The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah has been tapped to serve as entertainer at the first White House Correspondents Dinner since 2019, and the first to actually be attended by the sitting POTUS since 2016.

The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual fete, which is broadcast by C-SPAN, was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The most recent dinner, held in April 2019, abandoned the usual comedic entertainment in favor of a keynote speech by historian and author Ron Chernow.

The last comedian to work the “Nerd Prom” was Daily Show alumna Michelle Wolf, who in 2018 wound up drawing fire for, mainly, some digs at then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who represented President Donald Trump (MIA for the second of what would be three straight years) at the head table.

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner celebrates Americans’ freedoms and the working people who bring the news to the world,” WHCA president Steven Portnoy (of CBS News Radio) said in a statement. “Trevor is an incredible talent who keeps us laughing — and thinking — four nights a week. We can’t wait for him to help bring our 100-year Washington tradition ‘Back to Abnormal’” (as in the name of Noah’s current comedy tour).

Proceeds from the event, which this year will be held Saturday, April 30, support the WHCA’s year-round work on behalf of the White House press corps as well as scholarships for aspiring journalists and awards recognizing excellence in the profession.

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