Nerd Prom, otherwise known as the White House Correspondents Dinner, showcases D.C.'s lighter side
Monday, April 29, 2013
The president of the United States and the late night TBS comedy show host headlined Washington, D.C.'s annual Nerd Prom, or as it's officially known, the White House Correspondents Dinner.
C-SPAN, the cable television outlet that provides coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programs on its three channels, has been covering the dinner since before it was cool. You can check out the channel's YouTube videos of Obama's and O'Brien's remarks at your leisure.
First, 44's remarks.
And now for the professional funny man.
If I were in charge of booking the headlining comic, I'd take O'Brien off the list of potentials. It has nothing to do with him or his standup style. It's because picking him apparently is a predictor of national tragedy.
This was O'Brien's second appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, coming less than two weeks after two terrorists set off the Boston Marathon bombs and 10 days after the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.
He also was the keynoter in 1995 in the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.
Timing is everything in comedy, and it seems to be bad for O'Brien when he's tapped for this event.
A glittery guest list: Washington, D.C., is often called Hollywood for ugly people, but the nation's capital got some West Coast glitter this weekend as scores of folks in the entrainment business showed up at the dinner and the many after parties.
It's no surprise that folks involved in politically themed shows were there, including Claire Danes from "Homeland," Kevin Spacey from "House of Cards," Julia Louis-Dreyfus from "Veep," Josh Gad from "1600 Penn," Bradley Whitford from "The West Wing," Michael Douglas from "The American President," Amy Poehler from "Parks and Recreation," Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn from "Scandal" and that political thriller/tortured love story's creator Shonda Rhimes, who announced to her Twitter followers:
Am about to be in the same room with both my fake President and my real President at the same time.I don't even know what to do...
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) April 27, 2013
But there were plenty of other stars without fake political bona fides: Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Wilde, Jon Bon Jovi, Marisa Tomei, MC Hammer, Barbra Streisand, George Lucas, Matthew Perry, Gerard Butler, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Connie Britton, Tracy Morgan, Tim Daly, Jessica Pare, Psy, Katy Perry, Michelle Dockery, Dan Stevens, Kate Mara, Ty Burrell, Aasif Mandvi, John Oliver and Rebel Wilson.
Nah, I don't know all of them either.
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Huffington Post put together a slide show of photos from the dinner's red carpet and the Washington Post details the items in the dinner's swag bag.
Yes, a swag bag was part of the proceedings. I'm sure the Internal Revenue Service is on top of possible goodie-bag taxes.
Pans not plaudits: However, not everyone was impressed.
Deadline Hollywood called this year's dinner lame.
And former Alaska governor, former reality show star, former Fox News personality and former Republican vice presidential candidate tweeted:That #WHCD was pathetic. The rest of America is out there working our asses off while these DC assclowns throw themselves a #nerdprom
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) April 28, 2013
You can check out other 140-character reviews, glowing or otherwise, at the Twitter hashtag #nerdprom.
Everyone's a critic. But there's always next year.
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