Events

Can you name the DC journos or Washingtonians channeling their inner Shakespeare out in Aspen at the 2009 Ideas Festival? We couldn't get out there ourselves so we've relied on Politico's Patrick Gavin to capture this Gridiron-like moment.

We told you earlier that video of John Hodgman's RTCA dinner performance was beating video of Wanda Syke's WHCA dinner performace on YouTube. But the Examiner's Yeas & Nays points out, Hodgman's even besting the President himself.

By their count, Hodgman hits nearly double President Obama's RTCA dinner remarks, further proving, don't underestimate a nerd (a self-proclaimed nerd). You can check the "PC guy" out again here.

Andrea Mitchell, Bob Schieffer and Katharine Weymouth are among just some of the Washingtonians flocking to Colorado this week for the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival.

Hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, the festival runs today through July 5th and this year's theme is "Ideas that Work," with programs like "Media Crack-Up" and "Living Digitally."

Discussions we think you'd be interested in include: The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan on "Why I Blog," "What's Next for the News Business" moderated by the Aspen Institute's President and CEO Walter Isaacson and with WaPo's Weymouth and others, "Obama and the Challenge of Expectations: A Look at the President's First Six Months" with NYT's David Brooks and The Week and Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson and "Sustaining Beat and Investigative Journalism" with NBC's Mark Whitaker.

Charlie Rose will also interview Education Secretary Arne Duncan and CBS' Schieffer will interview Lewis Black in a program called "Me of Little Faith." You can check out the festival's full schedule here.

Dana Perino, NYT's David Sanger, National Journal's Ronald Brownstein and NBC's David Gregory are also among the Ideas Festival's confirmed speakers. Also D.L. Hughley.

Other newsmakers in Apsen for the Ideas Festival include: Alan Greenspan, Tim Pawlenty, Sandra Day O'Connor, Susan Rice, Austan Goolsbee, Stephen Breyer, Michael Chertoff, Jane Harman, Madeleine Albright, Eric Holder, James Baker and Margaret Spellings.

You can also follow the festival this week on Twitter #aif09.

>>Update: Bloomberg TV will be covering the Aspen Ideas Festival with Erik Schatzker reporting live.

Washington Life magazine hosted a "gypsy jetset style" party at the W Hotel last Thursday with the author of "Gypset Style," Julia Chapin. There were belly dancers, goodie bags and free books.

As of right now, C-SPAN's John Hodgman's YouTube video from Friday night's RTCA dinner has shot up to 209,230 views, as compared to C-SPAN's video of Wanda Sykes at the May 9th WHCA dinner, which tops off at 185,996 views.

Check them both out again and decide your fave for yourself after the jump...

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Politico's Anne Schroeder Mullins and Patrick Gavin with Robert Gibbs.

Did you happen to notice that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was just a few minutes late to take his seat on the dais?

Maybe that's because he couldn't get away from a slew of reporters at CBS' pre-party at the Convention Center.

After dinner... The place to be was "the place for politics" MSNBC's after-party across the street from the Convention Center at the Historical Society. Those on the guest list- and there were plenty of crashers- received Tiffany-like key chains to get in.

As promised, there was a Starbucks bar, as well as a Cold Stone ice cream station, candy bar and plenty of desserts and mixed drinks. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow worked the upstairs bar- where we saw everyone from David Axelrod to Ana Marie Cox to John Hodgman order her speciality, the Hearst.

By the time the Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchells cleared out, the party had moved to the back patio to the backdrop of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and the most hardcore guests didn't leave until after 3am.

More photos after the jump. Also check out Maddow's bartending skills...

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The White House Correspondents Association's annual dinner is lovingly referred to as "Nerd Prom" in DC and beyond. RTCA's dinner has taken on the nickname "Nerd Prom 2," but after John Hodgman's nerd vs. jock themed performance, FBDC thinks we may have to reconsider.

While the "PG guy" did get the President of the United States to flash a Vulcan salute- and we give him props for that- the rest of his jokes seemed to go right over the audience's heads.

