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WHCA DINNER The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1920, has become a Washington DC tradition and is usually attended by the President and Vice President . Thirteen presidents have attended a WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The dinner is held on the evening of the last Saturday in April . In recent years the featured speaker has often been a Comedian , with the dinner taking on the form of a Roast , especially of the President. This has been expanded to include short films involving the speaker or the President. Performers have included Nat King Cole , Dizzy Gillespie , Bob Hope , James Cagney , Barbara Streisand , Benny Goodman , Duke Ellington , Al Franken , Rich Little , Mark Russell , and Jay Leno . Notable dinners include: 1945 dinner Performers included Frank Sinatra , Danny Thomas , Jimmy Durante , Fanny Brice and Danny Kaye . 1969 dinner President Richard Nixon personally requested the Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue. 1985 dinner Rich Little and President Ronald Reagan dual press conference skit 1993 dinner Elayne Boosler 1994 dinner Al Franken 1995 dinner Conan O'Brien 1996 dinner Don Imus / Al Franken 1997 dinner Jon Stewart 1998 dinner Comedian Ray Romano 1999 dinner Aretha Franklin , entertainment (NBC's Brian Williams in skit) 2000 dinner Outgoing President , riding a bicycle, and learning about the Internet with the help of actor Michael Maronna as his character "Stuart". 2001 dinner Darrell Hammond and "Survivor" spoof 2002 dinner Drew Carey (Ozzy Osbourne attended) 2003 dinner Ray Charles, entertainment 2004 dinner Jay Leno 2005 dinner Cedric the Entertainer, plus some (off-color) jokes by First Lady Laura Bush. 2006 dinner The featured speaker was Stephen Colbert in his '' Colbert Report '' persona as a satire of a Right-wing cable television pundit. To some people, it seemed that President Bush was visibly unhappy with Colbert's jokes at his expense and the atmosphere in the hall was unusually tense. Bush mocked himself with the help of a celebrity Impersonator Steve Bridges . Many Bloggers would criticize the fact that most news sources focused on Bush and his impersonator, and devoted little space to Colbert, sometimes not even mentioning him at all. Valerie Plame attended with her husband. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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