course, co-host of "american idol" and all the people you see on the escalators are on their into the ballroom. there's the ballroom. because the president is there, everyone will to to go through security and have their bags searched. the president and the head table are due to come out in just a little bit. there is a little bit of a pre dinner program. we will bring that to you live. the full program is due to start at about 9:40 p.m. eastern time. there are a couple of speakers and at about 10 of 15 you will hear from president obama and about 1:30, seth myers.

you can always go to our website, c-span.org, and what you will find there is passed dinners. ets will find all the tweak coming in from the dinner attendees aggregated add that site. here is a tweet from eric andrews, and she writes, i have the best looking date bet the dinner tonight. love my dad. you can find all this information at our web site, c- span.org/whcd. the pre-dinner program is due to begin in just a minute.

♪

♪

♪

>> we are back live. the dinner program has not begun just yet. we are waiting for that to begin. the president and mrs. obama will be arriving with the rest of the dinner program. we will hear from david jackson,

a bit tonight. he is the master of ceremonies. he is president of the white house correspondents association. you will hear from david jackson. he will be introducing some other guests who are invited. you have to be invited by an accredited journalistic organization to be a guest of this dinner. here are some more gas that were invited. steve buscemi and senator scott brown are the guest of "time" magazine. the president of disney, jane lint, center merkel rubio, a republican fund florida, attorney general eric holder, janet napolitano, white house chief of staff bill daley, the

cheese champion mike mullen, center mark kirk and center amy klobuchar are some of their guests. evan williams and mira sorvina. colin powell, tina brown, barry diller and white house vreau.writer john farro the new yorker invited jon hamm , and joel and ethan coen, film directors. now we are going back to the ballroom, waiting for the pre- dinner program to begin.

[crowd murmurs]

[crowd murmurs]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. the program begins momentarily. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome david jackson, president of the white house correspondents association.

♪ ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the united states of america, barack obama, and first lady, michelle obama. ♪ [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of

the colors and the singing of our national anthem. ♪

♪ >> present arms. [playing national anthem]

[applause] ♪

♪ hist ♪

♪ ♪

♪

>> also said it, jelly mason -- julie mason, and henry, ed jay carney, press secretary to the , david jackson, usa today, seth myers, michael shearer and steep gully. >> good evening, and welcome to the annual white house correspondents association dinner. tonight's event marks our 97 year with the correspondents

association. i would like to thank our board members, the staff here at the washington hilton, and most of all, the white house correspondents association's executive director. would particularly like to thank the united states marine band. [applause] as we come here tonight, let's remember that some of our colleagues are risking their lives in war zones across the world. many have lost their lives, including recently, to brave photojournalists. we honor those and all others who are defending the brigham of -- freedom of the press throughout the world. [applause] we think we have got a good program for you tonight, so sit back and enjoy your dinner, and we will see you later. thank you.

>> this is c-span is continuing live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner.

use of david jackson of usa today, president of the white house correspondents association this year, calling everyone to dinner. people are starting to sit down. the dinner is running a little bit behind schedule, but we hope that the president and assess myers and the dinner program will be coming up. it is supposed to start at about 9:40, but it may be a few minutes after that, given the fact that they started a little bit late. they will have their dinner and desert and then they will begin the dinner program. of course, we will be live during that portion as well here on c-span, and also on c- span.org/whcd. this is our white house correspondents' dinner hub. you can watch live coverage, the videos of past dinners, and see the aggregate of tweets that are

coming through on this side, as well as some articles about this year's dinner. one of the traditions since 1993 has been a brunch put together by chris matthews producer at nbc and now she is an independent media consultant, kind of a washington salon keeper. she puts together a brunch ever since 1993. it grew so big she took it out of her home this year, but c- span cameras were at the brunch earlier today. here is a portion. >> we are here at the 18th annual white house correspondents brought.

this is where it all started. all these friends come in from all over the world for saturday morning and they have been joining us. we have celebrities, business leaders, and that is what has changed about this whole thing. you have business people coming in and in this beautiful setting. katherine graham used to live here. rupert murdoch just told me he was last year during the nixon administration, and he met henry kissinger here. this is an 18-year run, and the reason it has worked is because we have people from los angeles, new york, all around the world. the dinner is fantastic, but you don't really get to go around and meet other people. you really are kind of with your group and you can sort of look at around at the pre parties and after parties, but this is where you are in a private setting. you stroll at garden brunches.

we are here for cure epilepsy and a white ribbon alliance. what they do is, they have groups all round the world and they say mothers from dying in childbirth. literally, they are midwives. it is so important that we bring attention to the calls. cure epilepsy -- there is not a lot of research on what causes it and how to find a cure. we have some surprises. you'll have to wait for that.

>> how are you? >> good to see you. >> this is your first correspondents' dinner out of the white house.

>> can we get the four of you out of the sun? >> we promised him last night. >> that is his formal attire. >> can we get one without the glasses? thank you so much.

>> bristol, can i get a shot of you with your mom? >> it is a beautiful day. aren't there a million other things you could do that hang out with a bunch of correspondence? >> we are helping to raise awareness and funds. >> have fun. >> thank you.

>> i am not working this weekend. [unintelligible]

>> donald trump will be there, i am sure. >> you are the chronicler of my annual outfit.

>> i am jesse, nice to meet you. this is just and, by the way. -- justin, by the way. i told him he should be very nervous, and now he is. we leave on sunday. >> i love the show. >> thank you very much, i appreciate it.

