On April 29, 2006, American comedian Stephen Colbert appeared as the featured entertainer at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which was held in Washington, D.C., at the Hilton Washington hotel. Colbert's performance, consisting of a 16-minute podium speech and a 7-minute video presentation, was broadcast live across the United States on the cable television networks C-SPAN and MSNBC. Standing a few feet from U.S. president George W. Bush, in front of an audience of celebrities, politicians, and members of the White House Press Corps, Colbert delivered a controversial satirical routine targeting the president and the media. He spoke in the persona of the character he played on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a parody of conservative pundits such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.
Colbert's performance quickly became an Internet and media sensation. Commentators remarked on the humor of Colbert's performance and the political nature of his remarks and speculated as to whether there was a cover-up by the media in the way the event was reported. James Poniewozik of Time noted that whether or not one liked the speech, it had become a "political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006—like whether you drive a hybrid or use the term 'freedom fries".
Performance at the dinner American comedian Stephen Colbert was the featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, held at the Hilton Washington hotel in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2006. He was invited to speak by Mark Smith, the outgoing president of the White House Press Corps Association. Smith later told reporters that he had not seen much of Colbert's work. Since 1983, the event has featured well-known stand-up comics. Previous performances included President Gerald Ford and Chevy Chase making fun of Ford's alleged clumsiness in 1975, and Ronald Reagan and Rich Little performing together in 1981.
Colbert gave his after-dinner remarks in front of an audience described by the Associated Press as a "Who's Who of power and celebrity". More than 2,500 guests attended the event, including First Lady Laura Bush, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace, U.S. attorney general Alberto Gonzales, China's ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, AOL co-founder Steve Case, model and tennis player Anna Kournikova, and actor George Clooney. Colbert spoke directly to President Bush several times, satirically praising his foreign policy, lifestyle, and beliefs, and referring to his declining approval rating and popular reputation.
Colbert spoke in the persona of the character he played on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a parody of a conservative pundit in the fashion of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. He began by satirizing mass surveillance, joking "If anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Someone from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail." While many of his jokes were directed at President Bush, he also lampooned the journalists and other figures present at the dinner. Most of the speech was prepared specifically for the event, Colbert's long-time writing partner, Paul Dinello, helped him with the text, and together they went over it the night before. But several segments were lifted—largely unchanged—from The Colbert Report, including parts of the "truthiness" monologue from the first episode of the show, where Colbert advocated speaking from "the gut" rather than the brain and denounced books as "all fact, no heart". Colbert framed this part of the speech as though he were agreeing with Bush's philosophies, saying that he and Bush are "not brainiacs on the nerd patrol", implicitly criticizing the way Bush positioned himself as an anti-intellectual.
Following this introduction to his style and philosophy, Colbert listed a series of absurd "beliefs that I live by", such as "I believe in America. I believe it exists." He alluded to outsourcing to China and satirized the traditional Republican opposition to "big government" by referring to the Iraq War. "I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."
Colbert then mocked Bush's sinking approval ratings:
He continued his mock defense of Bush by satirizing Bush's appearances aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center, and in cities devastated by Hurricane Katrina:
Colbert ended the monologue specifically directed at Bush by parodying his energy policy. He then used Laura Bush's reading initiative as a springboard to mock-criticize books for being "elitist", and harshly criticized the White House Press Corps—hosts of the event—and the media in general. Addressing the audience, he remarked:
Colbert also criticized the White House Press Corps for what was widely perceived as its reluctance to question the administration's policies, particularly in regard to the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying:
For the remainder of his speech, Colbert joked about other people in the audience, including Peter Pace, Antonin Scalia, John McCain, and Joe Wilson. During this section, he made another reference to global warming while talking about interviewing Jesse Jackson: "You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants, at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is."
Colbert received a chilly reception from the audience. His jokes were often met with silence and muttering, although some in the audience, such as Scalia, laughed heartily as Colbert teased them. This was in stark contrast to the warm reception accorded to a skit featuring Bush and his look-alike, Steve Bridges, which immediately preceded Colbert's monologue.
