People might think I am biased towards Jay after the 2010 late night wars, but the truth is my dislike for him has been alive and well for quite some time now. He is mildly funny, but in the typical way. He always tells the expected jokes and if you ask me, that’s just not enough for the host of the Tonight Show or the speaker at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
He also has no political edge, either, which is in no way a requirement but I think it is preferred in a comedian speaking at a political event. While just saying Sarah Palin’s name might be enough to conjure a laugh from his normal audience, he needed to go just a little deeper than that for last night’s crowd. (Or, preferably, he should have just stayed away from Palin all together. She’s an irrelevant dead horse.)

Here I have compiled a list, in no particular order, of ten (out of the millions) of the speakers I would have rather seen.

1.    Brian Williams. He is funny guy, and he is updated in the political world. He played along with Bonnie Hunt’s tv man crush; he knows how to joke around and be likable about it. He did a skit for the dinner in 1999 but I would like to hear him speak. On that note…I wouldn’t mind seeing Bonnie Hunt up there.
2.    Lewis Black. The ultimate satirist. We know a hint of insanity from the speaker is acceptable since they’ve had Wanda Sykes and Craig Ferguson on, so that’s no a problem. Black may have trouble keeping it clean enough for the black-tie crowd though.
3.    Jerry Seinfeld. Everyone has appreciated at least one Seinfeld joke in his/her life. I was actually pretty surprised that he had not been a featured speaker before. If you want to steer free of controversial entertainment, Seinfeld knows when to be respectful and he’s just a downright class act.
4.    Joan Rivers. I don’t particularly find her that funny but to me it seems like a sensible choice, and she hasn’t been a speaker yet. After guest hosting for Johnny so often and just looking at her career, she is so intertwined with the world populated by the same people attending this dinner. She would be a favorite, I think.
5.    Jon Stewart. This would be perfect. I mean, it is a correspondents’ dinner after all. They could have the whole Daily Show gang out there reporting, or have a skit going.
6.    John Oliver. If they can’t go all out getting the entire Daily Show cast, I would be fine with just getting John Oliver in there. He is hilarious, and to those who think he isn’t, they can be just as equally entertained by his accent. He may be a bit over top for an event like this but every one seems tame after Colbert.
7.    Kathy Griffin. Just kidding, that would be terrible. But, in comparison to Jay Leno, if these were my only two choices and I was forced to decide, I would rather have Kathy than Jay.
8.    Ellen Degeneres. I actually am serious about her. She could easily liven up that dinner with her humor and her energy. Her focus isn’t really on making fun of other people, which is what has caused problems for others in the past – but in a way it is somewhat the nature of the event. She could just get up there and dance if she wanted to.
9.    Joe Biden. I don’t know the particular etiquette of the dinner and if having the vice president speak is an ill advised practice – but if it would not be considered odd, let Biden up there to ramble for a while. He’s got jokes.
10.    Jimmy Fallon. If you wanted a late night talk show host, why not give the newbie a shot? Jay Leno has spoken at the dinner before anyway. Fallon could break out his impressions, butcher his comedic timing, laugh nervously and mumble a little bit. It would be great.

And it goes without saying…that had he not been busy with his Legally Prohibited to be Funny on Television Tour, we would have loved to have seen Conan O’Brien get up there again.

**Jay Leno was booked as entertainment before The Jay Leno Show was canceled or known to be on the road to cancellation.

At any rate, Obama killed it. They could have ended with him and that would have been fine. Nothing political, but you gotta admit he is pretty funny.