[applause] bethank you, it's great to back, first of all, and to see such good friends again. by the way, what a beautiful day. someone said to me, tammy is lucky, it is a beautiful day. don't kid yourself, she demanded this weather. [laughter] that's what they mean when they say force of nature. i just want to speak for a couple of minutes about the two heroic women in my life, and that is my wife and my daughter. when our daughter lauren was 7 months old, she started having seizures. she was a beautiful baby.

you know how most babies come out looking like winston churchill? not this girl. she was extraordinarily beautiful and perfect in every way, and we were so excited to be new parents and to have this lovely baby. seven months into her life, one morning susan woke up and found her blue in her crib. susan thought she had died. she had had a seizure. we rushed her to the hospital. they told us it was probably a febrile seizures and she would get over it. a month later they released her from a hospital and she was still having five seizures a day and was on several medications that made it difficult for her to function. this started an 18-year nightmare of seizures, medications, surgeries, implants. she spent many, many nights in a hospital, many days at home.

her capacity is limited and she was very lonely. it was a terrible, terrible affliction for her and for the entire family. i remember so well, these things used to come at night. these seizures would begin at night. all through her life as we had a baby monitor so we could hear when they began. i remember that would come in clusters. she would come around in between the seizures and shriek and grab susans hand and say mom, make them stop. please make them stop. i remember the tears rolling down susans cheeks and my own, because we could not make them stop, because there were not answers. as we learn about epilepsy, we realize there were millions of people who were suffering through this as well, at 50,000 people a year dying from it. at one point, susan just said this is intolerable.

we cannot tolerate this. we have to do something. we have to find a cure, and we are going to start a research foundation. she said just watch, and that was 12 or 13 years ago. [applause] today, cure has funded research grants all over the world and has changed the whole discussion in the research community. i have to tell you something. when i met my wife, she was the shyest person that i knew. she would no sooner stand in front of a crowd like this than she would jump out of an airplane. now she travels the world speaking about this. i still think she is one of the shies people i know, but what i learned was how powerful the

love of a mother can be. what a force of nature that is, because even though we know that the work we are doing probably won't have a material effect on our daughter's life, that her legacy can be that other people will not have to go through what we went through and what particularly she went through. the happy part of the story is that we finally, miraculously found accommodation of drugs that stopped lawrence main seizures when she was about 1819 years old. she will turn 30 on june 6. we cannot get back where she has lost, and she has her struggles, but i told susan i got a text message from her this morning that is typical. she said dad, it is loren. how are you, how is work? i love you, from lauren. the fact that she is happy and the fact that she can send text messages like that is the real

victory for us, but we are after something bigger, and that is that no one should have to go up through and make the sacrifices she has made. she is my hero, and citizen is my hero, and hopefully between the two of them, we can change the future for a lot of people with epilepsy. the me say one other thing. tammy said i can talk as long as i want, but she did not really mean it. i do want to say this. we have a job with a chronic illness, and i am sure some here do, what you realize very quickly is that epilepsy is an equal opportunity assassin. whether you or a republican or democrat, rich, poor, black, white, hispanic, we have seen a committee grow up around this issue for us, when we began to learn about and no other people with epilepsy. in our community here, we are often very divided.

one thing that having a job with the chronic illness has reminded me of is that there are bigger things than the things we thought about here in washington every day. we have a common humanity that binds us together, that is shared experiences. i am so fond of everybody in this crowd, republican friends, my democratic friends, i am proud to be part of a community and so grateful to see you here today. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much. enjoy the rest of the party, everybody.

>> that was some video from annual brunch, held today prior to the annual white house correspondents' dinner.

over giselle's and people are getting ready to eat their dinners -- over 2000 people are getting ready to eat their dinner.

[crowd murmurs]

[crowd murmurs]

>> as you can see at the white house correspondents' dinner, some people are eating their salads, summer still networking and walking around. our live coverage here on c-span continues. you can also watch live coverage on our website, c-span.org/whcd.

there you can also see the aggregate of tweets by all the dinner attendees. you can also watch videos from past dinners, watch our live coverage, and there are articles about this year's dinner. here is a tweet by ed henry of cnn. he is on the board of the white house correspondents association. he has a picture. he writes "this binder has president's jokes." that is the president's speech. that was taken at the reception prior to the dinner. some of the invited guests you may or may not have seen include david arquette and courtney cox,rick fox, and eliza dushku.

those folks were invited by usa today. david jackson is chairman is your of the white house correspondents association. the washington post invited donald trump. fox 5 news brought kate hudson. mother jones invited sean penn who is there, and people magazine, bristol palin has been in a couple of our shots this evening. steven tyler and chris colfer or some of the guests who have been invited. seth myers is this year's entertainment. two years ago in 2009, it was comedienne wanda sykes.

we want to show that to you. >> it is hard to poke fun at the president because he is so likable. everyone has his t-shirts and bumper stickers and people are dedicating songs. i want to send out "always and forever" to the president. people love him. it is funny to me that they have never caught you smoking, but they always somehow catch you with your shirt off [laughter] . i know you are into this transparency thing, but i don't need to see your nipples. [laughter] is there a beach at camp david? what the hell? there was never a nipple

portrait of lincoln, i am sorry. but this is amazing. the first black president. i know your biracial, but the first black president. [applause] i am proud to be able to say that, the first black president. that is unless you screw up. then it is going to be "what is up with a half white guy?" who voted for the mulatto? i thought when you got into office you would put a swift end to your basketball pickup playing.

the first black president, playing basketball. that is one step forward, two steps back. are you any good? i bet you think your game is really nice right now, don't you? you really think you have good moves. come on, nobody is going to give the president of hard foul with the secret service standing there. [laughter] they are just stroking your ego. mr. president, you are really shook me that time. i thought you were going this way and i saw the secret service did this, so i went that way. and the first lady, vehicle as always. you look very nice.

-- beautiful as always. how dare you people give her grieve about bearing her arms. the country is broke. slaves cost money sleeves -- cost money.es you have beautiful arms. some of the previous first ladies needed sleeves. some of them needed ponchos. i did not name any names. it did need to keep your arms to yourself some times. he went over to london, touching the queen. it cannot do that. you are over there patting her

on the back like she just slid into home plate. and whose idea was it to give the queen and ipod? what an awful gift. what are you going to give the pope, a bluetooth? >> that was one sykes, part of her program from 2009. this year, seth myers is the entertainment, and the dinner program is due to begin in about 30 or 40 minutes, and of course we will bring you live coverage of that program. this is live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner 2011.

