Wanda Sykes, guest-hosting on "The Daily Show."

She goes after Biden and she goes after Trump.

Most interesting to me was something that wasn't a joke — before becoming a stand-up comedian, she worked for the NSA for 7 years. I had to look it up to make sure it was not a joke. Wikipedia: 

"I’ve noticed that the relationship jokes you made earlier in your career were a little nastier and less playful than the ones you make now. Why do you think that is?"

The NYT asked Wanda Sykes, who answered:

It just speaks to being in a bad relationship with my husband. I was being honest. I wanted to get away. Like: “God, there’s his stupid face, and he’s chewing. Ugh, does he have to breathe? Make him stop breathing.” Now I’m in a great relationship, and I’m happy, so my wife’s chewing doesn’t annoy me.

From "Wanda Sykes on ignoring Michelle Obama and the ‘Roseanne’ debacle."

ADDED: That made me think of "Madame Bovary":

Besides, she was becoming more irritated with him. As he grew older his manner grew heavier; at dessert he cut the corks of the empty bottles; after eating he cleaned his teeth with his tongue; in taking soup he made a gurgling noise with every spoonful; and, as he was getting fatter, the puffed-out cheeks seemed to push the eyes, always small, up to the temples.

He made a gurgling noise with every spoonful because she didn't like him.

Get ready for Woody Harrelson as Archie Bunker and Jamie Foxx as George Jefferson.

With Marisa Tomei as Edith Bunker and Wanda Sykes Louise Jefferson.

ABC is staging one-night-only revivals of two iconic Norman Lear sitcoms, All in the Family and The Jeffersons, Jimmy Kimmel announced during his show on Thursday. Airing Wednesday, May 22 at 8/7c, [it will be a] 90-minute live event...

“They have said over and over again that these two shows were meant for the ’70s and would not work today. We disagree with them and are here to prove, with two great casts depicting All in the Family and The Jeffersons, the timelessness of human nature,” Lear said in a statement. “I cannot wait to see what these glorious performers make in our time of these indelible characters....”

I like all those actors (especially Wanda Sykes, who's been excellent on "Curb Your Enthusiasm").

I wonder how well they'll do "the timelessness of human nature" in the Trump Era. Obviously, Archie will have to be a big Trumpster, but the question is whether they can balance the characters and spread the love and mockery across the political spectrum they represent.

"A List Of Recurring Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, And Jason Sudeikis Characters..."

"... Ranked In Descending Order Of How Much This Commentator Will Miss Them."

Via Throwing Things, where they're going to miss Fred Amisen's Prince:

Connecting Carrie Prejean, Elizabeth Edwards, and Wanda Sykes — 3 women of the moment.

It's the essayist's challenge. Can Robin Givhan meet it? The common theme she detects is: appearance and expression inconsistent with our stereotype.

Prejean took a conservative stance. And in the cultural field guide, she is not what a conservative woman who puts her Christianity out there for public consumption is supposed to look like.

She was not buttoned up. She did not look like an escapee from "Jesus Camp." Prejean looked like someone who enjoys a good cosmo.

Prejean's words landed like a sucker punch on many who thought they knew what the opponents of same-sex marriage look like.

She was gorgeous and conservative. What a shock!

[Elizabeth Edwards] has been subject to an inordinate amount of tsk-tsking for failing to articulate the perfunctory speech about the baby's innocence and how everyone needs to do what's in the child's best interest...

[T]his woman with the soft Southern accent and the maternal air has essentially said that the baby is not her concern. That is not the expected response from a woman whose figure is devoid of sharp lines and who always seems to be dressed for a parent-teacher conference.

Ha ha. EE is fat. Make no mistake: Givhan called her fat. "Figure devoid of sharp lines" — tee hee — use that on your female enemies. Anyway... so... get it? Pudgy, unglammed women who dare not to be squishy inside — shocking!

But how was Wanda Sykes out of character? Here's where the essayist's challenge kicks into advanced mode:

Sykes, a petite black woman with a sassy mouth, had gotten pointed, political and a tad bit angry. It was as if everyone expected her to leave her opinions with the Secret Service and just dish out jovial, but mush-mouthed, commentary about being beleaguered and put-upon.

Sykes is known for her sharp tongue. She's more Bill Maher than Bill Cosby. But there's an assumption that white male comics will speak their mind and risk being offensive to get the laugh. (When Stephen Colbert performed two years ago, the press knew he'd offend some in the audience, they just didn't realize it would be them.) If Maher had made the same comments, the audience probably would have been thankful that he didn't say anything really appalling. With Sykes, it was more like: Shame on her.

Eh. I'm not seeing how Sykes deviated from what we'd expect from her. Givhan merely observes that she didn't modify herself for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

The essayist's task is not achieved. The parallelism is missing. The Sykes story is not about appearance and unexpected expression. Sykes was exactly Sykes, and she didn't rein it in.

"Literary puke Christopher Hitchens leveled a vile, hateful attack against [Wanda] Sykes that wasn't meant to be a joke."

Politics Daily's Tommy Christopher wails. It's is the first I'm seeing of this. Apparently, Hitchens said: "The president should be squirming in his seat. Not smiling. The black dyke got it wrong. No one told her the rules." Tommy chides:

I haven't heard "boo" out of the right denouncing Hitchens for this, yet they want to portray their poobah, Rush Limbaugh, who imagines that people expect him to receive anal sex from the President just because he's black, as the poor widdle victim here.

Uh... boo.

IN THE COMMENTS: I say the joke was funny and the President wasn't laughing at it. I get some pushback.

"Maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight... I hope his kidneys fail."

That's the Wanda Sykes joke from the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. I'm sure Rush is chortling as he prepares his opening monologue for today's radio show, which will have more than the usual number of listeners. He'll be all why are they always talking about me? and loving it.

I'll update this post when the show starts.

UPDATE: Sorry, I had a computer problem at the beginning of the show. Later, he was talking about Dick Cheney and then Nancy Pelosi — on the torture topic. Did he start with Sykes? I'm guessing he didn't now.

Wanda Sykes at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

Enjoy. Critique. Whatever.

"Most of you covered me; all of you voted for me. Apologies to the Fox table."

At the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Obama tells jokes. Obama's jokes — unlike Bush's — have semicolons in them. He's so smart!

The featured comedian was Wanda Sykes, who talked about the President's nipples:

"It's funny to me that [photographers] have never caught you smoking," Sykes told the president, "but they always catch you with your shirt off. I know you're into this transparency thing, but I don't need to see your nipples."