White House correspondents’ dinner: Now with even more empty calories!
|
Version 0 of 1. The flaxen-haired mogul threw an arm around the veteran diplomat’s shoulder. He pressed her tiny frame against his side and whispered something into her ear. A crowd of onlookers quickly formed to bear witness to this cozy moment — and their iPhones flashed quickly, before Donald Trump gently released national security adviser Susan Rice, a huge grin on his face. Pray tell, we asked her: What was that all about? “It’s a little hard to recount, but it was very nice,” said Rice, a little flustered by the encounter. “Not what I expected.” Only at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The annual affair has become, for better and worse, Washington’s Super Bowl, Oscars and Davos, a weekend of free booze, celebrity rubbernecking and corporate promotion. Some years are more interesting than others, but it now exists as its own empty-calorie entity, a bucket-list experience open to anyone with enough power, fame or money to wrangle a ticket. [Full recap of the 2015 White House correspondents’ dinner] To wit: Bradley Cooper, Laverne Cox and Ronan Farrow. Justice Antonin Scalia and Katie Couric. Wolf Blitzer and his date for the night, Jane Fonda. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Valerie Jarrett. Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover model Hannah Davis. Georgette Mosbacher. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his grandmother. And the guy with bad hair from “Game of Thrones.” And that was just the creme de la creme who made it into the A-list Vanity Fair after-party. And yes, that was John Legend snapping a picture of his wife, Chrissy Teigen, with Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth and her NBC correspondent son, Luke Russert. It was one of the few times Legend’s hand was not grabbing, fondling or otherwise enjoying his supermodel wife’s shapely derriere. Which is apparently just one of the many perks of being John Legend. The 2015 guest list was as random as it sounds, a collection of the famous, the famous for Washington and the famous in their own minds. After complaining for years about the glut of Hollywood stars who took seats previously reserved for White House reporters, this year was light on celebrities and heavy on advertisers and other corporate bigwigs. And people complained about that. (There’s always something to complain about.) “The dinner has moved from correspondents themselves to the organizations and the parent companies, and what can they do to enhance the brand,” said Peter Mirijanian, a Washington public relations expert who’s been going to the dinner for two decades. “That’s where you get the drive for the celebrities.” So it may have been a cynical marketing move when ABC handed over tickets to the cast of “Modern Family” (some of them here for the third or fourth year) or the stars of its new hit, “Black-ish,” instead of, say, more of their news reporters — but, hey, it worked. The president gave the comedy a shout-out doing his speech. (“It’s a great show, but I have to give ABC fair warning: Being black-ish only makes you popular for so long. Trust me.”) [At correspondents’ dinner, Obama jabs at media, candidates and himself] And co-stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross were genuinely excited to attend the dinner for the first time. “I get to rub elbows with Donald Trump and Lester Holt,” said Anderson. The dinner was No. 2 on Ross’s bucket list this year, she told us Friday night at the New Yorker’s pre-WHCD party. (No. 1? Making People’s ‘50 Most Beautiful’ issue with no makeup on. “I mean, things are good!”) And yes, that was Madeleine Albright roaming the dinner with her TV equivalent, “Madam Secretary” star Tea Leoni. Bob Schieffer — who, you see, shares a network with Leoni — asked the former real-life secretary of state to attend the dinner with Tim Daly, Leoni’s TV husband and real-life boyfriend, while the veteran newsman escorted Leoni, a sight that inspired a thousand tweets. “We’re double dating for the night,” said Schieffer with a big grin. [Ethical optics remain cloudy at White House correspondents’ dinner] Heady stuff for what was once a wonky Washington industry awards dinner: Reporters broke bread with government sources to try to warm them up; everybody said nice things about a vibrant free press; and sometimes, a famous entertainer performed. But the president’s speech has made it a big draw, attracting an odd melange of guests from beyond Washington, who in turn have made it an ever-more-coveted ticket. We might as well stop pretending that the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has anything to do with the White House or the correspondents, a relationship that seems to deteriorate by the year anyway, heedless of this annual schmooze. So what is this three-day blowout? [Five myths