announcer: gayle king from cbs announcer: gayle king from cbs news, oprah's best friend, that's how she is also known. washington hilton hotel has hosted the white house correspondents dinner for the last 40 or so years and this will be live tonight, the 2015 dinner. you'll hear from president obama, 7:50 p.m. eastern time is when the festivities in the ballroom get underway and then the post-dinner program begins at about 8:30 p.m.

>> [indiscernible]

announcer: and you're watching c-span's live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner. this dinner has grown into a full weekend of events, brunches, pre-brunches, cocktail party on friday night and of course the big dinner on saturday night. today, there is an event called the garden brunch, it's hosted by tammy haddad who is a washington resident, of washington society, a former tv producer and one of the guests at her brunch was mike kelley, you might know him as doug on "house of cards." c-span caught up with him. mike: mike kelley, house of cards, a.k.a. doug. >> pretty cool.

have you attended this dinner before? mike: for me, this and the emmys, right up there. >> why? mike: just some people that -- we meet actors and stuff, but meeting politicians and correspondents. >> who are you excited to meet? and are you a guest of abc tonight? mike: i'm a guest of reuters. chris matthews, he is one of my favorites. of course, meeting the president would be a real thrill for me. >> what do you think about the intersection between hollywood and washington and what you do for a living? mike: you mean my -- obviously, we dramatize the whole thing. i pray to god it's not like that.

i do have a young staffer, not the same one, but some young staffer will come every year at the event and say i know. maybe not, but a lot of efficient men out there. >> the real mike kelley, thank you. announcer: and that was mike kelley, chief of staff to the president on "house of cards." back to the hilton, there is connie britton of "nashville." >> [indiscernible]

announcer: now, as we continue to watch the live scene at the washington hilton, we want to show you the interview that c-span did this morning with alfre woodard, the actress from "state of affairs" and many, many movies. we caught up with her at the garden brunch, as well. what do you think about the intersection of washington and

hollywood at the white house correspondents' dinner weekend? alfre woodard: i have never been, so i am here to see what happens for the first time. i have spent a lot of time in washington. i was there five years, but i never partied in washington. i have come to work. but you know, we're only a day and a half in and frankly, i'm a little exhausted. we don't do it this hard in hollywood. you think i'm kidding, i'm not. >> are you going to the dinner tonight and as whose guest? alfre: i'm going tonight as a guest of "u.s.a. today." >> who have you met? are there politicians that you have met or want to meet tonight? alfre: i think i spent a lot of time here over the decades, first as a protester shouting and chanting and marching around because democracy survives. i came inside, we were encouraged to come in and start

to talk, people were yelling trying to change policy around. i worked on a lot of issues concerning women, children right now, i'm really concerned with the criminal justice system and policing nationwide. and whatever, i have just been an activist all this while. so the people i know, i know lots of people over the years, but i have access to them, everybody does, ok, let's talk. so anybody i would like to know, if i run into john boehner or mitch mcconnell, i would actually like to say can i come and chat with you? you can't really talk about things at these events, first of all, the music is blaring. everybody is shouting to hear each other and they're drinking, so i think can i come see you, i

would really like five minutes and later on you do that. >> alfre woodard, thank you. and that was alfre woodard, the actress. "state of affairs" is her latest project. and a minute ago, you saw darby standsfield arriving on the red carpet. she is the press secretary on "scandal." if you want to follow the tweets that we're following, you can follow us as c-span. we are using the #whcd and you can also follow us on facebook facebook.com/c-span.

[indiscernible] you probably don't need any help identifying wolf blitzer of cnn and his guest, jane fonda. her former husband, ted turner owns cnn and she is cnn's guest this year. [indiscernible]

announcer: and a reminder that you have to be a credentialed white house journalist to even think about buying a $300 ticket to this dinner.

then you can invite any guests , you want. somebody has invited actress ashley judd, who at one time thought about running for senate in kentucky against senator mitch mcconnell. [indiscernible]

announcer: and again, live coverage from the white house correspondents' dinner from the washington hilton. you have to be a real c-span watcher to know who that is marie hart, the deputy spokeswoman at the state department -- along with wolf blitzer and jane fonda. [indiscernible]

announcer: and just a minute ago.

this picture was tweeted out the president's motorcade arriving at the washington hilton. it's going in the entrance on the side of the building. this is the building where president ronald reagan was shot in march of 1981, outside of that building. that little overhang has been added since then. there is lester holt in the foreground, being interviewed, nbc temporary anchor. joe scarborough and mika brezynzki. a reminder, @cspan is our twitter handle and facebook.com/c-span if you want to follow along and see some of the comments that people are making about the white house correspondents dinner.