We have to agree with NBC's Luke Russert here- "Hodgman would have killed if Justin Long had come out in the middle of his routine and they replicated the commercial. It needed that extra 'wow' factor."

We'll put it to a vote- thumbs up or thumbs down for Hodgman's routine?

President Obama was certainly a hit with the RTCA dinner audience on Friday night, cracking jokes at the expense of Chuck Todd, Brian Williams and Wolf Blitzer-- but no seemed to laugh as hard as the President himself.

Check out some of his best lines:

• I have to admit, though, it wasn't easy coming up with fresh material for this dinner. A few nights ago, I was up tossing and turning, trying to figure out exactly what to say. Finally, when I couldn't get back to sleep, I rolled over and asked Brian Williams what he thought.

Now, the truth is, Brian Williams is actually a terrible house guest. He put an empty milk carton back in the fridge. He leaves his wet towels all over the Roosevelt Room. We're pretty sure he clogged the toilet and didn't tell anybody.

• It's good to see a number of hardworking correspondents here tonight. Journalists like Chuck Todd. I think I spotted Chuck over there somewhere. At this dinner, Chuck embodies the best of both worlds: He has the rapid-fire style of a television correspondent, and the facial hair of a radio correspondent.

• Mika Brzezinski is here, I believe, in the house. Mika and I have a lot in common. We both have partners named Joe who used to be in Congress and don't know when to stop talking.

• Wolf Blitzer is here. He's the only man -- the only other man in America with his own Situation Room. People assume that mine is cooler, but this is not the case. As hard as we've tried, we have not been able to generate the bandwidth necessary to turn Larry Summers into a hologram. We can't do it.

One joke that didn't go over so well for the President- "But you probably wouldn't understand the concept of troubled industries, working as you do in the radio and television." That drew some boos, to which the President responded, "Oh -- we don't joke about that, huh? That's not funny," with a huge grin.

Laughs continue after the jump...

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We think the President said it best- "The jokes may not be as good, but neither is the guest list."

There were no TomKat or Ashton and Demi sightings. The biggest star (and highest dress slit) in the room was former Miss California Carrie Prejean, followed in star power by actor Tate Donovan and Angelina Jolie's brother James Haven.

But the 2009 RTCA dinner did light up the Washington Convention Center with DC journo star power- those attending included Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews, Lara Logan, Chip Reid, Major Garrett (check him out with Prejean in a photo after the jump), Chuck Todd, Jonathan Karl, Bill Plante, Savannah Guthrie, Ed Henry, Bill Press, Contessa Brewer, Luke Russert, Maureen Orth, Willie Geist, Mika and Joe, Judy Woodruff, Lawrence O'Donnell (and Norah and Kelly), Nancy Cordes, Steve Capus, David Bohrman, Robin Sproul, Heidi Collins, Carl Cameron, John Harwood, Mike Allen and Mark Whitaker to name a few.

As well as Robert Gibbs, Bill Burton and Laura Capps, Michael Steele (actually seated at a CBS table with Burton), Dana Perino, Samantha Powers, Ken Salazar (donning a cowboy hat), Austan Goolsbee, Gordon Johndroe, David Axelrod, Eric Holder, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Leon Panetta and Rep. Glenn Nye.

The dinner was a little unconventional than most. Before dinner was served, there were various performances by JibJab, the Onion News Network and Sweet Honey on the Rocks (a favorite of Michelle Obama, though she did not attend). RTCA chair and the evening's emcee Heather Dahl introduced President Obama, who left soon after this remarks. The date of the dinner actually changed a few times to accommodate the President's schedule.

The Joan S. Barone Award was presented by CBS' Bill Plante to NBC congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira for his coverage of the bailout story on the Hill. Viqueira dedicated his award to Mary Dorman, the NBC Washington bureau's longtime assignment desk manager who died early this year of cancer. The Bloom daughters also presented an award in their father David Bloom's memory. BBC's Rome Hartman accepted on behalf of Orla Guerin. A video tribute to Bill Headline, Tony Snow and Tim Russert, all who passed this year, was also shown.

More photos after the jump...

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