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the 2011overage of white house correspondents' dinner continues on c-span. looks like everybody's eating their main course at this point in the evening. and, of course, we will bring you the live dinner program after everyone is finished eating and they begin that dinner program. in 2006, the entertainer was stephen colbert. however, that year, when president bush spoke, he had steven bridges with him. here's a little bit of that program. >> members of the white house

correspondents association, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. >> here i am. [applause] here i am at another one of these dang press dinners. could be home asleep. little bernie curled up at my feet, but no, i got to pretend i like being here. the media really ticks me off. the way they try to embarrass me by not editing what i say. well, let's get things going or i'll never get to bed. >> thank you, mark.

i'm absolutely delighted to be here. as is laura. >> she's hot. moi caliente. as you know, i always look forward to these dinners. it's just a bunch of media types, hollywood liberals, democrats like joe biden. how come i can't have dinner with the 36% of the people who like me.

the only thing missing is hillary clinton sitting on the front row rolling her eyes. there's got to be a friendly face out there somewhere. i tell you, oh, there's justice scalia. there you are. justice alito. hey, boys. bet it feels good to be out from under those robes. toga! toga! toga! toga! there's alex trabek of "jeopardy," that boy's smart. he knows a lot. maybe i should put him on the supreme court. let's see the democrats block that one. >> you know it's good to see so

many influential guests here tonight, justice scalia, justice alito. >> yeah, all the usual suspects. speaking of suspects, where's the great white hunter. >> i am sorry vice president cheney couldn't be here tonight. i agree with the press that dick was a little late reporting that hunting episode down in texas. in fact, i didn't know a thing about it till i saw him on "america's most wanted." cheney, what a goof ball. shot the only trial lawyer in the country who's for me. i tell you, you reporters would go nuts if you knew the true story. he was as drunk as a skunk. [laughter] on one beer.

light beer. oh, people were ducking and diving for cover. i wish i could have been there. [laughter] i saw him walking down the hallway the other day, i looked at him and said, "don't shoot!" you see, people don't see the fun side of dick. >> dick's a good man. he has a good -- well, he's a good man. ladies and gentlemen, i'm feeling chipper tonight. i survived the white house shakeup. so i want to talk about some serious issues such as -- >> o.k., here it comes.

nuclear proliferation. nuclear proliferation. nuclear proliferation. nucear proliberation. all right, all right, maintain. be cool. let's give this a try. we must enhance noncompliance protocols, sanctioned not only at iaea formal sessions, but through intercessional contact. >> we must enhance noncompliance protocols, sanctioned not only at eieio formal sessions but through intersexual conduct.

nailed it. see, i'm an activist. i object to those stories that say i'm a lame duck. i'm not a lame duck. i'm a sprinting duck. i'm a hustling duck. i'm a leadership of the free world duck. and i'm continuing to spread our agenda globally and around the world, as well as internationally. [laughter] some of my critics in the international community call me arrogant. i will not even honor that with a response. screw 'em. >> and that was president bush

and comedian steven bridges from 2006. back to 2011, this is live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner.

>> live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner continues. you were watching during that last intercession, you may have seen c-span's own steve scully sitting at the head table. he's on the board of the white

house correspondents' association and that's why he's up there. as we continue our coverage, at our web site, c-span.org/whcd, we're aggregating all the tweets from the dinner attendees. here's a tweet from ann compton with abc radio. she tweets that panetta confessing he can't say no. up walks gates, pictures are snapped, bob gates is smiling, but not leon. that's from ann compton of abc. senator al frankin is not in attendance at this year's dinner, but comedian al frankin was the entertainment in 1996. here's a portion of his program. the last time i was in this room, actually, it is an honor to be asked back again but the last time i was in the room was a little over a month ago for the radio and t.v.

correspondents' dinner and during the evening i came up with the title to my next book, "don imus is a big putz." quick, my impression of don imus at the 1944 radio correspondents' dinner. don imus at the 1944 radio correspondents' dinner. for those of you listening on radio, the president is a cripple. you know, i guess what imus was trying to do was sort of demonstrate his shock-jock bona fidies by showing he's willing to speak in front of 3,000 people and offend pretty much everyone. that is not my goal tonight.

let me let you in on my goal. if, at the end of this evening, the speaker of the house, newt gingrich walks out of this hotel thinking, you know, that al franken is a pretty funny guy, then i know i will have failed miserably. and let a lot of people down. if, on the other hand, the president leaves thinking, hmm, you know, al would make a pretty good council general to bermuda, mission accomplished. the correspondents' association was afraid of a repeat of the whole imus debacle so the board of governors had a meeting and drew up some ground rules for tonight's talk. for example, there are a number of subjects i've been instructed to avoid. white water, specifically web

hubble, susan thomas, either of the mcdougals. i'm not to do jokes about any aspect of the president's personal life except his eating habits. evidently, sir, you eat a lot. and the correspondents' association seems to think that we could have quite a bit of harmless fun with that. other subjects to avoid, newt gingrich's first wife, bob dole's first wife, phil gramm's first wife, dick armey's first wife, rush limbaugh's first wife.

[applause] rush limbaugh's second wife, rush limbaugh's third wife. now, here's a real odd one, and it's really kind of, i don't know, i can do jokes about abortion but only first trimester apportions. abortions. isn't that odd? this one's almost insulting. i must remain fully clothed. for example, i cannot moon the first lady. what do you think i am, a shock jock? so, carl, you can rest assured i will not do any jokes tonight that will make the president or first lady even remotely uncomfortable and if you believe that, i have land in arkansas like to sell you. >> and that was comedian al franken in 1996 as the entertainment at the white house correspondents' dinner. we're back live, 2011.

