White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

Jon Favreau Says Farewell on Colbert

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Jon Favreau, Obama’s soon-to-be-departing outgoing director of speechwriting, stopped by The Colbert Report last night to go over his time with the President and his Hollywood aspirations. While the esteemed former Super PAC founder hoped to go back on the nine-year veteran’s career prior to the White House (“please use the words fry cook.”)

While today is technically Favreau’s last day at the White House–again, Colbert: “I booked you 24 hours too early!” While he and David Axelrod were responsible for the 2009 White House Correspondents Dinner sketches, Favreau’s departure from Washington for Los Angeles may be tough. After all, there’s already Jon Favreau, writer-director of Swingers and Iron Man. But Vanity Fair has us covered in a tale of the Favs. The full Colbert video below:

Insider Round-Ups: How To Fix Fox, Stephanopoulos Stays At This Week and D.C. Loves Zero Dark Thirty

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It’s hard to figure out what’s worth your time with all the first reads, politico blasts and tweets that race by before your third coffee of the morning. So let us provide some curation to your otherwise blur of a morning before your second conference call.

  • Ana Marie Cox thinks less work for Rove at Fox is more of a “promotion” than a network reorganization.
  • TV Newser has George Stephanopoulos at ABC’s This Week through 2013.
  • The D.C. Metro area film critics love Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty (and The Master!)
  • Buzzfeed speaks to a Cory Booker backer betting big–to hell with alliteration–for a 2016 run.
  • Politico reports:South Carolina demands the good Dr. Stephen T. Colbert.
  • NPR lays out the differences in President Obama‘s second inauguration.

    • That should get you through at least your first lunch-that-gets-turned-into-a-coffee-break.

    Conan O'Brien: The Comeback Kid

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    Welcome back to late night, Coco.

    Last night the former Tonight Show host made his basic cable debut on the TBS network and it did not go unnoticed. Conan O’Brien wasted no time in reminding viewers of how his firing went down last year, literally likening the NBC Network honchos to Godfather-like hitmen.

    While it may have lacked the vim and verve of O’Brien‘s dash across America as he headed towards the land of Burbank for The Tonight Show, last night’s cold open showcasing O’Brien‘s search for new employment (including cameos by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm and “Guardian Angel” Larry King) proved the comedian could take a licking – and a joke.

    And he’s got the last laugh: the debut of Conan won the ratings battle, beating NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman, and fellow basic cable funnymen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

    Let us here at WHC Insider be the first to publicly declare our vote for Conan O’Brien as the host of the 2011 White House Correspondents Association Dinner…although maybe he should shave first? Check out the bearded-one in last night’s monologue:

    The Rally To Restore Fear In Media Reasonably Successful

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    In case you missed it this weekend, a tiny rally was held on a tiny piece of land in downtown Washington, DC. And then The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear blew up in the faces of the very folks covering it, while those attending the event laughed and swayed as if at a revival.

    [Read more…]

    Daily Show Rally Continues The Meta-Media

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    The Rally To Restore Sanity/March To Keep Fear Alive has turned the 24 hour newscycle into its…well, special friend. The Wrap rounds up the latest details of the October 30th event that will take place on the Mall. Fox News has confirmed it’s coverage with a single camera crew after Jon Stewart announced earlier in the week that Comedy Central will broadcast the event live online and its channel.

    [Read more…]

    The Rally To Restore Fear in DC Celebrity

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    Republicans in Congress are more upset that a comedian cracked jokes at a hearing than the fact they invited a comedian to crack jokes at a hearing. Just making sure that’s clear before we get into the oddity that is celebrity endorsements.

    The AP takes a crack at explaining the true nature of these press ops as those “famous-for-DC” meet with bold face names that grace the supermarket check-out lines.

    Colbert’s celebrity is a commodity that California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who chaired the subcommittee hearing, and the other witnesses that day sought to leverage. Lofgren joked at one point that the last time the hearing room was so crammed with audience members and cameras was for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings a dozen years ago.

