Misery Accomplished

There are only two reasons for the existence of C-SPAN:

1.  Should ever – and if there’s a God, this will happen – our Congressfolk suffer the sort of collective breakdown that occasionally strikes legislative bodies overseas, wherein elected officials throw furniture and whatnot at each other... There must be cameras there.

2.  The White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  C-SPAN’s presence is important because the annual event is packed to the gills with members of the press.  And therefore would never be accurately reported.

The dinner is really one of the few things I miss about not having cable.  Every year the channel would rerun past functions – roasts, really, where the president performs a bit of (intentional) comedy and an invited funnyperson would skewer everyone in the room (though some years a non-comedy performer will entertain: past participants have included Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Jay Leno).

This year the guest was Stephen Colbert – not the first person associated with Comedy Central’s Daily Show to drop his duty, there (Jon Stewart appeared at the 1997 WHCD, and Lewis Black ranted at last year’s Radio & TV Correspondent’s Dinner) – and he did a fine job, flipping off Justice Scalia, pointing out Valerie Plame (turns out she’s totally leak-worthy), and generally “celebrating” the president and the press corps.

You can buy a DVD of the performance, if you’re like 80 years old, don’t know any better and have expendable income that hasn’t already been taken by that nice gentleman from Nigeria. 

Or you can watch it on YouTube:  Stephen Colbert, in three parts: (1)  (2)  (3)

(It’s been uploaded a couple hundred times, with as many running times, but this one is complete.  The third part is an entirely missable prerecorded video skit.)

One of the highlights of the occasion is always the president’s speech; whatever else you might say about W., he’s never been afraid to mock himself.  Here he and Bush impersonator Steve Bridges do the old internal/external monologue thing.  Which is funny once you get over the terrifying concept of there being more than one of him.

tags: george w bush  correspondents dinner  stephen colbert  

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