WH Correspondents' Dinner Will Have 2 Headliners

The White House Correspondents' Association dinner is back with a host. Saturday Night Live's Kenan Thompson will serve as master of ceremonies at the April 25 event at the Washington Hilton, while 2017 featured entertainer Hasan Minhaj will return to that role, per the New York Times. The outlet describes the event overseen by TV producer Bob Bain as "a return to comedy" after historian Ron Chernow was the featured speaker last year. "The dinner has a serious message, but we also believe it is as important as ever to be able to laugh—at ourselves, as well as at the people we cover," says Correspondents' Association President Jonathan Karl. Indeed, "I'd argue that humor is more important now than ever."

He describes Thompson and Minhaj as "two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America," per NBC News. He adds that the 1914 founding charter of the Correspondents' Association, restored after it was rediscovered during a 2019 White House renovation, will be unveiled at the National Archives in the days leading up to the event, meant to "celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy." It's unclear whether President Trump will end his three-year boycott, though it doesn't look good. No one from the White House attended last year's dinner, which came after 2018 host Michelle Wolf offended White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders as she sat at the head table. (Trump wasn't pleased.)