At the end of his monologue, Colbert introduced what he characterized as an "audition" video to become the new White House press secretary—Scott McClellan had recently left the position. The video spliced clips of difficult questions from the White House press corps with responses from Colbert as Press Secretary. Colbert's podium included controls marked "Eject", "Gannon" (a reference to erstwhile White House reporter Jeff Gannon, who was suspected of asking planted questions), and "Volume", which he used to silence a critical question from journalist David Gregory. The video continued with Colbert fleeing the briefing room and the White House, only to be pursued by White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who had been a vocal critic of the Bush administration. At one point, Colbert picks up an emergency phone and explains that Thomas "won't stop asking why we invaded Iraq". The dispatcher responds with, "Hey, why did we invade Iraq?" The entire second half of the video is a spoof of horror film clichés, particularly the film Westworld, with melodramatic music accompanying Thomas's slow, unwavering pursuit of Colbert, and Colbert loudly screaming "No!" at intervals. Widely available online, a portion of the mock audition tape aired on The Colbert Report on May 2, 2006.
Although President Bush shook Colbert's hand after his presentation, several of Bush's aides and supporters walked out during Colbert's speech, and one former aide commented that the President had "that look that he's ready to blow". At a panel moderated by Stone Philips, Colbert mentioned that a joke got cut halfway through his presentation. He was supposed to give the president a 'Certificate of Presidency', a piece of paper that said "I, Stephen Colbert, hereby recognize George W. Bush is president of the United States." Colbert reflected, "At that point in the speech, 'cause it was right about the middle, I looked over and I went, I'm not going to do that." He kept the certificate framed on his wall as a memento. Colbert recalled that "not a lot of people laughed in the front row" during the speech, and that "when it was over, no one was even making eye contact with me ... no one is talking to me in the whole damn room"; only Scalia came to him afterward, praising Colbert's imitation of a gesture the justice had recently been photographed making. He also noted that actor Harry Lennix, who was there that night, praised the performance.
Early press coverage Cable channel C-SPAN broadcast the White House Correspondents' Dinner live, and rebroadcast the event several times in the next 24 hours, but aired a segment that excluded Colbert's speech. The trade journal Editor & Publisher was the first news outlet to report in detail on Colbert's performance, calling it a "blistering comedy 'tribute that did not make the Bushes laugh. The reviewer noted that others on the podium were uncomfortable during the speech, "perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting—or too much speaking 'truthiness' to power".
The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune covered the dinner, but not Colbert's remarks. The wire services Reuters and the Associated Press each devoted three paragraphs to discuss Colbert's routine in their coverage of the event, and The Washington Post mentioned Colbert several times throughout its article. The most extensive print coverage came from USA Today, which dedicated more space to Colbert's performance than to President Bush's skit. The day after the dinner, Howard Kurtz played clips of Colbert's performance on his CNN show Reliable Sources. On the Fox News show Fox & Friends, the hosts mentioned Colbert's performance, criticizing him for going "over the line". Tucker Carlson, a frequent target of The Colbert Report before and after the event, criticized Colbert as being "unfunny" on his MSNBC show Tucker.
Much of the initial coverage of the event highlighted the difference between the reaction to Bush and Bridges (very positive) and that for Colbert (far more muted). "The president killed. He's a tough act to follow—at all times," said Colbert. On his show, Colbert joked that the unenthusiastic reception was actually "very respectful silence" and added that the crowd "practically carried me out on their shoulders" even though he was not ready to leave. On the May 1, 2006, episode of The Daily Show, on which Colbert had formerly been a correspondent, host Jon Stewart called Colbert's performance "balls-alicious" and stated, "We've never been prouder of our Mr. Colbert, and, ah—holy shit!"
Lloyd Grove, gossip columnist for the New York Daily News, said that Colbert "bombed badly", and BET founder Bob Johnson remarked, "It was an insider crowd, as insider a crowd as you'll ever have, and [Colbert] didn't do the insider jokes". Congressional Quarterly columnist and CBS commentator Craig Crawford found Colbert's performance hilarious, but observed that most other people at the dinner did not find the speech amusing. Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik thought that Colbert's critics missed the point: "Colbert wasn't playing to the room, I suspect, but to the wide audience of people who would later watch on the Internet. If anything, he was playing against the room." Poniewozik called the pained, uncomfortable reactions to Colbert's jokes "the money shots. They were the whole point."
Allegations of a media blackout