[indiscernible]

announcer 2: and now on the red carpet, johnny weir, ice skater, blond with the hair up, that is tara lipinski, they did the olympic ice coverage from sochi. [indiscernible]

announcer: that's former new york mayor and owner of bloomberg media, michael bloomberg arriving for the dinner. bloomberg media has had quite a presence here at the dinner and in washington, quite a bit over the last six months, of course you have to be a credentialed journalist just to consider buying a ticket for this dinner. all of the celebrities you see are invited guests. [indiscernible]

announcer: this is c-span's live coverage of the 2015 white house correspondents dinner. this is the arrival ceremony, or all of the arrivals at the red carpet entrance. the dinner, itself, will begin in a half hour or so. we'll be live and you'll see

everything from this dinner from the washington hilton. again, this has turned into a weekend of events here in washington, and there is a brunch sponsored or hosted by tammy haddad and hillary rosen and anita dunn, three very prominent women here in washington -- and one of the people who attended her brunch this morning is actor tim daly from "madam secretary," brother of tyne daly, and c-span caught up with him. what's the importance of this weekend? tim: hollywood meets washington and we all have a party. tim daly: i like to go back to the tradition of this event, it's a chance for everybody to let down their hair, drop their

partisanship and make fun of themselves -- and the people at the white house roast each other and have a good time. it's a good way to blow off steam and laugh at yourself and have a party. i don't think there is anything that important, except for me personally because i'm president of the coalition, we make this about our advocacy and march around the halls of congress and speak to senators and those about us. for me it's work and then play. , >> and for your show, do you have washington consultants? tim: well, you know, i like to say that madeleine albright, the real madam secretary is my white house correspondent -- i'm going with her as my date this year. so she is the real champion of , our show. it's important to keep in mind that we are a tv show. i mean, we solve a world crisis every week. it's really a much slower process. we're not a documentary. >> tim daly has work to do solving world crises, we'll let

him go on his way. tim: thank you very much. >> tim daly is going with the network that his show is on, cbs news. madeleine albright is also a guest of cbs news. follow c-span and the coverage of the dinner. you can follow on twitter and facebook.

there is al roker. [indiscernible] announcer: that of course is martha stewart on your screen, who is another guest at the white house correspondents dinner. the woman in the blue dress that

we saw just a minute ago, that was huma abedin -- married to anthony wiener and top aide to hillary clinton. [indiscernible]

announcer: that of course is donald trump arriving for the dinner -- and the dinner will take place in the largest ballroom in washington, d.c., it's at the washington hilton. 2,600 guests tonight at 260 tables, 10 people per table. you'll hear from the president, as well as cicely strong of "saturday night live," that's part of the entertainment and c-span will be live throughout the evening, so we're taking you now inside the ballroom here at the washington hilton. [indiscernible] ♪

[indiscernible] ♪

[indiscernible] announcer: live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner. yes, katie couric and justice antonin scalia. some say this is what it is all about. having journalists and policymakers together.

[indiscernible]

♪

announcer: you are watching live coverage inside the ballroom. 7:50 is when the pre-dinner program is due to begin. it often runs late, as people go through the x-ray detectors to get into the dinner. there is a lot of criticism about this dinner, the coziness between the press and the politicians since it has become since the 1980's. patrick gavin is the director of a new documentary looking at the white house correspondents dinner, he talks about some of his criticisms of the white house correspondents dinner. patrick gavin: i started off

with less of a critical eye then i ended off with. i started off by saying what is this week, why do celebrities come? you know, sort of just a snapshot. isn't this interesting? and then, as i started interviewing people and listening to what this week was about, you start to realize the criteria were not holding up. people said it was about access. people say it is about white house correspondents. but they get little attention. some say it is about the scholarship. some say it is about fun, but it is not that much fun read the criteria, holding up the week wasn't holding out. that seemed worth examining.

that is when i turned a corner to maybe examine the week with greater scrutiny. announcer: that was patrick gavin, an interview done with with him regarding his "nerd prom: inside washington's wildest week." if you have a criticism of a dinner or something you want to say about it, you can tweet us as well. you can follow and make comments on facebook, as well.

♪ announcer: the predinner program is due to begin in 10 minutes. they often push it late. as you can imagine the logistics , serving 2600 people are not necessarily simple. the washington hilton has gotten used to it. we talked to the general manager about what it takes. >> our staff is 1000 team members. about 700 full-time. maybe about 300 onside, 200 banquet servers. we have 50 managers that serve as human greeters to get

everybody where they need to go. and then, we have three folks that focus on nothing but tying bowties. you wouldn't believe the number of people who don't know how. >> some of the staffers have worked the dinner fairly often in the past several years. >> our executive chef, this will be his 11th dinner. he began with us 11 years ago. and his first night working was for the white house associations dinner. we had charlie, our longest-serving member -- 47 diners. announcer: the washington hilton on connecticut avenue, north of dupont circle has hosted this dinner for 40 years. as we go through the evening

if you want to make a comment about what you are watching and what you're going to hear, go to work facebook page. [indiscernible]

[applause] [indiscernible] announcer: live coverage in the ballroom of the washington hilton on c-span. the white house correspondents association is the group that puts this dinner on every year. christi parsons is this year's president. she is with the "chicago tribune." she talked to us about how this dinner has become very well-known. christi parsons: it does attract attention to the people who cover the white house.

that is not a small thing. people can feel good about coming to the white house correspondents dinner every year. in buying those tickets, they are saying to the white house and other government officials -- we back these people. we support them. that matters that helps us. , we deal with the white house every day. we have a duty officer on call always ready to take a call from a journalist who is having a hard time getting access, or a member of the pool who can't get the full pool into a event with a foreign leader or the president. we only stand ready to do that job. it does make a difference when people come and show their support. and that is what i love. announcer: that was christi parsons of the tribune company. now, margaret carlson, she used to watch frequently on cnn, she was with "time magazine" for a

long time, and now is a columnist with "bloomberg view," she spoke to c-span about how she feels about hollywood and the white house correspondents dinner. margaret carlson: bringing in >> "dynasty," they are cabled the tv show. i don't think it teaches anybody what white house correspondents are. host: if you would like to make a comment about the dinner facebook.com/c-span. follow us there were on twitter @cspan.