The CNN version, via TaMara. Fresh off the WhiteHouse Youtube channel. If a version shows up that includes cutaways to the people Obama singles out and the screen jokes, I’ll switch it in, but you can pretty well guess what they were anyway. And that THERE WILL BE BUTTHURT over the next few days, yes there will.
Keep in mind that Obama HATES the #WCHD and yet he can still be this good at this.
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) May 1, 2016
Should’ve known the Guardian would do a liveblog…
… You can’t say that Larry Wilmore killed: his humor – as it normally is – was a bit more of the wait-did-he-really-say-that variety, which is definitely not in keeping with the typical WHCD crowd … which tends to think that he perhaps ought not to have said it. And, Wilmore’s jibes at CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Don Lemon, MSNBC’s morning show juggernaut Morning Joe and the death of print journalism (all topics well-covered at the event in past years, but normally by the president) were pretty unpopular with the likely inebriated crowd, earning him a couple of loud boos from folks who probably ought to have known better.
Laughing at himself is a skill the president managed to perfect at these things over the years; it’s one that not all the journalists in attendance seem to have mastered (though Don Lemon pasted a smile on and waved at the crowd). At least his reception wasn’t so poor that, like the year after Colbert made fun of George W Bush, the association will be tempted to find the most banal, grandparent-friendly comedian possible.
And next year will bring a new president: the question now is whether that president will be able to laugh at him or herself, and how much material with which she or he will give the host to work…
They were not too proud to include red carpet pics, either — including Kerry Washington going full fangirl over Madeline Albright. And the Guardian‘s guests, Carries Fisher, Tom Hiddleston, and Carrie’s French bulldog Gary. Donald Trump did not attend, but he sent his grown sons Uday and Qusay, presumably to take notes on who laughed at the Trump jokes, for when the purges start.
Also in attendance, Senator Sanders:
Late Night Comedy Open Thread: President Obama’s WHCD GigPost + Comments (117)