Dennis Miller: When I did the White House Correspondents’ Dinner they vetted every single joke

OPINION:

We now know something very strange happened last Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 

Comedian Michelle Wolf’s edgy, stand-up routine that relied on graphic jokes praising abortion procedures (don’t we all have a good laugh now and then about abortions?) and personal attacks against members of the Trump White House got headlines everywhere and forced the White House Correspondents’ Association to disavow the jokes and Wolf. 

Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting, and scholarship winners, not to divide people. Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.

The statement from the WHCA left many scratching their heads over how Wolf ever got on the dais in the first place if her content wasn’t in keeping with their theme and standards. How was the WHCA caught off guard by the racy routine?

Comedian, SNL alum and talk show host Dennis Miller told me Thursday that when he hosted the event, every joke he delivered was vetted ahead of time by the organizers: 

“I did it once with Bush 41 and they vetted it completely. I mean the press corps wanted to go over every joke. And then the White House wanted to go over every joke and then Bush, God bless him… when I met him in the green room before hand said ’I’ve got Bar with me tonight. I don’t want you to say…’ - and here’s where you have to… does your memory want to make the story cooler? He probably said the F-word because I don’t know if he swears. But in my head for a while I had thought he said ’Don’t say BOOM.’ But he did stipulate that I not say… because he had his wife with him. It was times of yore back then, I had to jump through hoops.” 

So who dropped the ball here? Did the WHCA neglect the traditional vetting process? Or did Wolf go off the reservation and add jokes that had not been approved?

Listen to the entire interview from WMAL in Washington DC here: