TBF, it's a notoriously tough, humorless crowd. Remember: there weren't many laughs for Colbert's brilliant and scathing WHCD speech, which was some of his finest work. And having done stand-up for years, I can say it's extraordinarily difficult to keep going when there's no energy from the crowd.
Reposted from
The New York Times
Colin Jost came off "less assured than usual" while hosting the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, our critic writes. "With long pauses between jokes, eyes darting side to side, he occasionally took a drink of water and at least once acknowledged the lack of laughter in the room."
Comments
[freeze out comics from performing well, end the event if they actually challenge the audience]
His jokes were *fine*. That crowd was dead.
Which is ridiculous of course.