That's Rich

When I first read that impressionist Rich Little was this year's choice for the White House Correspondents Association Dinner (after Stephen Colbert hosted last year's show), I must admit that my first reaction was -- gee, is he still with us? He is. As Wonkette put it, Bob Hope Sadly Too Dead to Headline WCHA Dinner:

After a White House Correspondents Dinner marred by a speech that was actually, tragically funny, the WHCA has taken steps to ensure that never again will the C-SPAN-watching public accidentally crack a smile. This year’s dinner guest of honor: Rich Little.

Yeah, the impressionist known for his humorous takes on Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Johnny Carson, and hopefully some people who aren’t dead.

Will Bunch of Attytood first mentioned his appearance, noting that Little said that the organizers made it clear he was to not do a Colbert:

Little said organizers of the event made it clear they don't want a repeat of last year's controversial appearance by Stephen Colbert, whose searing satire of President Bush and the White House press corps fell flat and apparently touched too many nerves.

"They got a lot of letters," Little said Tuesday. "I won't even mention the word 'Iraq.'"

Little, who hasn't been to the White House since he was a favorite of the Reagan administration, said he'll stick with his usual schtick -- the impersonations of the past six presidents.

"They don't want anyone knocking the president. He's really over the coals right now, and he's worried about his legacy," added Little, a longtime Las Vegas resident.

See Don't mention the war (or bash Bush). Bunch added his comments:

OK, free speech means you also have a right NOT to say anything or criticize anybody. But for the White House press corps to instruct Little not to "knock" the president smacks of a kind of censorship, from the very people that we've placed in the front line trenches of free speech.

Bunch later updated his post, reporting that the WHCA said that it didn't give Little any explicit instructions not to bash Bush. Apparently, they didn't have to. In RINGER, the New Yorker observes:

Each spring, the White House Correspondents’ Association hosts the President and other subsidiary potentates for an evening of obligatory conviviality and moderate drinking. Once every decade or so, someone mistakenly makes news at the correspondents’ dinner by saying something ruthless and true about the President. Such was the case last year, when Stephen Colbert committed the sin of humor in the presence of President Bush. “I stand by this man,” Colbert said, gesturing toward Bush, who was on the dais a few feet away. “I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares.”

This year, no such insults will be directed at the President, because the correspondents’ association has hired as entertainment the impressionist Rich Little, who calls himself “basically a Republican,” and whose jokes are reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s, though without the edge.

"Basically a Republican." Is that the political equivalent to being a little bit pregnant?

See also, With Rich Little, Press Corps Is Assured a Nice Impression. Quoting Lewis Black, the Washington Post observes about Little:

As for Little's being hired this year by the White House Correspondents' Association, Black said: "It's like going from Jackson Pollock to paint-by-numbers. God love Rich Little, but he's not in this decade. He's in no position to pose any threat to anyone. He makes Bob Hope look like Lenny Bruce. It's sad that we've reached this point" with comedy as political expression.

And journalists wonder why they are their profession is less relevant to the public they are suppose to serve? Why bother when you're serving dried up comics -- and news?

(Video of Rich on Letterman available at Wonkette & Throw Away Your TV, which also has a clip of the "Don't Mention the War" scene from Fawlty Towers).

Tags: News & Media, Rich Little, WHCA