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WATCH: Correspondents' Dinner a Mixed Bag

WATCH: Correspondents' Dinner a Mixed Bag

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Joel McHale bombed with a routine that featured some LGBT-related material, President Obama showed restraint, and Joe Biden and Julia Louis-Dreyfus stole the show.

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Actor-comedian Joel McHale included some bits of LGBT-related humor -- that might be considered questionable -- in a poorly received routine at Saturday night's White House Correspondents Dinner.

After he got only scattered applause when he mentioned he appears on the NBC sitcom Community, which has a devoted but relatively small fan base, McHale mentioned that he also hosts The Soup on the E! Network. "To Republicans in attendance, E! is the channel your deeply closeted gay son likes to watch," he said. "To Democrats, it is the channel your happily openly gay son likes to watch." The first line went over better with the audience than the second.

Riffing on cable news, he said, "I'm a big fan of that lesbian on MSNBC -- Chris Hayes." Then, on a popular Netflix series: "House of Cards has had a huge impact on Washington. What a great show. I haven't seen a southern senator give a tour de force performance like that since Lindsey Graham played Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire." He noted the presence of Jared Leto, an Oscar-winner for playing a transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club, and said, "To the Republican senator who asked to be introduced to, quote, that hot chick from Dallas Buyers Club, you are in for a very interesting evening."

McHale's routine also featured jokes about Bill Clinton and cigars, Chris Christie's weight, and the Kardashians, adding up to what Deadline described as "a total bomb" with "a litany of clunkers."

Much better received were President Obama's remarks, such as "Let's face it, Fox, you'll miss me when I'm gone" and "It'll be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya." But the hit of the night was a video played before the president came on, starring Vice President Biden and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with them getting tattoos, being busted by First Lady Michelle Obama for eating ice cream, and generally being hilarious.

Below, watch McHale, Obama, and the two veeps, and see what you think.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.