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Craig Ferguson to play for Washington elite

Late-night host Craig Ferguson revealed Tuesday that he's been booked as the entertainer at the annual White House correspondents' dinner in Washington, scheduled April 26.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Less than a week after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen, Craig Ferguson learned he'll be telling jokes to President Bush.

The CBS "Late Late Show" host revealed Tuesday that he's been booked as the entertainer at the annual White House correspondents' dinner in Washington, scheduled April 26.

Ferguson, a Scotsman, recently passed an American citizenship test and was formally sworn in Friday. For his late-night viewers, he described the correspondents' dinner as "like the Oscars for politicians."

It's also potential trouble for comics: Don Imus and Stephen Colbert both provoked some criticism for their pointed political jokes.

"There are 2,800 journalists in attendance, there (are) congressman, senators there, military brass, the Cabinet and I sit at the top table with the president and the first lady," Ferguson said. "And I am thinking, ‘Does he know I can't be kicked out now?'"

"I thought it would be the big thing, have the dinner and ‘as my last act as president, you go home, Ferguson,'" the 45-year-old talk-show host said. "And I'll say, ‘I am home!'"