[indiscernible conversation]

>> live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner continues on c-span and at c-span.org. if you go to c-span.org/whcd, white house correspondents' dinner is what that stands for, you with watch live coverage online and read an aggregation of all the tweets coming in from the dinner attendees as well as articles about this year's dinner and you can watch c-span's past videos of past dinners. this is a tweet in by chris daliza of of the "washington po" and he tweets "rahm emanuel and donald trump just shook hands and the world just imploded." at about 9:40 or so, the dinner program is due to begin. there will be some speakers. they'll talk about some of the

scholarship money they're giving out this year, $130,000 in scholarships. then both the president and seth meyers of "saturday night live" will be speaking. we interviewed seth meyers last week to talk to him about his role as tonight's entertainment. >> well, one of the highlights at the annual white house dinner is the' entertainment. that assignment has been given to jay leno, wanda sykes, stephen colbert in the recent past. this year it's seth meyers, head writer for "saturday night live" and weekend update anchor. mr. meyers, this is a notoriously tough audience at the washington hilton. why did you take this assignment? >> it's an honor to be asked, certainly, and when you look down the roster of people who have done it in the past, i'm incredibly flattered to be on that list now. i have heard it's a really hard

room. brian williams contacted me immediately to warn me about the lion's den i was walking into but as a comedian you like those challenges so i'm looking forward to it. >> how do you start preparing for something like this? >> fortunately, i have a job that's already sort of preparing for something like this. we obviously follow politics and what's happening in the white house at our show as part of our daily spnspn mostly you sit around with your writers and figure out what will happen in the room. you talk to other comedians and prepare as much as possible but in the end you have to pick the jokes you feel are the funniest. >> when you're standing there telling your jokes, the president is sitting right next to you, does that affect which jokes are told? >> well, it's very funny,

robert smigle, the incredibly talented writer, who worked with conan with his in the mid 1990's, pointed out they'll be watching you tell jokes but that's not as interesting as watching the president listen to those jokes. so i think at some degree you have to keep that in mind but at the same time you can't perform thinking about how the person next to you is reacting. you have to sort of charge ahead and hope it all works out. >> is there anything offlimits? >> well, certainly, you know, we have the same issue at "saturday night live" all the time. i think there is a line of good taste and you aim for that line and try to get as close as possible. and there are probably a few times you cross it due to trying to target that closely. but i feel like this is a president with an incredibly good sense of humor who is also, i should point out, very good at this when he tells his own jokes which has been the most remarkable looking back the last couple of years is how

hard the president kills. so with that in mind, i think we'll probably let it rip. >> what about current events? will you be focusing on current events? >> yeah. i think one of the exciting things, it may be a tough room, but as someone who follows politics, i think it's important to go into a room where people are incredibly well-informed. you can make minutia of politics that wouldn't work on "saturday night live" unless you had a bunch of setup beforehand. you have the benefit of the fact all these people are in the same room and they live in this world of d.c. where, you know, they're far better informed about this, not just more than the normal person, but i think more than, you know, the entertainment industry, certainly. so it would be fun for me to be in a room where certain jokes -- probably the only chance they have a chance of landing. >> you've been with "saturday night live" now for about 10 years. what were you doing prior? how did you get started in this business? >> beforehand i was just an

improvisor, i worked in chicago a long time and was lucky enough to work overseas in an improv group and came back and was doing a two-person show in chicago and was lucky enough someone from "saturday night live" came and saw the show. this is really the first paying job i ever had which speaks volumes to why i'm so happy to still be there. >> where were you raised? where did you go to school? >> i grew up in new hampshire, so that was a -- you know, i think that's probably where the seeds of being interested in politics began because i went to a big high school, manchester west, and manchester, i feel like is where a lot of presidential campaigns start, so i graduated high school in 1992 and i believe we had almost every candidate, clinton included, came to our school and spoke. and it was a very good place if you thought politics were interesting. >> and then college? >> and then college i went to northwestern university in chicago. >> what did you study? >> i studied radio, tv, film.

not well. i'm not going to lie to you. i was a bad student. i learned the procrastinator's spirit which helped me working on a show like this. it was good training for me. >> were you a supporter of president obama and does that affect your humor? >> you know, i am a supporter of his, and am certainly behind him winning the last election. with that said, john mccain was an excellent "saturday night live" host and count him as a friend because he appeared in a sketch i wrote and if you appear in a sketch i wrote, i've got your back forever. but, you know, the fun thing is i think that when you're in a room like this and i say this is incredibly special, part of the white house correspondents dinner is a comedian gets to poke fun at a president, and no matter whether you're a supporter or not, you don't want to miss that opportunity.

>> in your preparation, have you been watching some of the past dinners? >> i have. i have been watching the past dinners. it's really interesting. it's interesting to even notice how political commentary -- how political comedy has changed so much in the last 15 years. i kind of started in the mid 1990's and have been watching people, watching people i think are, you know, similar to me in style and as well as people that are completely different. but it's fun. it's fun to, one, be reminded it is a hard room and been a hard room for a lot of great comedians but you can tell there are certain people who do a great job. >> are you surprised, seth meyers, at the attention paid to this gig? >> well, i mean, i feel like i'm one of the people that pays attention to it just because i find it so fascinating. but it does seem like d.c. cares a great deal about it but i feel as well they should. it's an incredibly american undertaking that there's an event where comedians get to

tell jokes about the president right next to him. >> seth myers, head writer for "saturday night live," weekend update anchor and this year's comedian at the correspondents' continue are. >> we'll be hearing from seth myers in about an hour from now at the 2011 white house correspondents' dinner held annually at the washington hilton hotel. [indiscernible conversation]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.

