Colin Jost could soon be saying, “Live from Washington, it’s the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner!”
The “Saturday Night Live” writer and “Weekend Update” co-anchor will serve as the entertainer at the annual journalist, celebrity and lawmaker-filled gala April 27 in Washington, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) announced Friday.
“Colin Jost knows how to make Saturday nights funny, and I am thrilled Colin will be live from the nation’s capital as the headline entertainer for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” WHCA President Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News’s senior White House correspondent, said in a statement.
The dinner is often considered a tough gig for comedians as they navigate delivering one-liners before a buttoned-up, black-tie crowd that traditionally includes the president. Plenty of “Saturday Night Live” performers and alumni — including Cecily Strong, Seth Meyers, Darrell Hammond, Conan O’Brien and former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) — have taken the stage at the fete, which raises money for journalism scholarships.
O’Donnell praised 41-year-old Jost, who’s married to “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson, for his “sharp insights” that “perfectly meet this remarkable time of divided politics, and a presidential campaign careening toward a rematch.”
“His smart brand of comedy and keen observation will turn up the heat on the national news media and across the political spectrum,” O’Donnell said, predicting a “night of laughs and reflections as our dinner honors freedom of the press as a cornerstone of American democracy.”