Saturday, April 30, 2011

The WH Correspondents' Dinner 2011 - Nerd Prom

All the swell D.C. people and Hollywood were there. Affectionately known as nerd prom, the Washington Correspondents' Dinner brings them all together at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

The President was introduced and the song "I Am a Real American" played as photos of is long form birth certificate flashed on the screens in the room. "My fellow Americans", Obama began, "Mahalo". So, the tone was set.

"What a week", President Obama said. "Tonight I'm releasing my official birth video". Then a clip of Lion King was shown - the one where Mufasa proudly holds up baby Simba on the cliff top for all the village to see. Then he went in for the slam to Fox News - "I want to make clear to the Fox News table that was a joke. Call Disney if you don't believe me, they have the long form version."

He made jokes about being labeled as professorial and of being arrogant. He said his poll numbers are a cure for his arrogance.

He asked where the NPR table was in the room. "You guys are still here? That's good.I couldn't remember where we landed on that."

He noted that Rep Paul Ryan wasn't there. He said the Ryan budget had no room for laughs. He noted Michele Bachmann was there of her possible presidential run said "I hear she was born in Canada. Yes, Michele, that how it starts."

He joked about Tim Pawlenty's middle name - that is sounded strange and claimed Jon Huntsman "learned English to come here." He suggested that Donald Trump get to the bottom of if Mitt Romney passed Obamacare in Massachusetts. He made fun of Celebrity Apprentice and of Trump's decisions of which one to fire from the show, said "These are the kind of decisions that'd keep me up at night."

Trump wasn't laughing.

For the "Hollywood crowd" there was a sequel to The King's Speech previewed. "The President's Speech" showed clips of Obama speaking without his teleprompter and out takes of his mistakes while filming weekly addresses.

Obama ended by noting military courage and valor in our troops overseas. He spoke of the victims in Alabama and the South and the devastation there from tornadoes. He commended the journalists "threatened, attacked and beaten" for doing jobs covering war. "No one should be silenced". Last, he recognized those who have lost their lives covering wars.

The entertainment this year was Seth Meyers.

I don't find Saturday Night Live head writer and cast member Seth Meyers particularly funny, to be honest. I find his humor mean-spirited and too much in the stereotypical liberal mold. He thinks he's cool. By cool I mean he takes joy in calling the Tea Party racist, Fox News fake, and the GOP vice-president pick to come from a beauty pageant. Oh, the hilarity.

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