Bush leaves comedy to pros at press event

President Bush, deferring to the tragedy at Virginia Tech, passed up any attempt to be funny at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner Saturday, leaving those efforts to impersonator Rich Little.

Returning to the podium at the annual dinner after 23 years, Little made good on his promise to be gentle.

His material was safe, if somewhat raunchy at times. He dusted off his impersonations of six presidents, including Richard Nixon and the current occupant of the White House, and avoided any reference to political issues.

After one joke bombed, he said, “And you thought [Stephen] Colbert was bad.”

Best known for his impersonations of Nixon and late-night star Johnny Carson, Little was the featured act for the glitzy dinner with the president, Cabinet secretaries, foreign dignitaries, Hollywood celebrities and journalists.

Unlike previous comedians at the dinner, he had no competition from Bush, who at times has shown a deft comedic touch himself in his annual monologue.

Bush said it was important for people in Washington “to learn to laugh” and that the ability for a nation to poke fun at its leaders is good for democracy.

“I was looking forward to doing a little poking myself, but in light of this tragedy at Virginia Tech I decided not to be funny,” he said.

He noted that many journalists in the room had a tough week reporting from Virginia Tech, and said “this dinner comes at a good time.”

With that, he introduced Little for the laughs.

Little had said that both Republicans and Democrats should expect nothing more than gentle jokes at their expense during the dinner, a tradition started by President Coolidge.

Last year, Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” lampooned the administration and the Washington press corps as Bush appeared unamused and the crowd’s laughter was nervous at times.

Little made fun of Bush’s occasional difficulties with language -- imitating him talking about this “warathon thing against all extreministic fractions” -- but even that was inadvertently upstaged by the president.

Before Bush and Little spoke, CBS star David Letterman made a video appearance from his studio with a Top 10 list of taped vignettes showing some of the funniest Bush flubs of the last year.

Among the guests at the People Magazine table was Sanjaya Malakar, the “American Idol” finalist who became famous for his hair despite singing that got mixed reviews. He was voted off the show last week.

Other celebrities on the correspondents’ dinner guest list included country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, singer Sheryl Crow, actor John Cusack, actress Mary Tyler Moore and comic Larry David.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who has suffered a recurrence of cancer, got a warm reception when he joined Bush at the head table.

He promised to return to the White House briefing podium soon for more jousting with the press corps. “We’ll have that entertainment again, trust me,” Snow said.