Samantha Bee!

Samantha Bee!

by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Courtesy of Turner

With a few days in the rear view mirror since Samantha Bee hosted her “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” it is time to assess how this fits into the bigger story of the election circus and the first 100 days of the Trump Presidency.

With a certain degree of mystery surrounding just what the program would entail, guests and journalists wondered if it would be a extended scale skewering of Trump, a patriotic salute to the first amendment or if it would be a star studded parade of Hillary Clinton supporters providing alternate programming for the official dinner event that Trump himself didn’t even attend. It was a little bit of all of those things.

The afternoon kicked off with a video of Allison Janney once again reprising her roll of ‘West Wing’ press secretary CJ Cregg and answering questions about what is to come…smart move on Bee’s part as The West Wing and it’s characters have become a political and cultural safe space for entertainment and policy wonks. It set a good tone as the rally kicked off with music and flashing lights and we were in the thick of it.

The thousands packed into DAR constitution hall have Bee a rock-star reception and on this particular day she deserved it. The undercurrent of all of it was definitely a metaphorical pie in the face to President Trump but the roasting was broader than just there…. a large portion of the show was cynical attack on the absurdity of 24 hour cable news with numerous jabs at CNN and Jeff Zucker.

“Give Anderson Cooper his black t-shirt back and point him to a disaster area” quipped Bee as she chewed at the day and night news cycle that is feeding audiences content good and bad just to fill airtime. “People are so thirsty for real news they are willing to sit through a 40 minute preamble about trains or something because Rachel [Maddow] might tell them something interesting.”

Each network had their time on the chopping block with special attention given to Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes, but recently departed from FOX news.

The afternoon charged through alternative facts and fake news, The electoral college and Russian scandals….all to keep the crowd laughing on an afternoon where nobody was sure how much laughter would reach the real Correspondents’ dinner.

The special guest of Will Ferrell in Character as George W Bush, mocking Donald Trump for elevating his status away from most hated President.

The program then capped off with a video and remarks by Bee imagining a world where Hillary Clinton had won the presidency and that she was at the traditional roast.

The crowds roared and while entertaining, there were no huge shocking moments, just solid and reliable entertainment slanted to what you would expect. The same was the general reception of the official dinner at the Washington Hilton which included a program by Woodward and Bernstein and remarks from host Hasan Minhaj, both which got high remarks despite Trump’s absence.

There was a little bit less luster in the year’s events but journalists had a chance to shine (with a number of recognizable faces showing up for the after-parties.)

After party at the W Hotel.  Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki

MSNBC’s talent flocked to their event at the organization of American States and Bee and her crew mingled on the roof of the W hotel before during and after the show aired.

Maybe the critics were right that the WHCD needed a reset year to re-center itself. That’s exactly what this year might have done.

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