FBDC finds out what makes Joe the Plumber a DC celebrity, listens to Julie Mason rage about the Geico Gecko, gets a preview of slightly inappropriate jokes from Chef Geoff and learns that Matt Cooper enjoys wearing a tiara…

Last night at the DC Improv, a mix matched group of Washingtonians competed for the title of “DC’s Funniest Celeb.” And the White House guy came out on top– economic advisor Austan Goolsbee (whose name was spelled incorrectly in the program, by the way). “Have some sympathy for the unemployed because, when Rahm Emanuel sees my comments from this evening, I am going to be one of them,” he ended his winning performance.

ABC’s Sam Donaldson told violent, sexist jokes (with his lovely wife Jan in the audience), US News and World Report’s Anna Mulrine recycled a past performance from Commedia Dell Media at the National Press Club this spring, and Joe the Plumber avoided Sarah Palin jokes at all costs- instead taking a swipe at MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. Check out Joe’s performance below.

Others were not so gracious to Palin- Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist: “We are trying to bring up the children – the two girls – correctly. I went out and got them their first children’s book – you’ve seen Sarah Palin’s new book, ‘Heather Has Two Hunters.’” And we forget who said this on Palin’s book: “One more thing she could only devote four months to.” And master of ceremonies Baratunde Thurston joked that Alaskan moose were her ghost writers.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) was unexpectedly very funny– “I know you’re all thinking ‘who the frick are you,’” he opened. “Number 226 on the seniority list.” Chef Geoff Tracy was also a contestant- and wife Norah O’Donnell was there to support, and provide a backdrop of laughter.

The Examiner‘s Mark Tapscott, MPAA President Dan Glickman, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and TWT‘s Richard Minitar were also contestants. And former champion Matt Cooper gave a special performance.

One of our fave lines of the night came from NYP‘s Robert George– “You’re only here because you’re hoping Patrick Gavin will mention you in Politico tomorrow.” Gavin, along with Julie Mason, NJ‘s Nora McAlvanah, the Examiner‘s Gina Sacripanti, the Chicago Trib‘s Clarence Page (who was accepting bribes, because he’s “from Chicago”) and the Geico Gecko were some of the judges.

The event benefitted the charity Standup for Kids. Check out some photos and more memorable one-liners after the jump…

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We’re bigger fans of some of the judges… they include the GEICO Gecko (seriously?!), Time‘s Karen Tumulty, Politico‘s Patrick Gavin, Chicago Trib‘s Clarence Page, NJ‘s Nora McAlvanah and the Examiner‘s Julie Mason and Gina Sacrapanti, among others.

But it hasn’t been all fun and games for this event… Check out WaPo‘s Amy Argetsinger‘s reporting yesterday. Funniest Celebrity Charitable Fund CEO Richard Siegel responded here.

Follow us on Twitter for updates (of jokes, and more likely, crashes-and-burns).

• ABC’s Terry Moran, Emmy-nominated actress Cheryl Hines, Office of Disability Employment Policy Assistant Secretary Kathy Martinez will celebrate United Cerebral Palsy’s “60 Years and Onward” at the Four Seasons. Moran will serve as the master of ceremonies to UCP’s event.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Friday at the National Press Club, a dozen of brave DC journos took to the stage for Commedia Dell Media presented by Reporters Without Borders.

The line-up: NPR’s Jamila Bey, Conde Nast’s Matt Cooper, Mother Jones’ Washington Bureau Chief David Corn, Delphine Schrank, Shaun Waterman, McClatchy’s chief Pentagon correspondent Nancy Youssef, Bloomberg’s Scott Lanman, US News & World Report’s Pentagon correspondent Anna Mulrine, WUSA’s Mike Walter and Alex and Mark Hosenball.

We also spotted Lynn Sweet, Kimberly Dozier, Liz Glover and Mary Ann Akers at the Press Club.

Not funny was the line for the bar before the show started, but we did catch a few one-liners there. “No rehearsal- I came from a dinner party and had a few glasses of wine,” a certain female performer said. We also overheard friends of another female performer- “She’s so nervous, she said she was going to take a few xanax.”

We’ll let these (paraphrased) excerpts stand alone…

“The amount of good reporting you can do as a pantless woman in the Middle East is limited.” -Mulrine

“On the base, you can’t wear a towel on your head coming out of the shower area. I asked why- too provacative. What kind of porn are you guys watching?” -Mulrine

“In the Arabic world, journalist is one step up from prostitute.” -Youssef

“I’m not used to performing in front of such an old crowd. If anyone tells me I killed tonight, I’ll be like oh shit.” -Lanman

“Food is so expensive models can no longer afford bulimia… the economy is so bad, I was watching tv late last night and there was a commercial ‘got a white baby, sell it for cash.’” -Bey

“Rahm Emanuel opened a Twitter account. Turns out he doesn’t need 140 characters, just four.” -Corn

The consensus we’re hearing is that Cooper killed it, Corn was a little weak (sorry man), and a chick reporter embedded with any military group makes for plenty of good standup material (or dinner conversation– Mulrine: “when I was on an airsalt with the 101st Airbourne Division in Afghanistan… I like to start with that line as often as possible.”)

Ticket sales benefitted Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom and judging by the seemingly sold-out crowd, we hope to hear they did pretty well.

More pics after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

• Commedia dell Media, coming to a Press Club near you. Check out Conde Nast’s Matt Cooper, radio personality Jamila Bey, Bloomberg’s Scott Lanman, Mother Jones’ David Corn, UPI’s Shaun Waterman, McClatchy’s Nancy Youssef, US News’ Anna Mulrine, WUSA’s Mike Walter, and WaPo’s Delphine Schrank exercise their “infamous comedic chops” this Friday at 8pm. Newsweek’s Mark Hosenball is even going to sing an ode to “the scoundrels of Wall Street.” And the best part- it is all for charity. More info can be found here.

And check out some highlights from last year’s show at Hollywood on the Potomac.

• The owner of Washington City Paper, Creative Loafing Inc., has won its bankruptcy ruling. More on that here.

• Politico looks into why WaPo hasn’t picked an AME Style. From Michael Calderone’s post: “Lately, much of the internal chatter has revolved around Ned Martel, a former editor-at-large of Men’s Vogue who’s recently been down to the Post headquarters.”

• Lastly today, Washington Whispers serves up the “Top 10 Places to Eat with DC Big Shots.” Looks like VandeHarris did their homework– Blue Duck Tavern, where they were spotted clinking glasses with Bono last night– makes Paul Bedard‘s cut.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.