Cecily Strong, 'SNL' star, will host 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner
Strong is a fairly recent addition to the 'Saturday Night Live' cast and formerly hosted the 'Weekend Update' segment of the program. Strong will be the fourth woman to headline the Correspondents' Dinner.
'Saturday Night Live' cast member Cecily Strong attends the American Museum of Natural History's 2013 Museum Gala in New York.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
NBC's "Saturday Night Live" comedian聽Cecily Strong聽will headline the 2015 White House聽Correspondents' Association Dinner,聽Washington's annual mixer attended by members of the media, celebrities, and the U.S. president.
The association said on Wednesday that Strong, an聽Illinois聽native and relative newcomer to the popular improvisational comedy show, will be the main performer at the annual event, known for its ribbing of聽Washington power figures.
"I look forward to seeing her at our head table, where I plan to seat her next to some other well-known Chicagoans," association president Christi Parsons said, referring to President聽Barack Obama, who lived in the Midwestern city before his move to聽Washington.
Strong joined SNL's cast in 2012 after performing elsewhere in聽Chicago聽and has been featured in two films. Her father was also a longtime journalist with The Associated Press, according to the WHCA.
Strong recently left her spot as 鈥淲eekend Update鈥� co-anchor with Colin Jost on 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥� Strong, who debuted on the show in 2012, is still a cast member and was replaced by Michael Che, formerly of 鈥淭he Daily Show.鈥�
"Her political humor is sly and edgy, and it comes with a聽Chicago聽accent," said Parsons, a reporter for the聽Chicago Tribune 补苍诲听迟丑别 Los Angeles Times.
The dinner, which has been held for more than eight decades and also honors student scholarship recipients, will be held on April 25, 2015.
Strong will be just the fourth woman to headline the event, according to the association.
Past performers at the dinner include Jay Leno, Cedric the Entertainer, Conan O'Brien, Wanda Sykes, and, famously, Stephen Colbert. Monitor writer Dante Chinni wrote of Colbert鈥檚 appearance, 鈥淐olbert, love him or hate him, was exactly what you would expect at the... event. He used his mock Bill O'Reilly persona and his trademark 'truthiness' to beat-up on the president while pretending to be an ally.聽This is what he does Monday through Thursday at 11:30 p.m.鈥