists. Hey, if that’s what it takes for the New York Times times to call me ‘active’ and ‘effective, it’s OK.”
With a nod to host Colin Jost’s boss, Lorne Michaels, who was also in attendance, Biden pointed out that over the years on SNL, “Eight comedians have played me. Eight. Who the hell says I’m not a job creator?”
COLIN JOST’S BEST JOKES
Arriving at the podium after WHCA president Kelly O’Donnell recounted Jost’s high school journalism days — teenage photo included! — the SNL vet started by saying, “It’s not really fair. You can’t do it for President Biden, because the technology wasn’t invented when he was in high school.”
Addressing VP Kamala Harris’ husband, Mr. Scarlett Johansson said, “Doug, as you can tell by all the comments about my wife [in the speeches before his], I’m also used to being the second gentleman.”
In one of many digs at Trump’s ongoing criminal trial, Jost said, “Before I begin tonight, can I say how refreshing it is to see a president of the Unites States at an event that doesn’t begin with a bailiff saying, ‘All rise’?”
“We are all here tonight at Nerd Prom,” as the WCHA dinner is known. “Well, [Florida congressman] Matt Gaetz is at regular prom….” Jost then added, “I actually thought I saw Matt Gaetz here tonight, but it was actually just my own reflection in a spoon.”
“My Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che was going to join me here tonight, but in solidarity with President Biden I decided to lose all my Black support.”
Jost commended the scholarship winners who would go on to become journalists tasked with covering “dangerous geopolitical hot spots, like Columbia University.”
When singling out some of the news organizations in attendance, Jost noted, “It’s the end of an era. Rupert Murdoch stepped down at Fox News. Which is strange, because I didn’t think there was a step down from Fox News.” (Cue Peter Doocy, seen grimacing.)
Referring to Lara Trump’s much-maligned cover of the song “I Won’t Back Down,” Jost quipped, “I can’t believe I’m saying this to a member of the Trump family, but… maybe stick to politics?”
Reiterating how “nothing makes sense anymore” as this election season drags on, Jost noted, “The candidate who’s a famous New York City playboy took abortion rights away, and the guy who is trying to get your abort rights back is an 80-year-old Catholic.”
“This may be the worst time in history to be a print journalist; it is the best time in history to be a courtroom sketch artist,” Jost observed, before suggesting: “Every sketch of Trump looks like the Grinch had sex with a Lorax.”
Before segueing into a sincere segment in which he detailed why his Staten Island firefighter grandfather voted for Biden (tl;dr “decency”), Jost gave props to the press corps, reminding them: “Your words speak truth to power, your words bring light to darkness, and more importantly, your words train the A.I. robots that soon will replace you.”
What were your favorite zingers from this year’s WCHA dinner?
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