White House Correspondents Dinner hosts from the year you were born

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April 16, 2019
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White House Correspondents Dinner hosts from the year you were born

The annual White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner has about 2,600 attendees, and people from all over the world look to it as a rare chance to see the media, presidents, comedians, and Hollywood stars interact. Though the WHCA Dinner began in 1921 as a gathering of just 50 people, it wasn't until 1944 that hosts were introduced. From the beginning, the dinner featured big names: Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra were among the first headliners. At that time, there weren't single performers, but rather a collection of hosts who sang, danced, or put on skits between speeches. Though female singers such as Patti Page and the McGuire Sisters performed for the WHCA's enjoyment, early dinners famously banned female writers. That changed in 1962, when President John F. Kennedy said he would boycott the event unless the invitation was open to women.

In 1968, stand-up comedian Richard Pryor was the event's sole host, setting the standard for future WHCA Dinners to come. By 1983, it became almost exclusively comedy-focused and has become known for featuring a roast of the president, their administration, and other political bigwigs. Particular comedians have come back time and time again, like Jay Leno, who has taken the stage four times. It's a chance for comedians to air their grievances against the status quo and, sometimes, the jokes don't over so well. When Stephen Colbert took the stage as his scathing right-wing parody character, the Bush administration was visibly upset, with several staffers even walking out. Michelle Wolf's 2018 monologue about the Trump administration set social media ablaze with her cutting humor and sometimes crude language.

Still, over the years, some of the presidents have been able to take a joke—and even make some at their own expense. In 1975 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, for example, President Gerald Ford said, "I do have one favor to ask of all the White House correspondents sitting here tonight. Every few years, we do have to paint the White House. It is done for reasons of maintenance, aesthetics, and appearance. So please, would you just refer to this as a paint job, not a cover-up?"

Presidents have occasionally eschewed humor in favor of a more serious act—in 2003, in the wake of the Iraq invasion, Ray Charles performed. This year, which will be the third WHCA Dinner that Trump will not attend during his presidency, another unconventional speaker will be hosting—though you'll have to read on to find out who.

This list, which is compiled from Wikipedia data, will help you discover who hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner the year you were born. Don't see your birth year? That's no error: It may be because there were only 18 hosts between 1944 and 1985, with the dinner skipped several different years. However, from 1986 until now, there's been a host every year. Read on to learn more ahead of this year's dinner April 27.

You may also like: 50 famous White House visits

1944

Hosts: Bob Hope, Fred Waring, Robert Merrill, Gracie Fields, Pedro Vargas, Elsie Janis, Fritz Kreisler, Ed Gardiner, Nan Merriman, and Frank Black

1945

Hosts: Frank Sinatra, Fanny Brice, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Danny Kaye, and Garry Moore

1953

Host: Bob Hope

1954

Hosts: Milton Berle, Jaye P. Morgan, The Four Step Brothers, Irving Berlin, and The McGuire Sisters

1956

Hosts: James Cagney, Nat King Cole, Patti Page, and Dizzy Gillespie

1961

Hosts: Mischa Elman, Julie London, The Peiro Brothers, Dorothy Provine, and Jerome Hines

1962

Hosts: Peter Sellers, Gwen Verdon, and Richard and Benny Goodman

1963

Hosts: Barbra Streisand, Merv Griffin

1964

Hosts: Duke Ellington, The Smothers Brothers

1968

Host: Richard Pryor

1969

Host: The Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue

1970

Host: George Carlin

1975

Hosts: Danny and Marlo Thomas

1976

Hosts: Bob Hope, Chevy Chase

1983

Host: Mark Russell

1984

Host: Rich Little

1986

Host: Dick Cavett

1987

Host: Jay Leno

1988

Host: Yakov Smirnoff

1989

Host: Jim Morris

1990

Host: Jim Morris

1991

Host: Sinbad

1992

Host: Paula Poundstone

1993

Host: Elayne Boosler

1995

Host: Conan O'Brien

1996

Host: Al Franken

1997

Host: Jon Stewart

1998

Host: Ray Romano

1999

Host: Aretha Franklin

2000

Host: Jay Leno

2001

Host: Darrell Hammond

2002

Host: Drew Carey

2003

Host: Ray Charles

2004

Host: Jay Leno

2005

Host: Cedric the Entertainer

2006

Host: Stephen Colbert

2007

Host: Rich Little

2008

Host: Craig Ferguson

2010

Host: Jay Leno

2011

Host: Seth Meyers

2012

Host: Jimmy Kimmel

2013

Host: Conan O'Brien

2014

Host: Joel McHale

2015

Host: Cecily Strong

2016

Host: Larry Wilmore

2017

Host: Hasan Minhaj

2018

Host: Michelle Wolf

2019

Host: Ron Chernow

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