    Of course, Colbert’s appearance was a joke. He appeared the night prior on The Colbert Report explaining why he was qualified to speak, based on his time as a migrant worker. But the explanation that Congress is now against Colbert is so simple it’s been used in Hollywood for years: ratings and relevance.

    At the kicker of the AP article, Carol Swain, a law professor who testified before Colbert, remarked “I have testified before” and credited that because of the high profile star following her, “people heard my testimony.” This is directly what Colbert and Jon Stewart bring to the political world that is mired in otherwise mundane events that just so happen to dictate our government.

    Celebrity is intoxicating, but when you have informed satire hiding behind celebrity it becomes a problem for most glad-handing politicos. Even with the upcoming Rally To Restore Sanity now getting a free bus service from New York to DC thanks to Arianna Huffington (complete with Twitter) and even President Obama plugging the rally, according to MSNBC First Read, due to the event’s focus on not foaming at the mouth due to punditry.

    Even if Congress bristles at being made fun of, it still secretly swoons over the fact it can say the Dr. Stephen T. Colbert made fun of them for a five-minute viral clip they can show their staffers.

    Ludacris Looking Forward to His 2nd WHCD, Hopes Wanda Doesn't "Hold Back"

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    Ludacris at the Pre-WHCD Garden Brunch

    Ludacris at the Pre-WHCD Garden Brunch

    Rapper and actor Ludacris says he’s looking forward to the big correspondents’ dinner tonight, and, noting that he’s been a longtime fan of Wanda Sykes (tonight’s entertainer), adds that she shouldn’t “hold back… there’s too much seriousness in this town.”

    Ludarcis attended the 2006 WHCD, when Stephen Colbert was the evening’s entertainment, and said he’s taking his mom tonight,”kind of an early Mother’s Day present.”

    White House Press Corps Needs "Somebody to Yell at 'Em," Letterman Writer Says

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    Bill Scheft Hails Wanda Sykes as Great Choice for WHCD Entertainment

    If the elite gathering of A-list journos, politicos and celebrities that make up the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

    Bill Scheft, right, on the "Late Show" set with Dave, left.

    Bill Scheft, right, on the "Late Show" set with Dave, left.

    can’t loosen up when Sykes starts her monologue, it’s likely to get what it deserves, says Scheft, a veteran scribe for “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

    “If they take Wanda too seriously, she’s going to let ’em have it,” Scheft tells WHCInsider. “I’ve know Wanda a long time. She’ll really give it to ’em, and I think that’s what they need — somebody to yell at ’em.”

    Scheft says that Sykes was a great choice to book for the entertainment, noting that Stephen Colbert — who raised as many hackles as he did laughs with his controversial routine at the 2006 dinner — is altogether different. “Colbert was a character playing a character playing a character at that dinner. He’s very character-oriented. Wanda is much more joke-oriented.” [Read more…]

    Memorable Moments of Dinners Past

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    If there’s a single instance in the recent history that encapsulates what the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has become in staid, old Washington, it would have to be the “Ozzy moment.” The year was 2002 and the unified spirit that enveloped Washington in the wake of the 9/11 attacks still lingered as the elite masses gathered at the Washington Hilton hotel for the annual dinner. President Bush was on hand, riding a wave of political popularity. Cabinet members like Colin Powell were also present, as well as the upper echelons of official Washington.

    Comedian Drew Carey was the featured entertainment (after the president, of course), and the requisite celebrities were on hand as well – Harrison Ford, Christie Brinkley, etc. But it was heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne (invited by Fox News host Greta Van Susteren) everyone was clamoring to see. His MTV reality show “The Osbournes” had become a cultural phenomenon and the muttering poster boy of rock ‘n roll excess was more famous than he had ever been in his head-banging heyday. Even the president couldn’t resist the pull of America’s sudden and most unlikely celebrity. “The thing about Ozzy is he’s made a lot of big hit recordings,” Bush said as he gave the singer a shout-out during his remarks. “’Party With Animals,’ ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,’ ‘Face in Hell,’ ‘Black Skies’ and ‘Bloodbath in Paradise’ … Ozzy, mom loves your stuff.” Osbourne responded by standing on his chair, arms raised and shouting as the audience howled and applauded.

    [Read more…]