The National Press Club on Thursday hosted their annual "Commedia del Media" journalists' stand up comedy contest to benefit Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists. 
The contest opened with emcee and former journo-turned G-Man Matt Cooper introducing Doug Hecox, a professional comedian who works at the Department of Transportation.
Next up, Fox Business Network's Rich Edson did a 4th estate-centric show that brought down the house. He joked about source lunches, "Remember back in the 30's, when reporters would take sources to a restaurant named after a hat, like the fedora? You'd walk in, and you could bum a cigarette from a pregnant lady, or a ten year-old, who'd probably just come off a sixteen-hour shift? Those were the days. Now you've got to take sources to some restaurant called the Sushi and Sorbet."
Military.com blogger and cable news commentator Jamie McIntyre was up next. Followed by, WAMU's Jamila Bay who read a great rendition of the battle between Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry, the moral of which is "Nobody likes Kanye West." Then The Washington Post's Melissa Bell put on a lively skit about living in India, and even had her friends demonstrate some Bollywood dancing.
Next up were Politics Daily's Walter Shapiro, then Pentagon correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers Nancy Youssef, who joked about being one of few women, and the only Arab woman, on the defense beat.
The judging of the contest was done by David Corn (Mother Jones), Mark Hosenball (Newsweek), and Shaun Waterman (Washington Times). New this year to the judging process was an actual decibel counter, which registered the strength of audience laughter and ultimately helped the evening's winner, Rich Edson, amass his high score.
Closing out the night, renowned impressionist Sylvia Traymore Morrison did four fabulous impressions: Whoopi Goldberg, Dionne Warwick, Mo'Nique, and of course, First Lady Michelle Obama.
- Report and photographs by Christina Wilkie
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