President Barack Obama and Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong offered up some nice zingers at last night’s 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD). The annual fete gathers beltway reporters and the president, along with a celebrity host (Cecily Strong this year), to party and listen to the speakers roast themselves and others.
President Obama, keeping with the current thinking that he — now in his second and final term — has “no fucks left to give,” demonstrated that even more so last night with his comments, which were aimed at just about everyone. As he usually has done at this event, he had some self-deprecating humor, but also targeted Senate Democrats, 2016 GOP hopefuls, the Koch Brothers, cable news networks and more.
The highlight of Obama’s portion came with the appearance of Luther, Obama’s Anger Translator, with Keegan-Michael Key reprising his popular character from Comedy Central’s Key & Peele. On the show, Jordan Peele plays Obama, with Luther angrily, and hilariously, translating what the normally calm, cool and collected president really means to say.
At last night’s WHCD, though, Luther got to “translate” for the actual man himself, offering jabs at the dinner itself, campaign finance, and climate change (“Hey, folks, if you haven’t noticed, California is bone dry. It looks like a trailer for the new “Mad Max” movie up in there. Y’all think that Bradley Cooper came here because he wants to talk to Chuck Todd? He needed a glass of water! Come on.”)
On that last point, though, Obama himself playfully (but with an undercurrent of seriousness) acted without a translator, and started actually saying what he really thought. He called out climate change deniers in Congress, with his voice raising and Luther trying to get in a word, saying he’s got this. Finally, Luther had to walk off in shock.
Following Obama’s portion, Cecily Strong came on to close out the event as host. It was hit or miss (the room of reporters seemed to be especially unsure, and even the president was a little stonefaced at times during her portion), but she got in a number of good lines, two of which were related to the current stories of police violence. When she referred to Obama aging, she said that his hair has gotten so white that it can now talk back to cops. She also referenced the various Secret Service lapses, saying that agency is “the only law enforcement agency in the country that will get in trouble if a black man gets shot.”
Strong also wasn’t afraid to take some shots at her own network. “And what can I say about Brian Williams? Nothing, because I work for NBC.”
Strong maintained a, um, strong presence at the podium, and while it may be hard for any host to ever compare with Stephen Colbert’s epic 2006 WHCD performance, she generally acquitted herself well.
Here are President Obama’s and Cecily Strong’s portions of the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
