Betty White sat next to Morgan Freeman. The crazy bearded guy from The Hangover hid in the corner and refused to take pictures with fans. Two of the Sex and the City women caused women to squeal. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele sat at the same table as liberal preacher Al Sharpton.
These were just a few snapshots of last nights’ White House Correspondents Dinner. Leah and I were lucky enough to attend for a third year in a row and we’re starting to find our rhythm. We’re not aggressive picture takers like a few of our friends (though we couldn’t help ourselves at the end of the night — see below). I’m not into schmoozing with industry bigwigs (though I probably should be). And we were a little too passive to crash the pre- and post-parties like some brave souls we know.
Our strategy consisted of getting there early, taking advantage of the open bar, and then gawking at the crazy crowd — a mixture of celebrity journalists, politicians and a wide range of movie stars, musicians and tabloid celebs. Hey Mom, this pic is for you!
Once everyone was seated, we also made a little tour of the front rows where most of the famous people dine at tables sponsored by the networks, People Magazine and national newspapers. Leah is still a little peeved that we didn’t see John Cusack. That’s two years in a row where we’ve come up empty in our hunt for the Say Anything star. Here is a picture of the prez taken about 10 seconds before I inadvertently ran into his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. Sorry Rahm. It was an accident.
President Obama was a big hit with the crowd. He made fun of his declining poll numbers, the crazy people who insist he isn’t a U.S. citizen and even the entertainer for the evening — Jay Leno. Following the president is tough, and Leno gave it a valiant effort. To watch the video click
here.
To our surprise Leno strode right into the crowd after his performance and we caught him for half a second, though the dastardly Rep. Dennis Kucinich interrupted our little photo. This one’s for Leah’s Ma!
On our way out I saw Dominic West talking with two friends. You may know him better as McNulty from The Wire — hands down the best television show ever produced.
Emboldened by our Leno picture, I decided to awkwardly stand next to McNulty and his friends, waiting for a lull in the conversation. It took longer than it should, which made me feel weird about it, but Leah was encouraging. When they took a breath, I walked up and told him I was a big fan. He couldn’t have been nicer. His friend offered to snap the picture and right before he hit the button, McNulty asked if we wanted Sonja Sohn (Kima from The Wire) to join. You can tell my response in this picture, which quite frankly looks like McNulty enjoyed the open bar himself.
Here is the real picture.
