Washington Gears Up for the Prom

May 8, 2009— -- It may be a high school tradition, but in Washington, D.C., this weekend, it's the adults who are heading to the prom.

Saturday night is the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, the premiere black tie event in the nation's capital and the one weekend a year when stodgy Washington gets a jolt of Hollywood glitz.

The event is a good place to find movie stars, athletes, journalists and politicos gathered together for a bit of comedy and a lot of schmoozing.

The event certainly has an "unlikely bedfellows" feeling to it, with athletes eager to meet politicians and journalists asking Hollywood stars to pose for a picture.

This year celebrities like Jon Bon Jovi, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore will be mingling with Obama Administration officials like chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, press secretary Robert Gibbs and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.

But the biggest guests of the night will be President Barack Obama and First lady Michelle Obama.

Since this is the Obama's first major public social outing since the inaugural balls, the hype is on overdrive.

"I've never heard of the dinner being more popular ever before than it is this year," said Anne Schroeder Mullins, columnist for Politico. "It's a new administration, it's a new family, it's a new fun time, and everyone wants to get to know each other and they also want to be there for the first time."

Obama has shown he has a sense of humor, at events like last year's Al Smith dinner. But Saturday's dinner, before the Washington press corps and a cast of celebrities, gives him the chance to show off his skills as comedian-in-chief.

Most presidents have used the occasion to lighten up a bit and poke fun at themselves, like President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush did in their dinner appearances.

At his last dinner in 2000, Clinton joked about what life would be like after he moved out of the White House.

"But a year from now, I'll have to watch someone else give this speech. And I will feel an onset of that rare affliction, unique to former presidents. AGDD -- Attention-Getting Deficit Disorder," Clinton said.