Since 1921, annual event has transitioned from intimate to celebrity-studded affair
writer and cast member for “Saturday Night Live” and today a Democratic U.S. senator for Minnesota — performed in 1994 and 1996. He is the only keynote speaker to eventually have been elected to Congress.
Ray Romano, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Joel McHale have also led the festivities.
At times, the comedians have triggered controversy.
In 2006, Stephen Colbert, who was hosting the satirical “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, offered biting criticism of President George W. Bush in his keynote speech. Colbert did his mock-conservative shtick from “The Colbert Report” and teased Bush, saying, “Guys like us, we’re not some brainiacs on the nerd patrol.”
Sitting mere feet away, the president didn’t seem amused. Colbert also ribbed the news media: “Over the past five years, you people were so good over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out.”
At the dinner last year, Larry Wilmore, an AfricanAmerican comedian, invoked a racial epithet to refer to President Barack Obama — part of a heartfelt thank you to the first black president.
The host this year will be Hasan Minhaj of “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” on Comedy Central.
A new age
In 2011, Donald Trump was the focus of cutting jokes by Obama and the host for the evening, Meyers.
Trump was publicly teasing a run for president, and Obama mocked his qualifications, his public questioning of Obama’s birth certificate and his TV show, “The Celebrity Apprentice.”
Meyers delivered a set just as piercing.
Trump barely smiled and, at least outwardly, didn’t seem to appreciate being the butt of the jokes, although he told The New York Times last year, “I loved that dinner.”
There have been suggestions that the dinner might have spurred Trump to organize a serious campaign for president in 2016. Trump, however, has denied as much.