[indiscernible conversations] >> well, you may have heard the voiceover announcer asking everybody to return to their seats. and as you can see, no one is doing so as they serve dessert and clean up here. the program is due to begin in just a minute, so we're going to continue to watch the room for just a minute to make sure we don't miss the beginning of this year's program. [indiscernible conversations]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. the program will continue in just a moment.

[indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations]

[indiscernible conversations]

>> live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner for 2011 continues. the program is just about to begin. but we got the menu, thought you might be interested in seeing what they're eating tonight. the salad was a garden herb salad, travisio radihio, cheese and crustini, port and vinaigrette dressing. the main course was a pet eat

fillet with mushroom compote, paired with scallops, with risotto, grilled zhu kuehne with peppers and sun burst squash. for dessert they're having a kiskat pyramid, a passion fruit napoleon. the program is now beginning. >> thank you. >> thank you. here's what we're going to do. i've got about 15, 20 minutes. everybody sit down. please be seated. please be seated. please, everybody be seated. good evening, everybody. please be seated. please have a seat.

have a seat. everybody, please have a seat. have a seat. everybody have a seat. please, everybody, have a seat. except you guys. you guys can't sit. >> i don't really know what to do. do i wave? please sit down, everyone. >> thank you. please, everybody, sit down. please, everybody, have a seat. >> i'm so proud of y'all. sit down. rest your feet. thank you all. please. sit. rest. >> please sit down, everybody. >> please welcome the first lady of the united states of america, michelle obama. and bob kiefer to present the white house correspondents' association scholarship.

>> the first lady and i thank you all. the first lady and i have the honor tonight to present some of the many scholarships and awards that the white house correspondents association presents each year. so we're going to start out right now by presenting the first one. the white house correspondents' association scholarship prize is a one-time award of $7,000. this year's recipients are three students from howard university. they are noel jones, camille grayson, and seth lennon.

>> thank you. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> very proud of you. >> congratulations again. proud of you. >> thanks to a gift, the white house correspondents' association has established the deborah orrin scholarship to benefit qualified students at her alma mater northwestern university's madille school of journalism. two students will each receive a $5,000 scholarship and they are hrasregwand and alexandria rice.

>> thank you so much. >> congratulations. >> we are now going to award a $5,000 tuition grant to a columbia university graduate student who intends to return to the middle east to continue her journalism career, and that student is atosa abrahimian. >> thank you.

>> congratulations. >> thank you. >> the white house correspondents' association supported nine graduate students at $2,500 per student to study in washington for a semester as part of the university's well-established program. these students are manu glandhar, elizabeth anne billingsley, jonathan hutchinson, june ma, kathleen majorski, virginia burns paisley, matthew pierce, garren schwartz, and benjamin wider. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> congratulations again. congratulations again. congratulations. congratulations. >> we also support students at the madille school of journalism through a $5,000 gift towards a post graduate degree for a student in the government and public affairs reporting track. this year that student is cortleysubaramiam.

>> thank you, ms. obama, thank you, bob. congratulations to our scholarship winners. you know, in addition to awarding scholarships and working with the press office on coverage issues, the white house correspondents' association also helps local schools training young journalists. here's an example of our work. ♪ >> how does it affect us as a school? >> i just love to write. i come to the library a lot. our librarian is like join the newspaper. >> i like to write about clothes and style guides and what to wear. >> our newspaper at banaker had been a defunct organization for about seven or eight years.

prime movers helped us get started again by offering us the opportunity to work with a professional because i'm a librarian, i'm not a journal usist. -- journalist. sylvia moreno had a great influence on the students here. >> if i know about it, you know it's old. >> i was a part of prime movers program and now attend yale university. she was looking at an article i had written and she pointed out i used the word "unwell." and she pointed out, why don't you just use "sick." and she said i'm not sure people who go to the nurse are necessarily sick. they might just be unwell. >> curtis. bubba. you're with me. >> we hope by working in inner city schools and trying to inspire in young people a desire for media careers. we also contribute to the future diversity of the media. when i came to "the washington post" way back in the 1960's, i

was one of very few people of color. over the years i learned the importance of having diversity in the media. >> it's a career path that some of them were interested in choosing, others, you know, just wanted to find out more about it. and it's a way of us talking about careers at a time in their lives when they're thinking about that. >> i went to the white house with the prime move as media programs. when we went downstairs, i looked at the offices and couldn't believe my eyes. because here are these journalists who produce such great articles but they have such small rooms. the press secretary of the united states of america knows these people by name and that spoke volumes to the level of work they put in in order to get there. and i feel once you get to that position in life, you've reached the top. >> we know it's working because we see students who are making inroads in colleges. >> the involvement of prime movers was important in helping

me get into yale because it showed, oh, this girl helped create a newspaper at her school and that of course looks good. >> i just can't imagine my life right now without this experience. [applause] >> now we have some grownup prizes. the edgar allen oppose award honors ex--- the edgar allen poe awards honors of excellence for international or regional importance written with fairness and objectivity. the 2011 winner of $2,500 is michael barons of "the seattle times."

>> thank you. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> and there's more. the mariman smith memorial award for excellence and presidential news coverage under deadline pressure has both a print and a broadcast category. the $2,500 merriman smith memorial award for 2011 print category, dan balz of "the washington post."

>> and the $2,500 award in the broadcast category, my buddy jake tapper of abc news. [applause] >> well-deserved. >> and finally tonight, the aldo beckman award given by "the chicago tribune" company and the association in the amount of $1,000 goes to peter

baker of "the new york times." [applause] >> and that concludes our awards. thank you. let's have a big hand for bob schieffer, the host of "face the nation" and the pride of texas christian university. now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for a toast. in its 97 years, the white house correspondents' association has had only one toast and it's to the president of the united states, so let's raise the glass. mr. president, cheers.

