The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) announced Tuesday that comedians Kenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj will be the entertainers for its annual dinner.
Thompson will be the evening’s host while Minhaj will return to the dinner as a featured entertainer, the WHCA website said. Thompson is the longest tenured Saturday Night Live cast-member, and has set a record on the show for most celebrity impressions. Minhaj is best known for his Netflix show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“Kenan and Hasan are two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America. I’m thrilled they’ll help us celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy,” said Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News and president of the WHCA in The press release.. “We’re looking forward to a lively evening honoring the most important political journalism of the past year.”
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an annual dinner held in Washington, D.C., attended by journalists covering the White House and president, and often attended by the sitting president. President Donald Trump has yet to attend a dinner, and his administration has been the brunt of jokes made in past years. (RELATED: Trump Calls Out ‘So-Called Comedian’ Michelle Wolf, Says He Might Go To White House Correspondents’ Dinner This Year)
Michelle Wolf: Donald Trump “doesn’t have a big enough spine to attend” White House Correspondents’ Dinnerhttps://t.co/yfxPWd6Z41 pic.twitter.com/fBItX66NrA
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 6, 2019
Last year, the featured speaker was historian Ron Chernow, who focused on celebrating the history of journalism, and occasionally took subtle jabs at Trump. When referencing statements Trump had made earlier that month about the U.S. being full and unable to accept migrants, he remarked “Hamilton, an immigrant who arrived, thank God, before the country was full.”
The dinner will be held on Saturday, April 25.