Ron Chernow, a historian and an author perhaps best known to people as the guy who inspired a li’l musical called Hamilton, served as this year’s host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. No, he is not a comedian — after Michelle Wolf’s very divisive monologue from 2018 about smoky eyes and The Handmaid’s Tale, the association decided to eliminate the roastings in favor of some winding history lectures. Still, Chernow had fun with his 30 minutes in the spotlight, and even got in a few solid presidential burns.
“There has been some squawking from comedians,” Chernow said about his role. “I thought they’d have a little sense of humor about my selection. After all, they are comedians. But we need them now more than ever. As Will Rogers once observed, ‘People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke.’ That certainly describes our topsy-turvy moment. I sincerely hope comedians will be back for many more star turns in the future.” And now, presenting one of Chernow’s dad jokes, just for the hell of it: “I applaud any president who aspires to the Nobel Prize for peace. But we don’t want one in the running for the Nobel prize for fiction.” Okay, another:
On Tuesday, the president let it be known he wanted members of his administration to stay away from this dinner. At first, I was puzzled by this news. But then I learned a rumor was circulating in Washington that I was going to be reading aloud from the redacted portions of the Mueller report and everything was explained.
Hey-o! He’ll be there all night.
