Trevor Noah, James Corden, and Billy Eichner try to resurrect the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
President Joe Biden got a good zinger in about Fox News
Aux News Trevor Noah
After taking a few years off due to… you know, the bad stuff going on that made the whole concept seem as pointless and silly as it tends to be, the Washington D.C. press and the politicians they cover finally got back together this weekend for another installment of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The evening was, as usual, a lot of mutual back-patting and faux self-deprecation from both halves of the press/politics divide, and while the event has occasionally been a Big Deal (like the all-too-believable theory that some jokes from Seth Meyers inspired a certain someone to destroy the world), this year was more about having some laughs.
Most of those laughs came from host Trevor Noah, who opened his monologue with a bit about how dangerous the whole thing was and how even Dr. Fauci didn’t want to attend. He later made a rare good joke about the slap at the Oscars, saying it’s dangerous to do comedy these days and how he was concerned that he might make a really mean joke about former Mouth Of Sauron Kellyanne Conway (or words, not Noah’s) and her husband would rush on to the stage to… thank him. Good stuff!
But while Noah made some COVID jokes, President Joe Biden made a much better one (as pointed out by Vulture) when he pointed out that everyone in attendance was both vaccinated and boosted, and if anyone at home wanted to know how to do that, they should reach out to their “favorite Fox News reporter” because “they’re all here, vaccinated and boosted, all of them.” Zing!
Noah also wasn’t the only funny person to get some time at the dinner. As we heard last week, soon-to-be-unemployed talk show host James Corden had a pre-taped bit where he tried to do various White House jobs. Billy Eichner also took one minute out of his day to film a pre-taped bit of his own, celebrating the good work of entertainment journalists.
64 Comments
Tucker will manufacture a week of outrage over that vaccination joke. That’s exactly his level of thin-skinned pettiness.
Nah, I expect them to keep ignoring this one, since they haven’t found a way to spin it so far.
What I’m confused about is that demographically, considering the average age of Fox News viewers, the vast majority of Fox News viewers are vaccinated. As someone who doesn’t watch, does anyone know if Fox News is anti-vaccination itself, or have they become anti-vaccination mandate? I personally know a number of older folks who watch Fox News regularly and are vaxxed, though I’m sure there are plenty who aren’t.
It’s not specifically anti-vax. But what they do is purposefully muddy the waters just enough to give themselves cover. It’s the basic online troll “just asking questions” bullshit. Stuff like here’s a 30 second soundbyte about vaccine positives, now here’s a 5 minute segment with some quack about with misleading statistics about how a vaccine killed a person in a very hyper-specific case
Avclub doesn’t realize that by far, the overwhelming demographic trend of those rejecting vaccination are minorities (especially blacks), young people and the poor. But sure, Fox News viewers. Whereas in reality, the majority of those are Karens who were in first in line at CVS to get their’s.
My parents are both vaccinated, albeit they stopped watching fox after the election. But there was no question about getting vaccinated, social distancing, or wearing masks. My mother still wears a mask when she goes out because she has an auto-immune disorder. Whenever an anti-vaxxer dies, my father calls them an idiot who deserved it.
It’s the problem of throwing everyone into a monolith based on a single characteristic. I know people who were all in on vax and believe COVID is real, but also think the vaccination may be causing some other health problems. These people (thankfully) didn’t vote, but believed Trump to be the lesser of 2 evils with regards to the foreign policy that they hold dear (anti-Comuunist China).
Could be worse, we had a shitty ass guy run for and win the Presidency because of a WHCD joke.
I always thought it was because the NFL wouldn’t let him buy a team.
I thought it was because the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City went bust. How bad of a businessman do you have to be for a casino, a business that makes money automatically, go bust?
I don’t buy that Trump ran because of the WHCD. That was when he was still talking about running in 2012, and if that’s what made him run, I don’t think he’d be able to resist running against the president who was up there mocking him.
I think one of the best digs Trevor got in was talking about Fox being relentless about Hunter Biden and said privelidged children profiting off their famous fathers is fair game. You thought sure the punchline was going to be Trump’s kids but he called out out Peter Doocy. The audience reaction shows the press really doesn’t like being called out for their hypocrisy.
I’m guessing none of the Cuomos were there…
DeSantis has already complained that it was a lie that he was there. Remember Ron, if you don’t get the joke, you might be the joke.
Damn. This is what roasts are going to be like from here out, isn’t it?
What in particular are you calling out?
Literally every one of those jokes. We just lost Saget and Gottfried so it’s downhill from here.
Did you really expect Gottfried and Saget to do “Dueling ‘The Aristocrats’” at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?Not that it wouldn’t be something truly to behold, but….
The “we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of COVID” line was pretty good!
Fuck that all just sounds….awful. Will James Corden just please fuck off back to England?
No, please, we don’t want him back.
We don’t want him here, either!Maybe he could emigrate to Antarctica and do his show for penguins and polar bears? I’m sure the polar bears, in particular, would love Carpool Karoke….
Sorry man, work visa has expired.
Come on, man. Noah just isn’t a funny guy. He seems nice. But he isn’t funny.
I wanted to think he was funny cause he’s so freaking nice, and then I started wondering if maybe he’s not funny cause he’s too nice, which made me ask: are Americans just assholes, conditioned to laugh only at mean jokes or is it just me?
May I introduce you to Right-Wing British motoring journalist and wit Jeremy Clarkson…?
If I could swing it, I’d never be introduced to anyone “Right Wing” ever again in any capacity.
Well, there is that, but unlike American Right Wing types the British ones like Clarkson have a self-deprecating sense of humor about their politics which makes him more palatable than, say, Fucker Tarlson….
Yes. (And this will sound like snark, but it is sincere) One thing I love about the Brits is that their class system gives people a security in their identities that allows for a certain nonchalance, ease, and, as you say, self-deprecation. Because Americans are told that social class (ie your financial assets) is 100% your choice/fault, people tend to be very defensive.
No, it makes a certain sense looked at that way — if your class is your class rather than your value being based on how rich you are, then the knowledge of how far you’ll fall if people get bored of you would make American presenters very prickly and defensive.
It means nobody can rise past a certain point, but in a sense the Aristocracy of Wealth has already pulled the ladder up on that one in the U.S. of A.! At best there are some Techno-Libertarian Billionaires hoping to stave off utter destruction by dangling carrots like Universal Basic Income at us, but that doesn’t seem to have nearly enough traction to become a reality outside of in the fantasies of Yangsters….
British comedy is far meaner than American comedy.
Honestly, a lot of his jokes sound like things your friends at the office would come up with just shooting the shit. I like him very much, but just don’t find his Daily Show stuff more than mildly amusing (at best).
Jon Stewart’s nice, too — but it doesn’t keep him from being cutting when cutting is called for.Which is generally these days, I admit.
Jon Stewart had a reputation of not being so nice to his writers and not taking bullshit in order to have a quality show, which honestly was a good a thing
John Stewart is fucking crazy. In a good way. His ability to launch into controlled outrage and make it funny is something that Noah just didn’t have.
Incorrect. Noah is funny.
Nah.
He’s actually really funny. His stand up is really good. No one is ever at their best at this corespondent dinners. The only time anyone really managed to be cutting and funny was when Colbert did it for Bush Jr.
Colbert was the best.
Colbert was doing a character—I think that probably makes it easier.
He’s more interesting than funny. Like, I listened to the audiobook of his memoir Born a Crime, and it was extremely engaging and informative and entertaining…but not necessarily funny.
I agree. Didnt say hes a jerk. Just not a comedian or funny enough to be called one.
Besides Mr. Noah, how many BIPOC members of the White House press were in attendance?
Lmao, thank you white savior
I’m sure it was real cutting edge shit.
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Who is going to be the next Daily Show host? Assuming they continue with the show. Noah’s contract is up this year and he is struggling to get 350,000 total viewers.
Why didn’t THE DAILY SHOW pick Larry Wilmore, who hosted THE NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE, to host after Stewart left?
