Obama is set to attend this year’s “Nerd Prom” and is once again planning on putting his comedic stylings on display.
Once a year, for the past 71 years, the mass that is the Washington D.C. press corps, gather for a charitable dinner where they are given the opportunity to rub elbows with one another as well as the politicians they report on. This annual dinner is hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association and is appropriately titled the White House Correspondents’ Dinner .
This annual dinner has been dubbed the “Nerd Prom” by those who regularly attend. This self-debasing title is intended to lightly poke at the fact that those who attend this dinner deserve the title “nerd” given the fact that their lives revolve around the nuances of Washington politics.
Aside from the opportunity to have a formal meal with each other and the politicians they cover, the Nerd Prom allows the “nerds” who attend the opportunity to witness often times famed hosts take the stage and take comedic jabs at the most powerful man in the world as he sits just a few feet away. There have been a good number of brave comedic hosts for this dinner over the years. Over the past few years the likes of Jay Leno, Steven Colbert, Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and Joel McHale have all taken turns at making fun of the sitting president as he sits behind them.
Tonight, Saturday Night Live ‘s Cecily Strong is set to host the dinner’s performances. Despite Strong’s growing comedic reputation, she will by no means be the key note speaker. While Strong will be the host for the evening, as is typical, the roll of official host will play second fiddle to the president himself. Each year at the White House Correspondence Dinner, the sitting president takes roughly half an hour to make fun of everyone else in the room.
While each president will lightly pepper their comedic routine with some self-debasing humor, it is always quite obvious to all watching, that most presidents view this 30 minutes as righteous pay-back for that year’s coverage of their administration. Typically presidents will take the time to call out journalists and/or networks they feel have been particularly hard on them over the past 12 months. Furthermore, most presidents also take the opportunity to “sarcastically” ridicule political rivals. Regardless of who exactly is being made fun of by the president this year, one thing is for certain, he will likely find great pleasure in making fun of Washington’s nerds.
[Image Credit to Huffington Post ]