[unintelligible] ladies >> ladies and gentlemen, the

president of the united states. ♪ when it hurts inside you have to take a stand you don't have to hide if you hurt my friend, you hurt my pride i am a real american fight for the rights of every man i am a real american

caller ♪ >> everybody, please nbc. -- please have a seat. [applause] my fellow americans -- [applause] it is wonderful to be here at the white house correspondents' dinner. what a week. as some of you have heard, the state of hawaii released my long-form birth certificate. [applause]

hopefully, this put all -- puts all dealt to rest. just in case there are any lingering questions, tonight, i am prepared to go a step further. [laughter] tonight, for the first time, i am releasing my first birth video. [laughter] [applause] now, i warn you -- [laughter] no one has seen this footage in 50 years. not even me. let's take a look.

♪ [applause] oh, well. [laughter] back to square one. i want to make clear to the fox news table, that was a joke. [laughter] that was not my real birth video. . [laughter] that was a children's cartoon. cult disney if you do not believe me.

they have the original -- form version. -- long-form version. [laughter] it is good to be back with so many esteemed guests, celebrities, senators, journalist, is central government employees -- [laughter] nonessential government employees. [laughter] you know who you are pripet i am looking forward to hearing seth myers tonight. [applause] he can do no wrong in the eyes of his fans. seth and i have enjoyed a lot of laughs. [laughter] i think it is fair to say that when it comes to my presidency, the honeymoon is over. some people now suggest that i

am to [unintelligible] i would like to assign all of you summer reading so you can draw your own conclusions. [laughter] others say i am arrogant. i found a great self help tool for this -- my poll numbers. [laughter] [applause] i have even let down my key core constituency -- movie stars. matt damon -- i love the guy. he said he was disappointed in my performance. well, matt, i just saw "the adjustment bureau."

right back at you, buddy. [laughter] [applause] of course, there is someone i can always count on for support -- my wonderful wife, michellle. [applause] we made it a terrific team at the easter egg roll this week. i gave out candy to the kids and they snatched them back out of their little hands. [laughter] snatched them. [laughter] where is the national public radio table? you guys are still here? that is good. [laughter] i could not remember where we

landed on that. [laughter] i know you were little tense when the gop tried to cut your funding, but personally, i was looking forward to new programming like "snow things considered -- "no things considered." [laughter] of course, the deficit is a serious issue. that is what paul ryan could not be here tonight. his budget has no room for laughter. [laughter] [applause] michelle bachmann is here, i understand. she is thinking about running for president. which is weird, because i hear she was born in canada. [laughter]

yes, michelle, this is how it starts. [laughter] [applause] tim pawlenty -- he seems all- american, but have you heard israel middle name? tim hosni pawlenty? [laughter] what a shame. my buddy, outstanding ambassador john hudson is with us. there is something you may not know about john. he did not learn to speak chinese to go there. [laughter] oh, no. he learned english to come here. [laughter] [applause]

and then, there is a vicious rumor floating around about mitt romney. i heard the past universal health care when he was governor of massachusetts. [laughter] someone should get to the bottom of that, and i know just the guy to do it -- donald trump. [laughter] [applause] now, i know that he has taken some flat lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this purpose cert matter to rest than the donald. that is so weakened, get back to focusing on the issues that matter like did we fight the moon landing? what really happened at roswell?

and where are biggie and tupac? [laughter] [applause] all kidding aside, obviously we all know that your credentials and depth of experience -- [laughter] for example -- seriously, just recently in an episode of "celebrity apprentice," the men's cooking team did not impress the judges from omaha steaks. you, mr. trump, realized the real problem was a lack of leadership. fortunately, you did not blame lil john or meatloaf, you fired gary busey.

and these are the types of situations that are difficult periods -- the type of situations that are difficult. [laughter] [applause] well handled, sir. well handled. mr. trump certainly would bring some change to the white house. we will see what we have got up there. [laughter] so, yes, this has been quite a year in politics. but also in the movies. many people, for instance, were inspired by "the king's speech."

[applause] it was a wonderful film. some of you may not know this, but there is a sequel in the works that hits close to home. tonight, i can offer a sneak peek. can we show the trailer, please? >> the following preview has been approved for all audiences by the president of the united states. the film advertised has been rated "u" for unwatchable. >> congressional republicans could force the federal government to shut down >> the president must face his greatest challenge. >> from the people who brought you "universal health care" and

the huge backlash to "universal health care," comes the following true story. >> they say that -- let's try that again. >> the president has lost his confidence. has he lost the magic? >> the has gone from yes we can, to know we cannot read >> also -- i will also visit -- also visit july. ok. let's try that again. what's in his darkest hour, the president turned to a man who never let prepared remarks stand in his way. >> axelrod when miti used the teleprompter, but i told them i -- much better when they

>> god bless her soul. >> he spoke from the heart. >> i have never seen so many damn insurance commissioners. i am not at all. actually, i am. >> it is the story of friendship. >> but mostly, it is this for two hours. >> and someone we appreciate even more, natalie portman. this is not on the teleprompter, but she is a heck of a lot better looking than rahm emmannuel. >> barack obama -- renowned baseball enthusiast, michelle obama -- and amtrak's passenger

of the year to three decades running, joe biden. as the president loses his teleprompter. the president's speech. >> we have our outstanding vice- president, joe biden up here. >> coming to a theater near you. [applause] let me close on a serious note -- we are having a good time, but what has been true in the last several years, we have incredible young men and women serving in uniform overseas in the most extraordinary of

circumstances. [applause] we are reminded of their courage and their valor. we also need to remember our neighbors in alabama and across the south that have been devastated by terrible storms. [applause] michele and i were down there yesterday and we spent a lot of time with some of the folks who have been effected. the devastation is unimaginable. it is heartbreaking. it will be a long road back. we need to keep those americans in our thoughts and in our prayers, but we also need to stand with them in the four months and, perhaps, years to come. i intend to make sure the federal government does that. i have faith the journalist in this room will do their part. report on their progress and let the rest of america know when

