海角大神

Saturday night鈥檚 鈥渘erd prom鈥� 鈥� officially known as the White House Correspondents鈥� Association annual dinner 鈥� is best known for the celebrities it attracts, a reminder of Henry Kissinger鈥檚 quip: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."

But it鈥檚 also a comedy slam of sorts as the M.C. 鈥� late-night TV host Conan O鈥橞rien this year 鈥� and other notables trade quips and barbs over dessert.

(In case you鈥檙e wondering, that was a concoction called 鈥淭he Galaxy鈥� 鈥� rich chocolate truffle mousse layered with chocolate genoise and almond macaroon; ganache truffle center finished in chocolate glaze, garnished with fresh raspberries It had been preceded by an entr茅e of Texas-rubbed petite filet with a calvados demi, paired with duo of jump shrimp seasoned with red curry, roasted haricot verts, baby pepper, patty pan squash, and tasso mache choux risotto. We don鈥檛 know about you, but Decoder goes absolutely nuts over roasted haricot verts.)

But back to the rhetorical sweets and savories at the dinner. Here are some of the best, according to a variety of sources:

"It's an honor to share this stage with the president," O鈥橞rien said at the start of his set. "When you think about it the president and I are a lot alike. We both went to Harvard. We both have two children and we both told Joe Biden we didn't have extra tickets for tonight's event."

O鈥橞rien had plenty of zingers for the media. Among them:

鈥淭he print media are here for two very good reasons: food and shelter鈥�. The print media still has a big star in Bob Woodward. Earlier the waiter asked if he wanted regular or decaf. And he said, 鈥楽top threatening me鈥欌��. TIME will outlive Newsweek the way Juliet outlived Romeo鈥�. MSNBC鈥檚 Chris Matthews is here. He has the only show where commercials exist just so they can wipe the spittle off the lens.鈥�

And here鈥檚 some of what political junkies said were President Obama鈥檚 best jokes:

鈥淭he media landscape is changing so rapidly you can't keep up with it. I mean I remember when 'buzzfeed' was just something I did in college around 2 a.m."

"Did you know that Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million of his own money on negative ads [in the 2012 presidential campaign]? You've got to really dislike me to spend that kind of money. Sheldon would have been better off offering me $100 million to drop out of the race. I probably wouldn't have taken it, but I would have thought about it. Michelle would have taken it. You think I'm joking."

"One thing [Republicans] all agree on is they need to do a better job reaching out to minorities. Call it self-centered, but I could think of one minority they could start with. Think of me as a trial run. See how it goes."

鈥淚'm taking my charm offensive on the road 鈥� a Texas barbeque with Ted Cruz, a Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul, and a book-burning with Michele Bachmann.鈥�

Scheduled barely two weeks after the Boston Marathon bombing, the dinner had its serious moments too.

Obama said this about press coverage of that tragic event:

鈥淚f anyone wonders 鈥� whether newspapers are a thing of the past, all you needed to do was to pick up or log on to papers like the Boston Globe,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen their communities and the wider world needed them most, they were there making sense of events that might at first blush seem beyond our comprehension. And that鈥檚 what great journalism is, and that鈥檚 what great journalists do.鈥�

The nerd prom wasn鈥檛 universally lauded.

TV old-timer Tom Brokaw says it鈥檚 too star-studded.

He told Politico: 鈥淭hat dinner, as it has been constituted for the past several years, is saying, 鈥榃e鈥檙e Versailles. The rest of you eat cake.鈥欌��

Such a sour-puss! We here at Decoder Central would do most anything for a rich chocolate truffle mousse layered with chocolate genoise and almond macaroon.

And what would any gathering of Washington insiders, media hotshots, and Hollywood types be without comment from Sarah Palin, ex-governor, ex- vice presidential candidate, and ex-Fox News commentator?

Here鈥檚 the expurgated version of her tweet:

鈥淭hat #WHCD was pathetic. The rest of America is out there working our [backsides] off while these DC [backside]clowns throw themselves a #nerdprom.鈥�

(Note to editors: Why does spell-checker choke on every other word in the above dinner menu? It wouldn鈥檛 have done that on 鈥淔reedom Fries.鈥�)