about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner] It’s a Thing to Do: dozens of pre-parties, after-parties, concerts, brunches and (God help us all) celebrity advocacy panels. Part festival, part convention, a chance to show off the newest, the coolest, the hippest. “This has become the South by Southwest for Washington,” said David Adler, founder of the event business bible BizBash. “It’s all about new people meeting other new people. It’s mega-networking.” Adler did a quick back-of-the-envelope analysis: He figures every event costs at least $150 per person — catering, security, rentals — which he extrapolates out to a total outlay by all hosts of $20 million to $25 million over three days. This year’s pre-dinner parties were more lavish than in years past and ever more crowded, filled with high-tech toys to keep people amused — many of them not even guests to the dinner itself but happy to show up where they could for free drinks and a selfie with a VIP. At the Yahoo-ABC reception, former Senate staffer Roland Foster dove into a picture with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. They go to the same church and he had considered asking for a selfie on Ash Wednesday but thought better of it. Now he went for it. The difference this year is that celebrities seemed superfluous to the self-documentation: Many guests were perfectly happy with the solo selfies they snapped at parties. The iPhones went off like a meteor shower, and photos were displayed on screens around the party. [Forget celebrity fashion: Here’s how normal guests dressed for correspondents’ dinner] Small talk was in short supply. In a random survey, no one interviewed at the Yahoo pre-dinner reception could name a single reporter who covers the president. But to be fair, no one told them there was going to be a pop quiz about White House correspondents at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, more random sightings: Martha Stewart, with her big, old-school white Samsung camera videotaping the president walking in. Former OMB director Peter Orszag, watching people notice his drop-dead-gorgeous second wife, Bianna Golodryga, a former ABC correspondent now working as a journalist for Yahoo. The president greeted the audience with this: “Welcome to the White House correspondents’ dinner — the night when Washington celebrates itself.” They laughed, you laughed, except that the night had never been less about Washington. But whatever. No one cares anymore. After a hit-and-miss routine by “Saturday Night Live’s” Cecily Strong, guests dispersed into the cold, wet night for more parties. [The funniest lines in President Obama’s White House correspondents’ dinner speech] None is more exclusive than Vanity Fair’s elegant soiree at the French ambassador’s newly reopened residence in Kalorama, the hardest ticket of the weekend and, as one guest argued, of the year. Photo IDs were required to make it past security in the tented driveway; A-listers poured through the front door like a rush of floodwater from a broken dam. Charlie Rose grabbed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for a tete-a-tete. Scalia fetched champagne for Couric. Bradley Cooper scuttled past, never to be spotted again. Ashley Judd swanned around the entrance in full “Steel Magnolias” mode with three orchids tucked behind her right ear. (What was that line from the movie? “The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.”) Ivanka Trump, in a red Zac Posen gown, who looked more like a movie star than the movie stars. “People, there’s a whole mansion!” shouted one exasperated guest, trying to break the logjam in the foyer. The first lady’s chief of staff, Tina Tchen, had moments with actresses Connie Britton and Sophia Bush, who spent the night holding up her dress train. Guests skipped the chilly patio and crammed instead, sliding their way around the crush of bodies. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick huddled with Red Sox owner John Henry. The Seahawks’ Wilson was a huge hit by simply walking around with his grandmother. Supermodel Naomi Campbell was trailed all night by a terrified-looking assistant. We spotted a few politicians: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), and Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz tucked in a corner of the salon, deep in chat. “In general, these are good opportunities for exchanging ideas,” he told us. Really? You couldn’t even hear yourself think here. “It’s not the conversation that takes place here, but the conversation that follows up,” he explained. “So networking, but it’s also fun.” Ah. Around 2 a.m., Valerie Jarrett, Arianna Huffington, Ronan Farrow and Laverne Cox lined up for one of the evening’s singular photo-ops. We missed it, but ran into Martin O’Malley. Having fun? “Jonah from ‘Veep’ spilled red wine on me, so that was a new experience,” he deadpanned. “But he’s great.” On to 2016. |