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5 Great Larry Wilmore Jokes That Prove He's Going To Be An Epic White House Correspondents' Dinner Host

by Zoe Balaconis

The 2016 White House Correspondents' Association announced Wednesday morning that Comedy Central comic and political commentator Larry Wilmore will host the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April 2016, according to ABC News. The event is a traditionally raucous affair that is part roast, part standup routine, part media catharsis. Saturday Night Live's Cecily Strong hosted last year's event, and there is little doubt Larry Wilmore will rise to the occasion. In fact, given his history of scathing political punditry and late night charisma, he's already perfect for the job. In case you're not convinced, here are five great Larry Wilmore jokes that prove he's going to be a great host.

The dinner is scheduled for Saturday, April 30, and along with Wilmore, President Barack Obama will give his annual address to the gathered media (last year, he was incredible). In the meantime, if you aren't familiar with Wilmore you have a few months to catch up on his program, “The Nightly Show.” Get going!

Starbuck's "Race Together" Campaign

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Do you remember Starbuck's "Race Together" campaign? I had almost forgotten about it. It was a short-lived push to engage Starbucks customers and baristas in conversations about race. Starbucks asked its employees to write "Race Together" on the cups to spark the interactions. Sounds fine, right? Well, it probably goes without saying it was a complete failure. Enter Larry Wilmore. He weighed in on why the campaign bombed, according to Eater:

"Starbucks, what you need to understand is that for most Americans there's a time and place to talk about race. The place is nowhere, and the time is never." He added, "Starbucks felt that coffee and awkward conversations were meant to go together." Classic.

Any And All Pre-GOP Debate Coverage

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Larry Wilmore has really shined this year what with all the comedic fodder from the seemingly hundreds of GOP debates we've had so far (OK, five). He even renamed the day before GOP debates "What the fuck is Donald Trump going to do? Debate-Day Eve."

One of my favorite Debate-Day Eve joke's of his has been about his excitement for the coming GOP mayhem. He said he "felt like the leather pants at a Lenny Kravitz concert." I know just what he means.

When Wilmore Shut Down Ted Cruz's Climate Change Denial

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is easy to make fun of, but that doesn't mean Larry Wilmore's going to go easy on him. Wilmore took on Cruz's nonsensical stance on climate change during his Nightly Show.

In response to Cruz's assertion that data upheld the falseness of climate change, Wilmore said, "You can’t say facts and evidence matter in your climate denial speech. That’s like having an affair with the babysitter and in the middle of having sex you whisper to her ‘monogamy is very important.'” What can I say? He excels at similes.

Machine Gun Bacon

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I know we just had a Cruz joke, but they're so good. If you missed Ted Cruz's bizarre publicity stunt where he ate bacon cooked on the barrel of a firing machine gun, you're lucky because it was one of the creepiest things of 2015. Larry Wilmore couldn't let that little news item slide, so he asked, "Do you know how small your dick has to be for you to do something like that?” Wilmore 1, Cruz 0.

On Cuba-U.S. Relations

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During his show, Wilmore did a segment on what the average Cuban family eats for one month under the country's strict rationing laws. The answer: one chicken. "One chicken a month? Man that's horrible. I mean here we used chicken as bread!" Wilmore said, according to the Hollywood Reporter, while showing an image of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

It's always difficult to beat President Obama's Correspondents' Dinner speeches. When he wants to be funny, the man kills it. But, if anyone can hold his own on that stage, it's Larry Wilmore. Can't wait.

Images: Giphy (5); Cass Anaya/Flickr