<P> Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years . </P> <P> In recent years, the dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood". The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award - winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation". This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen". This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Performer (s) </Th> <Th> Notes </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1944 </Td> <Td> Bob Hope, Fritz Kreisler, Gracie Fields, Mexican tenor Pedro Vargas, Fred Waring, Elsie Janis, Ed Gardiner, Nan Merriman, Robert Merrill, and NBC musical director Frank Black with a 40 - piece orchestra . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1945 </Td> <Td> Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye, and Garry Moore shared hosting duties . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1953 </Td> <Td> Bob Hope </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1954 </Td> <Td> Milton Berle, The Four Step Brothers, Jaye P. Morgan, The McGuire Sisters, and Irving Berlin performed . </Td> <Td> Berlin performed an original song, "I Still Like Ike," to honor President Eisenhower . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1956 </Td> <Td> James Cagney emceed; Nat King Cole, Patti Page, and Dizzy Gillespie performed . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1961 </Td> <Td> The Peiro Brothers (jugglers), Julie London, Dorothy Provine, violinist Mischa Elman, opera singer Jerome Hines </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1962 </Td> <Td> Peter Sellers, Gwen Verdon, Richard Goodman, and Benny Goodman shared hosting duties . </Td> <Td> Event opened to female correspondents for the first time . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1963 </Td> <Td> Merv Griffin emceed; Barbra Streisand performed . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1964 </Td> <Td> Duke Ellington, the Smothers Brothers </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1968 </Td> <Td> Richard Pryor </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1969 </Td> <Td> The Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 14, 1973 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 3, 1975 </Td> <Td> Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1976 </Td> <Td> Bob Hope emceed and Chevy Chase performed . </Td> <Td> When President Ford rose to speak, he pretended to fumble, and began his speech with "Good evening . I'm Gerald Ford and you're not"--a reference to Chase's catchphrase from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 28, 1979 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 25, 1981 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Mark Russell </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1984 </Td> <Td> Rich Little </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 17, 1986 </Td> <Td> Dick Cavett </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Jay Leno </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 21, 1988 </Td> <Td> Yakov Smirnoff </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Jim Morris (Bush impersonator) </Td> <Td> Garry Shandling made a surprise appearance . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Jim Morris </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1991 </Td> <Td> Sinbad </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Paula Poundstone </Td> <Td> Poundstone was the first solo female host . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 1, 1993 </Td> <Td> Elayne Boosler </Td> <Td> This was the first year that the dinner was televised on C - SPAN . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 23, 1994 </Td> <Td> Al Franken </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 29, 1995 </Td> <Td> Conan O'Brien </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 4, 1996 </Td> <Td> Al Franken </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 26, 1997 </Td> <Td> Jon Stewart </Td> <Td> Norm Macdonald delivered a Weekend Update parody . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 25, 1998 </Td> <Td> Ray Romano </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 1, 1999 </Td> <Td> Aretha Franklin </Td> <Td> NBC's Brian Williams performed a skit . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 29, 2000 </Td> <Td> Jay Leno </Td> <Td> President Bill Clinton also mocked himself in the short film President Clinton: The Final Days, which depicted him as a lonely man closing down a nearly deserted White House, riding a bicycle, and learning about the Internet with the help of actor Mike Maronna . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 28, 2001 </Td> <Td> Darrell Hammond </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 4, 2002 </Td> <Td> Drew Carey </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 26, 2003 </Td> <Td> Ray Charles </Td> <Td> President George W. Bush decided to eschew a comedian that year, given the recent invasion of Iraq . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 1, 2004 </Td> <Td> Jay Leno </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 30, 2005 </Td> <Td> Cedric the Entertainer </Td> <Td> First Lady Laura Bush also performed some jokes . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 29, 2006 </Td> <Td> Stephen Colbert </Td> <Td> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Wikinews has related news: Comedians lampoon Bush at White House Correspondents' Dinner </Td> </Tr> </Table> See also: Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner Colbert performed his television satire of a right - wing cable television pundit . Several of President Bush's aides and supporters walked out during Colbert's speech, and one former aide said that the President had "that look that he's ready to blow". Steve Bridges also performed a Bush impersonation . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 21, 2007 </Td> <Td> Rich Little </Td> <Td> David Letterman appeared by video with a Top 10 list of "favorite George W. Bush moments". </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 26, 2008 </Td> <Td> Craig Ferguson </Td> <Td> Like his Late Late Show monologues, Ferguson appeared to go off script and started improvising new jokes . It was noted that President Bush had difficulty understanding Ferguson's Scottish accent . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 9, 2009 </Td> <Td> Wanda Sykes </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 1, 2010 </Td> <Td> Jay Leno </Td> <Td> Leno hosted for the fourth time, more than any other individual in the dinner's history . Leno had been chosen several weeks before his controversial Tonight Show conflict, and his use of recycled jokes was noted by critics . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 30, 2011 </Td> <Td> Seth Meyers </Td> <Td> Both President Barack Obama and then - Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were seen laughing at Meyers' jokes about the government's apparent inability to track down Osama Bin Laden, even though they were a day away from the operation to assassinate him . <P> President Obama and Meyers also mocked then - Celebrity Apprentice host Donald Trump's role as the face of the birther movement . Trump would go on to be elected President of the United States five years later in the 2016 United States presidential election . Journalists that were present at the dinner say that being mocked by President Obama and Meyers led him to decide to run for President of the United States, but Trump would later deny this, saying that he had been considering running for President for many years prior to the dinner . </P> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 28, 2012 </Td> <Td> Jimmy Kimmel </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 27, 2013 </Td> <Td> Conan O'Brien </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 3, 2014 </Td> <Td> Joel McHale </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 25, 2015 </Td> <Td> Cecily Strong </Td> <Td> Keegan - Michael Key made a guest appearance as President Obama's "anger translator", Luther, a recurring character from the Comedy Central show Key & Peele . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 30, 2016 </Td> <Td> Larry Wilmore </Td> <Td> Wilmore delivered a controversial, searing routine targeting the president, elite media, lobbyists, politicians, and celebrities . At the end of the speech, Wilmore ended his set by thanking President Obama for having been the country's first black President and finished his speech by calling him "my nigga" on live television . This remark sparked controversy among the media, with some calling it disrespectful . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 29, 2017 </Td> <Td> Hasan Minhaj </Td> <Td> President Donald Trump did not attend the dinner . The last time the sitting president was not involved was Ronald Reagan in 1981 . He was recovering from being shot in an assassination attempt . However, Reagan did phone into the event and even joked about the shooting . <P> The Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein presented awards and spoke about the importance of the First Amendment . </P> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 28, 2018 </Td> <Td> Michelle Wolf </Td> <Td> President Trump did not attend the dinner for the second consecutive year . Instead, he sent his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders . Aya Hijazi recognized . <P> Wolf received both praise and criticism for her monologue . The association released a rare statement regarding the monologue . After the dinner, newspaper The Hill informed the WHCA that it would no longer participate in the event, saying, "In short, there's simply no reason for us to participate in something that casts our profession in a poor light . Major changes are needed to the annual event ." </P> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Performer (s) </Th> <Th> Notes </Th> </Tr>

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