they will need more help. those are stories that need it telling and that is what all of you do best, whether it is rushing to the size of a devastating storm in alabama, or braving danger to cover revolution in the middle east. in the last month we have seen journalist threatened, arrested, beaten, attacked, and, in some cases, even killed simply for doing their best to bring us the story, to give people a voice, and to hold leaders accountable. through it all we have seen daring men and women risk their lives for the simple idea that everyone deserves to know the truth. that is what you do. at your best, that is what journalism is. that is the principle that you a

poll. it is always important, but it is especially important in times of challenge like the moment that america and the world is facing now. i thank you for your service and the contributions that you make. i want to close by recognizing not only your service, but also to remember those that have been lost as a consequence of the extraordinary reporting that they have done over recent weeks. they help, too, to defend our freedoms and allow democracy to flourish. god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to have with us tonight the head writer of saturn night live, the anchor of weekend update -- mr. seth myers. [applause] >> hello, i am seth myers and i cannot thank you enough for having me tonight. i will be making a lot of jokes about many of the people in this room, but do not worry. i ensure you that no matter how harsh the jets, they have been vetted by chinese president whose intel. i will be sitting at a table with president obama, a man i greatly admire. it is an honor to perform for the leader of the most powerful

country. before i start, these are my birth certificate jokes, so thank you for the timing on that, mr. president. now unusable. we have been working on these drugs for months. we were worried we were a little heavy on a birth certificate geddes. what if they released them before the dinner? i was like, "why would he do that? they will not wait three years and release it before the dinner." to tell you my birth certificate jugs? -- jokes. is biden still vice president? god bless america. i am honored to be performing for those of you here tonight as well as the handful of people watching at home on c-span. [laughter]

c-span is the official network for wide shots of empty chairs. every time i tune into c-span, it looks like they just had a fire drill. c-span is one paid electric bill away from being a radio station. -- one unpaid electric bill away from being a radio station. did you know that every day from 4:00 until 0:00 the host a show on c-span? -- until 5:00, he hosts a show on c-span? i usually work on nbc, so tonight i am thrilled to be on a network people actually watch. this makes me the third highest rated show on nbc. [laughter] comcast bought nbc this year. i am assuming by accident or

when goldman sachs cut off the network and bubble that in a cbo. -- in a cdo. i thought this was the only room this job would work and it only kind of did. it will not be joining me on the road. it is amazing to be in washington d.c. with all of its history. here we are at the hilton perio. the red carpet outside was amazing. what are you wearing? what does it matter. i am going inside the hilton. i am very happy we are at the hilton. no matter how i do tonight, i am earnings hilton honors points. you may not like these jobs, but i will be laughing all the way to a free breakfast. [laughter] for those of you who do not

know, the white house correspondents' association is an organization of journalistic cover both the white house and the president. jon kyl told me that 9% of what they do is abortions. -- 90% of what they do is abortions. [laughter] tonight is about the after party, not our political differences. i am -- keep hearing about how everyone is excited to go to the bloomberg party. begin know how i know i am not in new york? in new york, no one is excited to go to a bloomberg party. in new york, a bloomberg party is fight people smoking outside a bar complaining about bloomberg. [laughter] i am contractually obligated to attend the msnbc party tonight. everyone knows how that works.

president obama makes the kool- aid, and everybody their drinks it. [laughter] there are actually some unscheduled parties happening tonight. fox news is having a party. security is tough, some might sure you bring your driver's license and your long for a driver's license. if you are blind, just bring that dynamite smile. the new york times party used to be free, but tonight there is a cover. like everyone else, i will probably just go to the huffington post party. the of the deposed party is asking other people to go to other parties first, still food and drinks, and bring it there. -- steal food and drinks, and bring it there. i love auriana huffington. she sounds like a woman who

should be sitting up in bed with a sheet wrapped -- with the sheet wrapped around her while james bond lost to the door. andrew breitbart's after party will be crazy. it will not be good, but it will be crazy. i met james o'keefe last night. i thought it was them, but it may have been a regular pap to disliked organized labor. hal wildcat a party be when it is held in accordance to shariah law? this is the year of sweeping changes happening. katie couric and now she is leaving cbs. she was known best for asking tough questions like, "name a newspaper."

years of hard-hitting questions and she will be known for a woman who doubles as a cat -- as a category on family feud. follow-up question -- name something you keep in your attic. [laughter] katie is one of the many departures will seen this year. npr fired someone after he said muslims made them nervous. the is the least likely man to get a cab in new york city. [laughter] msnbc's -- >> berman was suspended for donating money. the punishment seemed rather harsh considering the slap on the rest of larry king got after giving a buffalo nickel to the campaign of chester arthur. cnn replaced larry king with peirs morgan this year.

out with the old, in with the who? rick sanchez, few are gone, but you are forgotten. not everyone is leaving, anderson cooper is still over at cnn. i love watching reports from the field. you can tell how much danger he is in a buyout like his clothing is. if he is in the yellow slicker, is a hurricane is still offshore. if he is in a khaki vest, he is in the greens all in baghdad. if you ever see anderson cooper with his shirt off, turn off your television and run. [laughter] msnbc has a new slogan this year -- wayne forward. i get -- lean forward.

chris matthews yells like an auctioneer in a wind tunnel. i never watch "hardball." i need to get a little closer to this. now more than ever, it is clear the media is changing. even bloomberg news is on the twister with an impressive 220,000 followers. only 20,000 less than a cobra that escaped from the bronx zoo. my friend and colleague from nbc, brian williams, is here tonight. i am not same land was being on tv, but when he went to egypt, he heard it was because it with their pilot season. i have nothing but respect for my good friend, brian. by and landed in london to cover the royal wedding only to turn back around and returned to

america to cover the tornadoes in alabama the is incredibly brave and courageous, and that is a direct quote from brian williams. this is that is being attended by many hollywood celebrities. john ham looks the way every republican thinks they look. jack del anacharis -- since we are talking about celebrities, we may as well talk about the 2012 republican candidates. just look at the options at the republicans are kicking around. they do not selling a field of candidates, they sound like season 13 of dancing with the stars -- and not the stars, the dancers.

