Little Humor

The White House Correspondents Dinner decided to use a new approach this year: an impersonator/comic that everyone thought had died to make jokes that did.

Rich Little, with shockingly dyed hair, said at the outset that he is “not political” but rather a “nightclub performer who does a lot of dumb, stupid jokes,” then proved that.

First report, from Editor & Publisher, Bush Doesn't Joke at WHCA Dinner Due to Virginia Tech Killings -- But Rich Little Says 'Nuts'

Last year's host, Stephen Colbert may not have wowed the White House or its Press Corps, The Colbert Lampoon , but he was a hit with the rest of us. When the WHCA decided to go with Rich Little for this year's dinner, the general reaction was shock -- shock that he was still alive, see, e.g., That's Rich and The Impersonators. Well, we may have spoke to soon. As E& P reports:

He started with a couple of Canada (his native country) jokes and a weak Sen. John McCain, which bombed, as did an impression of.Arnold Schwarzenegger, causing him to look at the crowd askance. “You thought Colbert was bad,” he finally joked.

With that he pulled out one of his classics, Johnny Carson, with a joke about lawyers being “assholes,” which drew a laugh from the president, despite the off-color language.

Then he did Andy Rooney asking: “If you overdosed on Viagra how would you get the coffin closed?”

Little followed by doing six presidents, including a man he “loved,” Ronald Reagan. He put in false teeth to play Jimmy Carter saying that when he was a peanut farmer “I had the biggest nuts in the county.”

As the presidents got more recent, the impressions got weaker: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and then possibly the worst impression of all, the current president. But he closed with the one he is most famous for, Richard Nixon, saying, “Let’s bring him out of the mothballs one more time.”

Speaking of mothballs, Rich obviously knows about which he speaks.

UPDATE: Added the clip of Rich Little. You can find the whole show at FishbowlDC -- if you dare!

Also, For Letterman's Top 10 Bush gaffs, see Eschaton.

Tags: News and Media, Journalism, WHCA, Rich Little