Trevor Noah was just…dropped on us, and while it’s certainly possible for someone not Born in the U.S.A. to be funny about U.S. politics (John Oliver does it, hilariously and scathingly), I don’t feel Noah’s got the inside baseball or cutting wit to carry it off….
Something about his accent doesn’t lend itself to comedy. Some accents can be funny (or used funny)… his isn’t.
Stewart had (has) an amazingly droll delivery, something that may not be possible with a non-english based accent.Or its just not part of his (Noah’s) personality. That’s really what you need when you’re running a news parody show.
Larry Wilmore or Samantha Bee should have been picked but I think Comedy Central really thought whoever was next needed to be young because they assumed they would have the same staying power as Jon Stewart. Which is an absurd assumption. Not many people can do what Jon Stewart did with the show.
I think Bee is too smug.
They were just trying to be hip and edgy choosing a relatively unknown. Late night TV execs tend to think that way. Personally I think that anyone who took over that show was going to be judged against Stewart’s tenure. I think Wilmore (and Oliver) knew that which is why he went off in a different direction. If Noah doesn’t renew his contract they need to rethink the whole format and what should run in that 11 to 11:30 slot. Wouldn’t be surprised it they are trying to build a vehicle for Jordan Klepper. If they can keep him.
They should have locked up Oliver before he left for HBO, although I’m not sure Stewart had decided he was departing at that point yet.He was awful his early TDS hosting times, but boy, it was pretty obvious how good he was when he quickly grew into the role.
Larry Wilmore has gotta be one of the least funny comedians getting somewhat regular work ( He exec produced insecure). I think Noah really lost his edge after trump but no way he’s that boring…
I don’t think you can put the viewership of the Daily Show on Noah. The show is just getting last it’s prime. When it was must watch TV it was one of a kind, internet video content wasn’t a huge deal and they had Colbert following them every night. Now it seems there are more humorous political news programs(on TV and the internet) then there are straight news shows.
I don’t think it helps that the lead in are typically either reruns of South Park, The Office or Seinfeld. CC doesn’t seem to like to make anything original anymore.
I think, much like with The Late Show, the Trump years wrecked a lot of late night. Between everyone deciding they needed to be the one to break from comedy and drop some serious truth on you, and the horrible and repetitive impressions, it squeezed out all the fun randomness that late night shows thrive on. And now without him they don’t seem to know what to do. There’s also less energy around making nasty fun of Democrats.
“And now without him they don’t seem to know what to do.”One of the many reasons we still have problems with division in this country is that Trump is really no less visible in the news as Citizen Trump now.
I don’t disagree, except perhaps to point out that engaging with him (whether talking about media or individuals) at this juncture is voluntary. If it’s a discussion (like what’s happening now) about whether his endorsement is helping or harming 2022 candidates, or his plans as it pertains to 2024, that’s news. If it’s just “hey did you hear what Trump said about topic X?” then I have less than no interest.
It’s also doesn’t help that it’s nearly impossible to mine an original comedic take from Trump administration. The comic ineptness coming out of the White House didn’t need any punching up. C-SPAN was comedy gold. I do wonder what 2024 holds. I feel like the GOP played king maker with Trump thinking his comic antics would be perfect distraction from them doing tons of back door deals to gain more power but they never anticipated the cult of personality that would spawn or how hard Trump would be to control. I feel like they want to go with someone like DeSantis, who comes off as a more controllable Trump but unless Trump chooses not to run and blesses him, he has no chance. I really think if Biden gets re-elected it will be less about platforms and popularity and more because the GOP eats itself alive in a primary. Honestly echos of Hillary’s loss to Trump partially because Bernie pros said “fuck it”.
They’re all relatively witty guys but… that’s not a good lineup for the white house correspondents dinner.
Two foreigners and a guy most people have at best a passing familiarity with? Looks like a solid plan to me.
I’ll have to go back on C-SPAN and watch this. I always enjoyed the WHCD and am glad it’s back.
I think you mean “After taking a few years off due to… you know, widdle baby Twumpy Wumpy getting his widdle feefees hurt and forbidding anyone in the executive branch from participating,” because that’s actually what happened.