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Kenan Thompson, Hasan Minhaj featured for White House correspondents' dinner

Thompson is set to host, with Minhaj as a featured entertainer.
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2018, file photo Kenan Thompson presents the award for outstanding drama series at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

The White House Correspondents' Association is bringing comedy back to its annual dinner this year. The association recently named "Saturday Night Live" comedian Kenan Thompson as host of this year's event on April 25th.

Hasan Minhaj, host of Netflix's "Patriot Act" will be returning to the White House Correspondents' dinner, this time as a featured entertainer. Minhaj hosted the event in 2017. 

“Kenan and Hasan are two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America.  I’m thrilled they’ll help us celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy,” Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News and president of the WHCA said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to a lively evening honoring the most important political journalism of the past year.”  

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Thompson began his career on Nickelodeon, and is currently "SNL's" longest-tenured cast member. His time on the show earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song "Come Back Barack." 

Minhaj has been hosting Netflix's "Patriot Act" since 2018. His show earned a Peabody award in 2019. 

Last year,  presidential historian Ron Chernow hosted the dinner, following backlash against comedian Michelle Wolf's jokes about former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2018. 

Huckabee was in attendance that night, but President Donald Trump was not. Unlike past presidents, he hasn't attended any White House Correspondents' dinners since he came into office.  

According to the WHCA website, the White House Correspondents' Dinner is a "on-partisan event that supports the work of the WHCA to protect the role of independent news media coverage of the president." Proceeds from the dinner fund the organization's operations and scholarships for aspiring journalists. 

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