UPDATE: See Obama's remarks here. CSPAN will have a
livestream starting at 6:30 p.m. Obama will speak at the dinner, which funds journalism scholarships and feeds the hungry. Michelle Obama will present a scholarship.
Proceeds from the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday will help feed the hungry as well as funding journalism scholarships as the group has traditionally done, the press association announced.
In recognition of hard times in the country, the association will skip formal dessert for the 2,700 dinner guests and donate the money saved, $13,140, to the Washington-based charity So Others Might Eat. The association itself will donate an additional $10,000 to SOME, which provides meals, job training and mental health and addiction treatment to the poor.
"We decided to take this unusual route this year to recognize the difficulties that lots of people are facing right now and give back some from the incredible financial success of the dinner," said Jennifer Loven, president of the association and chief White House correspondent for The Associated Press.
Funding for the journalism scholarships will remain $132,000 a year, an expanded level set in 2008. The money will support the education of as many as 16 students who study journalism at Columbia, Northwestern and Howard universities and the universities of Maryland and Missouri. WHCA
Sarah Palin will not be there. But Fox News will be bringing the first dude, Todd Palin. Sarah's dealing with some flooding in Alaska. Two heros-- Sully and Captain Phillips will be there. Wanda Sykes will be the roaster:
Wanda Sykes will soon get the chance to make fun of President Barack Obama to his face. The comic actress said Thursday that she has been selected as the entertainer at the annual White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner in Washington, slated for May 9.
Obama is expected to attend the black-tie affair at the Washington Hilton and to follow in his predecessors' tradition by putting on a comedy act of his own. The guest list of some 2,000 people will likely include the usual mix of Washington elite, White House press corps and Hollywood celebrities.
"The first thing I did when they asked me to do this gig _ I made sure my taxes were paid," quipped Sykes, taking a dig at the withdrawal of former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle from Obama's cabinet due to unpaid taxes. Sykes, who booked the gig this week, said the idea of performing for such a high-profile crowd is "scary but very exciting." The dinner has tripped up comedians before. Rich Little and Stephen Colbert both provoked criticism of their performances before the crowd. She said it's her job to "poke fun and ridicule," and even a popular figure like Obama isn't off limits. She already has some ideas about what she could mine for laughs. For example, she noted, Obama can be "a little long-winded. So we can get him on that." Sykes, 44, has established a comic identity around her blunt, feisty personality. Last year, the comedian publicly announced she is gay and spoke out against the passage of California's Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. Sykes appears on "The New Adventures of Old Christine," and first made a name on TV with stints on "The Chris Rock Show" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press is president of the association and chose Sykes because of her fresh style and engaging stage presence. Sykes expects fumbles in the Obama administration between now and the correspondents' dinner. "I'm not rooting against him at all, because, especially in this economy and everything, we need him to succeed," she says. "But there's gonna be some incidents and missteps, like we saw with the whole tax thing." At the dinner, the association also presents its journalism awards as well as scholarships to aspiring reporters. The White House Correspondents' Association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the White House press corps and the presidents they cover. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the dinner.
Ob Fo has what's on
the menu. Swarms of celebs will be there. Who cares. I'd like to sit with the ABC bunch, maybe the NBC gathering. Who would you want to table up with?
Bloomberg: Alabama Maersk Capt. Richard Phillips and wife Andrea Phillips
Houston Chronicle: Alberto Gonzales
Fox News: Chace Crawford, Todd Palin, Matthew Modine, Greta Van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.
National Music Publishers’ Assn.: Kara DioGuardi
Wall Street Journal: Jason Wu
BBC: Sir Howard Stringer, Kristi Yamaguchi, Ellen Burstyn, Phil Gordon
CNN: Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Val Kilmer, Kyra Sedgwick, Brad Cooper, Tyra Banks, Janet Napolitano
ABC News: David and Susan Axelrod; Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff; Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management and Budget; Valerie Jarrett, senior presidential advisor; Jackie Norris, First Lady’s Chief of Staff; Leon Panetta, CIA Director; Susan Rice, UN Ambassador; Justice Antonin Scalia; Meghan McCain; Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi; Kate Walsh; Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel
NY Daily News: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger
Fortune: George Lucas and Glenn Close
People: Sting and Trudie Styler, Miranda Cosgrove, Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Jon Hamm, Eva Longoria Parker, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Brooke Shields
Glamour: Narciso Rodriguez, Alicia Keys, Kenneth Cole, Kerry Washington and White House social secretary Desiree Rogers
USA TODAY: Tim Daly, Justin Long, Richard Belzer, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen, Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Michelle Obama staffer Jocelyn Frye
Atlantic Magazine:Ed Westick (Gossip Girl), Newt Gingrich *
Newsweek: Lally Weymouth, Donald Graham and newly Pulitzered Jon Meacham, scored Obama heavyweights again: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder. R. Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard; David Brennan, CEO, AstraZeneca; Representative Eric and Diana Cantor (R-VA).; Fmr. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig; Amb. Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner; Amb. Richard Holbrooke, Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Ms. Kati Marton; Attorney General Eric Holder; Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post; Jeffrey Kindler, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer, Inc., and Ms. Sharon Sullivan; Michael Kives, Creative Artists Agency; Martin Nesbitt, President and CEO, PRG Parking Management; Natalie Portman; Sir Nigel and Lady Julia Sheinwald, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the US; Puneet Talwar, National Security Council, Iraq and Afghanistan Affairs; Dr. Eric Whitaker, University of Chicago Medical Center; Owen Wilson; James Berkus, United Talent Agency
NBC: Colin Firth, Jimmy Fallon and Mariska Hargitay to Mike Myers and William H. Macy. Jason Bateman, Natasha Bedingfeld, Connie Britton, Warren Buffett, Kyle Chandler, John Cusack, Ari Emanuel, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, Colin Firth, Whoopi Goldberg, Mariska Hargitay, Rep. Jane Harmon, Felicity Huffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Jones, Sen. Amy Klobucher, Denis Leary, John Lewis, William H. Macy, Cheryl Mills, Mike Myers, B.J. Novak, Gov. Ed Rendell, Wilbur Ross. Jeff Zucker, Steve Capus and Phil Griffin will attend, along with high-profile talent: Brian Williams, David Gregory, Al Roker, Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, Hoda Kotb, Amy Robach, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, Savannah Guthrie, Luke Russert, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz,Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinkski , Norah O’Donnell, David Shuster, Contessa Brewer, Carlos Watson, Tamron Hall, Jim Cramer, Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett.
CBS: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall;Mayor Adrian Fenty; Sen. Lindsey Graham; Gov. Jon Corzine, Amb. Hector Timerman; Colin Powell; Stephanie Cutter; Tom Donilon; Arne Duncan; Michele Flournoy; Lisa Jackson; David Jacobson; Katie Johnson;Bob Schieffer; recording artist Brad Paisley
