President Joe Biden didn’t throw too many laugh lines during his live appearance on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show on Friday, but perhaps he was saving them for his role as chief comedian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
Along with “Saturday Night Live”s Colin Jost, Biden will headline the annual gathering of politicians, the journalists who cover them, industry giants and celebrities. The culmination of a weekend of activities and parties from CNN, CAA, WME, UTA, Comcast/NBCUniversal News Group, ABC News, CBS, Politico and Deadline itself. The party in the Washington Hilton’s massive ballroom is usually with more power players and more famous faces than any international summit or awards ceremony.
Livestream coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. ET on C-SPAN. Watch it live here on Deadline.
The 103-year-old WHCD has grown over the past few decades from a low-key meeting of the White House Correspondents’ Association and its fellows into one of the most important events in D.C.’s social calendar, and is experiencing something of a resurgence in the last few years. The Covid pandemic kept dinner dark in 2020 and 2021, and the notoriously thin-skinned Donald Trump snubbed the gathering throughout his presidency.
That’s all old news this year for the Kelly O’Donnell-led WHCA, which includes President and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend Saturday Night LiveJost, co-host of Weekend Update, provides the necessary kick and deep-state roasting.
Since Jost is the evening’s main entertainer, you can expect his wife and superstar Scarlett Johansson to also be in attendance. The SNL and Avengers star power will feature on a guest list that includes Chris Pine, Da’Vine Joy Rudolph and Jon Hamm. Rosario Dawson, Andrew McCarthy, Hiro Sanada, Sonequa Martin-Green, Molly Ringwald and Rachel Brosnahan and Netflix The diplomat Stars Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell and series creator Debora Cahn also plan to attend the dinner. The diplomat The team will also headline a Deadline event at the Irish Ambassador’s residence on Saturday morning.
In addition to Biden, another president will be present at the WHCD this year: SAG-AFTRA head Fran Drescher, along with the guild’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
For those unable to attend in person, WHCD will be broadcast live on multiple channels and online beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Here you will find an overview of the networks’ coverage plans.
CNN
As host of the after-party, CNN is going all out on WHCD this year, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT with live coverage hosted by CNN News Centralare John Berman and Sara Sidner. Reporting includes Laura Coates and Harry Enten Interview with red carpet arrivals and comments from Featuring speaking heads SE Cupp, Scott Jennings, Van Jones, Cari Champion and Van Lathan, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned news channel will spotlight student journalism fellows and honorees as well as celebrities.
FOX NEWS
Fox News Channel’s Jimmy Failla is sure to puncture some egos and boost others Fox News Saturday night from the WHCD red carpet from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. PT. We’ll sit down with other FNC talent like White House correspondent Peter Doocy Fox News Sunday Moderator Shannon Bream and Failla will also provide commentary on Biden and Jost’s remarks.
The WHCD will also be broadcast live for pay-TV subscribers on CNN.com and CNN Connected TV.
MSNBC
The Comcast-owned outlet has both pre-dinner and afterparty events planned, plus live coverage online beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT.
On MSNBC, Ayman Mohyeldin hosts Ayman Starting at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT, with an NBC News reporter on the red carpet. From 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. PT, MSNBC will be on WHCD, again hosted by Mohyeldin.
You can watch it on the small screen or online:
Ted Johnson contributed to this report.