When we talked with several TV newsers Saturday night at the MSNBC afterparty and Sunday morning at the CNN brunch, many said the same thing about Larry Wilmore‘s White House Correspondents’ Dinner set: that he didn’t read the room very well.
Wilmore himself is now saying the same thing. In an interview with the AP’s David Bauder, Wilmore admits, “I may have underestimated the tone of how I was telling the jokes. All of these revelations you realize after the fact,” he said.
Wilmore, who says his “tone didn’t fit the room,” felt “bad about the Wolf thing, because that came out more negative than I intended.”
The joke went like this: “Speaking of drones, how is Wolf Blitzer still on television? Hey, Wolf, I’m willing to project tonight’s winner: anyone that isn’t watching ‘The Situation Room.'”
Then there was the Don Lemon joke which elicited a flipping of the middle finger from Lemon, which Wilmore said he appreciated.
The conclusion of most of the people we talked with was this: the President is a tough act to follow at an event like this. And putting Wilmore, or any comedian, as the show-closer is a no-win situation. Perhaps the White House Correspondents’ Association will rethink the order next year. And President Whoever will drop the mic, and call it a night.
