President Obama and actor Joel McHale gave comical presentations at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. Obama was self-deprecating, and McHale made some bold jokes that didn't all land well with the audience. VPC
WASHINGTON - There were guffaws and groans at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner as Joel McHale tackled the notoriously tough crowd filled with journalists, politicians and actors.
There were uncomfortable murmurs of 'whoa' along with laugh-out-loud moments as The Community star zoomed through his zingers, seeing what hit and what didn't.
Among his one-liners:
On Rob Ford: 'Between Rob Ford, Justin Bieber and Ted Cruz, you just want to tell Canada, 'Hey, hey, relax. We already have a Florida.''
On Nancy Pelosi: 'I'm not going to spoil the shocking twist on House of Cards, but just know that it was so surprising that Nancy Pelosi's face almost changed expression. Did you like that one, Nancy? I can't tell.'
On the Kardashians: 'I know the Kardashians are Republicans, because they're always trying to screw black people.'
On Hillary Clinton, and equal pay for equal work: 'As our first female president, we could pay her 30 percent less. That's savings our country could use!'
On Chris Christie: 'I promise that tonight will be amusing and over quickly. Just like Chris Christie's presidential bid.' And, 'Chris Christie is here. He's actually here. Tonight. He's obviously a glutton ... for punishment.' And, 'Governor, do you want bridge jokes or size jokes? 'Cause I've got a bunch of both. I could go half and half. I know you like a combo platter.'
NBC News described some of the jokes as ' low blows.'
USA TODAY caught Christie as he was hustling out after the dinner and asked for reaction to President Obama and McHale. 'They were both very funny,' said Christie.
But what about McHale's barbs? 'They were great,' he said (not very enthusiastically), adding, 'about what I expected.'
Actress Molly Parker, who will start shooting Season 3 of House of Cards in June, said, 'I thought the president was hilarious. And Joel was great, too. Really great. That's a hard gig. It's a very tough room.'
Rosario Dawson: 'I think he got some really good zings in. I like when it's not just a joke. Like the Hillary Clinton wage gap joke. I'm glad he pointed that out. I'll clap for that.'
At the NBC after-party, Steve Guttenberg said that both President Obama and McHale were 'funny. Fantastic. They were like a great Broadway play. Two great characters. All done in good fun.'
Under the Dome actor Dean Norris, attending the dinner for the first time, said, 'I thought they both knocked it out of the park and that's not an easy room.'
But Taylor Schilling, star of Orange is the New Black, couldn't comment on McHale because she couldn't get beyond one of Obama's joke about opposing parties. He said, 'These days, House Republicans give John Boehner a harder time than they give me. Which means orange really is the new black.'
'That made my night,' she said.
Agreed Uzo Aduba, who plays 'Crazy Eyes' on the series, 'I couldn't really process anything else after that.'
Some Twitter reaction:
Olivia Munn thought he 'killed it.'
Great job, Joel McHale! So adorable you couldn't hate him... even if you were Chris Christie.
- Michelle Kosinski (@MKosinskiCNN) May 4, 2014
Billy Eichner thought he 'crushed It.'
.@joelmchale just crushed it! Brilliant. Also, Diane Sawyer actually said to me "Tell Paul Rudd - I'm in".
- billy eichner (@billyeichner) May 4, 2014
Emile Hirsch tweeted that he 'slayed it.'
The White House Correspondence Dinner just ended. That was pretty surreal, and very funny. Obama made me chuckle but Joel McHale slayed it.
- Emile Hirsch (@EmileHirsch) May 4, 2014
Joel McHale has balls!!!!! Brave man
- Andy Cohen (@Andy) May 4, 2014
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, May 4, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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