Stephen Colbert offers to help keep White House Correspondents’ Dinner from sucking
On Friday, we reported the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was undergoing some changes this year. Specifically, we said that it was going to suck, thanks to the fact that most celebrities and entertainers of all stripes experience the same revulsion at the idea of spending an evening trapped in a room with President Donald Trump as the rest of us. We bemoaned the lack of a sharp wit like Stephen Colbert to come along and liven up the affair. And apparently Colbert heard our mournful cry, because Page Six reports the TV host and humorist would be more than happy to participate in another round of verbal garroting of a Republican administration.
During a backstage chat with reporters at a dance party fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival, Colbert assured those assembled he’d be delighted to reprise his role as the only man who’s managed to basically induce the sound of every administration official’s asshole puckering in unison, live and broadcast on C-SPAN. “It would be an honor” the late-night host replied, when asked if he’d be willing to headline the event. “I’d love to do it [again]. I mean, when else are you going to stand next to the President and make jokes? But no one will ever ask again.” Sadly, he seems all too aware that when you burn down a room, the people tasked with making everyone in that room happy are rarely eager to invite you back. Still, he can take comfort in knowing that when he delivered his last set at the WHCA Dinner, “Everyone who wasn’t in that room loved [the speech],” as he notes. And given the rate at which resignations, closed-door meeting leaks, and constant alarmed looks are traveling between members of a shell-shocked government roster of employees and the rest of the world, perhaps someone close to the event will say “screw it,” and arrange for Colbert to sneak in the back door to deliver a tight five. Just tell Trump it’s going to be Jeff Dunham or some asshole like that.