Joel McHale Makes Everything Awkward By Roasting Everyone

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner allows Hollywood and Washington to join forces for a night. This year, Joel McHale gave the comedic speech. Sticking with tradition, rather than a speech, it was more of a roast of most of the influential people in the room. He began with President Obama saying, “My favorite was when you said you’d close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, that was hilarious.” But Obama wasn’t the only politician to get made fun of. McHale spent a lot of time poking fun at Governor Chris Christie. After first joking with Christie about his Presidential bid being over he said, “I got a lot of these tonight so, uh, buckle up Governor Christie. Excuse me, extender buckle-up.” Then he moved along to teasing every news outlet — including C-Span, the channel he was being broadcasted on. As far as politicians, he teased everyone from Vice President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Boehner, Jeb Bush and Wolf Blitzer to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

There was an awkward moment after McHale told an uncomfortable joke where the crowd had a mixed reaction. McHale said, “You guys sound like you’re on a roller coaster right now.” That is a good description of how the entire speech felt. Republicans, Democrats and everyone in between received an equal amount of criticism. Overall, no one could feel particularly insulted by the speech because McHale successfully roasted just about everyone. And McHale’s job as a performer was to make everyone laugh, which even Obama indulged in doing.