Mentalist Oz (rhymes with rose) Pearlman will visit ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, after serving as the featured entertainer at this Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The choice of Pearlman, and not a comedian, to perform at this year’s WHCD has been notable, given that Donald Trump will attend the event for the first time as President of the United States. The last time Trump was seen at the dinner was in 2015, not long before launching his first of two successful White House bids. Until now, he famously has declined to attend/subject himself to an in-person roasting as POTUS.
The Trump administration will also be represented by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has aggressively restricted press access to Pentagon briefings and reportedly was invited by CBS News; FCC chair Brendan Carr, who has turned his traditionally independent commission into a challenger of free speech, and who told Status he plans to attend as a guest of CBS News parent Paramount; and Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who reportedly is another guest of CBS News.
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner went without a featured entertainer in 2025, after rescinding an invitation to Amber Ruffin. Prior to that, the event’s featured entertainers in recent years included Colin Jost, Roy Wood Jr., Trevor Noah, Michelle Wolf, Hasan Minhaj, Larry Wilmore, Cecily Strong, Joel McHale, Conan O’Brien, and, in 2012, Jimmy Kimmel himself.
Pearlman’s act is described as a “unique blend of mentalism and mind-reading” that creates an “interactive experience.”
As reported Friday morning by Puck’s Matt Belloni, President Trump is expected to speak at the dinner “for over an hour.” Per The Daily Beast, Trump will then leave the event before the annual bestowing of journalism awards—which will include the Wall Street Journal being honored with the Katherine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability, for their publication of a suggestive letter Trump allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
With no comedian hired for the actual WHCD, Kimmel on Thursday’s JKL presented an “All-American White House Correspondents’ Dinner” monologue, loaded with acerbic zingers aimed at Trump and his administration.
