Jimmy Kimmel took a moment during his Tuesday night monologue to ask President Trump directly to let him host this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, pleading, “Think of the ratings!”
Kimmel, who previously hosted the dinner in 2012, noted that the event is typically emceed by a famous comedian. This year, however, mentalist Oz Pearlman has been tapped to host the dinner, and Kimmel took issue with that. “This feels like a cop-out to me,” the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host said, before turning to look right down the barrel of the nearest camera.
“Mr. President, please, let me host this dinner. I’ve never asked you for anything, but can you imagine you, me, the commissioner of the FCC all at a table together? Think of the ratings!” he urged. “I’ll even throw in an award. You like awards! I’ll give you a brand-new award. The Correspondee! The Dundee Correspondee. No one will ever get it besides you. Please, give the people what they want for once.”
“This is our destiny together, you and me. Think about it. Let’s make it the greatest, hottest, most spectacular dinner of any kind ever,” Kimmel concluded. After a short round of applause from his in-studio audience, the late night host mused, “Maybe he’s worried I’ll make fun of his blotches? I don’t know. Man, oh, man.”
Earlier in his monologue, Kimmel tackled the Trump administration’s recently ignited war with Iran.
“Team Trump was on Capitol Hill today to brief Congress about the strikes on Iran. Usually, that happens before we invade a country, but technically only Congress has the power to declare war,” Kimmel explained. “Also technically, you’re supposed to get a permit to tear down the East Wing of the White House.”
The “JKL!” host went on to call out Trump and his team’s contradictory messages about not only the cause of the war but also its potential duration and costs. “The president sent a letter to lawmakers in which he claimed that it is too soon to know the full scope and duration of this conflict,” Kimmel noted.
“On Sunday, he said it could last four to five weeks. Yesterday, he said it could be more than four to five weeks. Today, he said it’s too soon to know,” the comedian continued. “Tomorrow, we’ll be shooting for Christmas, I guess.”
Ultimately, Kimmel concluded that the war with Iran will go for “however long it takes until everyone stops talking about how many times [the president’s] name is in the Trump-Epstein Files.”
