Comedian and writer Colin Jost, best known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” will headline this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the organization announced Friday.
“Colin Jost knows how to make Saturday nights funny, and I am thrilled Colin will be live from the nation’s capital as the headline entertainer for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Kelly O’Donnell, WHCA president and NBC News senior White House correspondent, said in a statement.
The annual event draws a crowd of celebrities, journalists and politicians, often including the president and first lady. This year’s dinner will take place on April 27 in Washington, D.C.
A comedian typically hosts the event, although the WHCA broke from that tradition in 2019 by inviting presidential biographer Ron Chernow to be the featured speaker. The previous year, headliner Michelle Wolf had sparked backlash from conservatives over a joke about then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The event has since returned to having comedic hosts, with Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. taking the headlining role in recent years.
Jost has been a writer on “SNL” for nearly two decades. In 2014, he began co-hosting the “Weekend Update” segment of the show with Michael Che. Jost has received 14 Emmy Awards nominations for his “SNL” writing, as well as five Writers Guild Awards and two Peabody Awards.
“[Jost’s] sharp insights perfectly meet this remarkable time of divided politics, and a presidential campaign careening toward a rematch,” O’Donnell said in the statement. “His smart brand of comedy and keen observation will turn up the heat on the national news media and across the political spectrum.”
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