The New York Times reports that Full Frontal host Samantha Bee will be hosting an alternative gala on the same night as the Correspondents’ Dinner, whether or not the rival dinner actually happens. It will be called, appropriately, “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” and was planned, according to Bee, “to ensure that we get to properly roast the president.” The lineup is yet to be announced, but one can assume that it will be embarrassingly good.
“I honestly can’t imagine what they’re thinking, but I really wish them well,” Bee told the Times of the Correspondents’ Association, which is an organization of journalists that cover the White House. “I think that’s going to be very challenging. Does 3 Doors Down do comedy? I don’t know, maybe they do.”
Under past administrations, the WHCA dinner has been criticized for its celebrity-strewn roster and for promoting an overly cozy relationship between reporters and government officials. Under this administration, if the dinner doesn’t disappear entirely—and really, it seems unlikely that Trump would turn down an opportunity to hold court in a setting that once spurned him—it will likely focus on fêting Trump’s preferred propagandists at Fox News and Breitbart, along with huge important celebrities like Scott Baio and Jill Zarin. And why not Kellyanne Conway as host? She’s good at jokes!
