WHCD 2010

On the long list of things that make me a huge nerd is the fact that I LOVE the White House Correspondents Dinner. It's right up there with the Oscars as an event I want to attend before I die. One of my favorite books is Clinton & Me by President Clinton's humor speechwriter, Mark Katz. It's a great read about what it was like to write comedy for the President.

Anywho, President Obama did a nice job last night. Although, I have to admit, I kinda hate watching Presidents try to be funny while their bodies are stuck in serious speech giving mode. It amazes me that they spend so much of their lives speaking to people and most of them don't know how to play laughs properly. But I digress.... the President, who from what I can tell bucked the trend and spoke first last night, was 10 times funnier than Jay Leno -- which in my opinion isn't that hard to accomplish. Some of my favorite lines from the President's speech:

- "I'm glad that the only other person whose ratings fell more than mine last year is here with us tonight. Good to see you, Jay! I'm also glad to be speaking first. We've all seen what happens to the person in the timeslot after Leno."

- "Michael Steele is here, aka 'The Notorious G.O.P.' Michael knows what truly plagues America today: 'taxation without representin.'"

- "...I hear I'm still pretty big on Twitter and Facebook. Or as Sarah Palin calls it: the socialized media."

- "You know what really tickles me? Eric Massa. Apparently, Massa claimed that Rahm came up to him one day in the House locker room, stark naked, and started screaming obscenities at him. To which I say: welcome to my world.'"

The full speech: