Recommendations of the Editorial team
As President Trump breaks with tradition and features a mentalist instead of a comedian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Jimmy Kimmel hosted his own “alternative” gala dinner on his show on Thursday – delivering the very jokes that most presidents would laugh at if they didn’t “a delicate snowflake with the thinnest thick skin a human being has ever had.”
Looking at the “guests'” formal evening wear, Kimmel joked: “The last time I saw so much black was on every page of the Epstein files.” Addressing Trump, he said: “If we bruise your ego, your hands will only look less disgusting afterwards” – and a clip followed that showed the president patiently enduring the harmless taunt. Kimmel also joked about medical emergencies, asking if there was a doctor in the room — no, wait, “a Jesus.” This visibly made Trump smile. “I understand why you think you’re Jesus,” Kimmel said. “Every time he walks into a room, people say, ‘Thank God he’s back.'”
The “Monologue” repeatedly cut to reactions from Vanilla Ice, Marco Rubio, Mike Tyson, Rob Schneider, Kanye West, Roseanne and Dog the Bounty Hunter, all of whom laughed at Kimmel’s jokes. Trump also laughed more and more freely – especially at the Epstein gags. Addressing Melania Trump, Kimmel said: “You shine like a widow-to-be.” Producers even found footage of the first lady — “the star of the first motionless film in the history of the world,” Kimmel said — cracking some of his jokes almost smiles. “Her documentary got a ten percent on Rotten Tomatoes, a website named after her husband’s testicles,” Kimmel joked.
Kimmel on Stephen Miller
One of Kimmel’s strongest gags was for Stephen Miller: “Stephen Miller is so racist that his hair fell out because it was black. … He’s like baby Hitler who traveled through time to kill us all.” This last sentence was acknowledged with a “Power” fist clip from “Mel Gibson”.
The real White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which takes place on Saturday with Oz Pearlman as host, also won’t be nearly as entertaining as Kimmel’s version. Before his bit, Kimmel announced that Pearlman would appear as a guest on the show on Monday and report on the evening.