mitt romney wrote a book entitled "no apologies." no apologies? when you have to proclaim no apologies, is that not a cassette a mission u.s. made a lot of mistakes. when the first thing my girlfriend says is no apologies, we will have a follow-up conversation. [laughter] both rand paul and ron paul are talking about a run in 2012. they have something in common with my father and i. we also are not going to get elected president. [laughter] i want nothing more than to see a debate between father and son. "you ruined everything." [laughter] tim pawlenty is considering a run. if you look up his name in the dictionary, that is more exciting than listening to tim pawlenty.

mike pukka be is considering a run. he once said the president was raised in kenya, what do muslim school and hates america -- but beyond that, he sings like a sweet person. -- he looks like a sweet person. there is donald trump. he said he would run for president as a republican, which is surprising because i thought he would be running as a joke. [laughter] [applause] fought often appears on donald trott's head. -- fox often appears on donald trump's head. if you are at it was supposed table with them and you do not finish or on strike, do not worry. the fox will eat it.

if i can for a moment talk about the berger issue -- we did we get so suspicious about where people were born? a poll last week said that 38% of americans say the president was that of the board in the u.s. in the very simple, only 5% more said donald trott was definitely born in the u.s. do americans alike think americans were born here if they saw it? i know i was born here and i know my younger brother was born here. but when it comes to my older brother, i cannily taken at it -- at his word. gary busey said donald trott would make a great president. of course, he said the same thing about a rusty bird cage in the out. donald trump owns the usa pageant. that will help streamline the search for a vice president predicted -- for a vice

president. donald trump has a great relationship with the blacks. unless the blacks or a family of white people, everything is fine. i like that drop is filthy rich. his whole life is modeled in gold leaf and marble columns, but he all -- but he still sounds like they know it all. he may not be a good choice for president, but he would definitely make a great press secretary. how much fun would that be? his latest rally was a flop. i feel bad for ahmadinejad. he has no class. i, all the other hand, sell my whole line of ties. you can find that at macey's. it is not a strong field.

i tell you who can deadly beat you, mr. president -- 2008 barack obama. you would have liked him. [laughter] [applause] so charismatic, a joke -- so charming. was the little too much idealistic? maybe. but he would have loved him. on inauguration day, the first lady was there. poor as beautiful as he looked that day, you look more beautiful tonight. now you come all the other hand mr. president, have aged a little. what happened to you? when you were sworn in, you look like the guy from the old spice commercial. now you look like it was toxic, senior -- louis gossett, sr. i have not said this to anyone, but maybe you should start smoking again.

was this the change your talking about? mr. president, look at your hair. if your hair gets any wider, the tea party is going to endorse you. -- whiter, the tea party is going to endorse you. i am going to get an angry voice mail from ginny thomas this year. the mood has changed a bit since the beginning of your term. at the beginning of your term, -- not everyone is leaving. by this time next year, it would just be you and joe biden tried to find toner for the copy machine. now your reelection campaign has begun. i bet it is our game back in campaign mode. you know who's really getting it? will i. am. he is writing the words that rhyme with "debt ceiling." [laughter]

the heritage foundation projected that someone would get a standing ovation. you should not trust those guys. mr. president, you still have the first lady. if you still have joe biden. what can i say about joe biden that has not already been said incorrectly by joe biden? [laughter] i imagine having joe biden as vice president is like having -- is like taking your blue-collar data to a fancy restaurant. he is more comfortable at the olive garden. you're always tended to lean over to the winter ends say -- the president and jo bonner that were not invited to the royal wedding. when weidenfeld al, he said to the president, "hugh, may -- waiting crasher to." -- wedding crasher 2.

the vice president loves trains. it must be hard to tell them the new budget cut money for high- speed rail. take off your engineer's cap. in some bad news about the juju -- choo-choo. as he broke the news, one of the straps on his overalls sadly jurors from his shoulders. on the subject of budgets, i would be remiss not to mention paul ryan. the mets -- he released a plan that would make deep cuts to social and health care programs because he believed the american people have said about a clear, "stop using my tax dollars to take care of me." i noticed that his approach to the budget made many praise paul ryan as a serious adult.

nothing is more degrees -- depressing about politics. but dole is only a complement to my child. i am is a proud of you. you acted like an adult tonight. even cut your own meat like a big boy. also, there is a lot of things congress wants us to be impressed by. we are not impressed peggy sat next to each other at the state of the union. you know what the rest of americans call an evening spent sat next to a person with wildly different political views? thanksgiving. [laughter] we are not impressed when you complain about how bills are too long to read. the health care bill is almost 2000 pages. good. a bill that insures every person in america should be longer than the girl with the dragon tattoo. while at it, i do not think you rebuild. i think you vote on bills the

same way the rest of us agree to updated terms and conditions on items. -- on itunes. i am should wrap it up. i am getting the red light. is c-span and thehandicam running low on batteries. all like to thank all the journalists here tonight. i could not do my job if you did not do yours. as i was watching the royal wedding, i cannot help thinking how wonderful it is delivered in a country where people do not wear hats like that'. [laughter] tonight has been a incredible honor for me. america is the greatest country on earth. when my speech started, it was still a nation rated aaa by standard and poor's. thank you and good night. [laughter]

[applause] [cheers and applause] >> that was terrific. ladies and gentlemen, please keep your seats while the obama is lead -- obamas leave the stage. [applause]

>> thank you very much for showing up. process to my usa today colleagues. process to my friends and family who are here. good night, everyone. have a good time at the parties. at a good weekend and a good year. -- have a good weekend and a good year. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]