Hosted on April 10, 1997, the White House Correspondents Dinner followed in the tradition of past Dinners, with the President lightly roasting the press before an entertainer gave a similar treatment to the Washington elite. At the time, Bill Clinton was fresh off from winning a second term as President, and still 9 months away from his affair with Monica Lewinsky going public, which would eventually lead to his impeachment.

Norm MacDonald was tapped as the guest of honor for his work as host of SNL’s popular “Weekend Update' segment, where he had been satirizing the past week’s current events since 1994. Often controversial, Norm was let go from SNL in early 1998, leaving lots of speculation that he was fired for jokes made at the expense of NBC Chairman Don Ohlmeyer’s friend, OJ Simpson.