The annual Washington roast was back.
President Biden was the first president to attend The White House Correspondents Dinner since 2016 because his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, boycotted the event, and then there were two years of a pandemic.
Trevor Noah proved to be the right man to host the dinner, and President Biden laughed merrily as the comedian roasted him.
When Biden took the stage, he lead with this:
“This is the first time the president attended this dinner in six years. It’s understandable: we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of Covid,’ Biden quipped. ‘A horrible plague, then Covid’: Biden and correspondents joke in post-Trump return to normality.
In a rare serious moment, the President explained why it was important to hold the dinner, despite the looming worry of Omicron. (Dr. Fauci skipped the dinner for that very reason.)
“We’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic,” he said.
Some of our favorite Trevor Noah jokes:
To Biden: “I was a little confused about: Why me? But then I was told you get your highest approval ratings with a biracial African guy standing next to you.”
“The great chef José Andrés is joining us tonight. … Whenever there’s a disaster anywhere in the world, Chef Jose is there. Which I guess is why he’s sitting at the CNN table tonight.”
“Fox News is sort of like a Waffle House. It’s relatively normal in the afternoon, but as soon as the sun goes down, there’s a drunk lady named Jeanine threatening to fight every Mexican who comes in.”