There was a weird vibe hanging over the Kennedy Center Sunday night as the red carpet arrivals began ahead of the Mark Twain Prize show, during which Conan O'Brien would be receiving the award honoring achievement in American humor. Speculation was running rampant amongst the assembled media—including your humble correspondent, who was thrilled to be there representing Townhall Media—about whether or not President Trump would show up and steal the spotlight away from O'Brien.

As it turned out, despite the presence of sniffer dogs, the president wasn't there. At the same time, however, Donald Trump was somehow everywhere. 

Maybe it was his photograph, alongside the official portraits of the first lady, the vice president and the second lady, that towered above you as you entered the Hall of Nations, or maybe it was the fact that President Trump, just days prior, had toured the Kennedy Center, which first opened in 1971, and talked of his desire to "make it beautiful" again.

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Whatever the reason, Conan O'Brien was undoubtedly the star of the show, but Donald Trump wasn't too far from everyone's minds. 

Previous Mark Twain Prize shows have typically brought out the nation's top comedians and Hollywood celebrities to celebrate the recipient; recent winners include Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler and Dave Chappelle. The red carpets ahead of those ceremonies were awash with famous faces happily chatting with the assembled media. The big question this year was: who was going to show up now that Donald Trump himself was the chairman of the board of trustees?

Well, a fair few did turn up to participate in the show, here's a rundown of them "skewering" Trump, but not many of them had the guts to walk the red carpet and answer questions. Those who did—including O'Brien himself, comedians Nikki Glaser and Bill Burr, plus CNN's Jake Tapper—seemed reluctant to talk politics, with Burr appearing downright peeved at being asked about "the elephant in the room."

Let's dive into what RedState/Townhall Media heard on the red carpet. 

Conan O'Brien

When asked about how political the evening was going to get:

I don't have any say in what any of my friends are doing. I don't know what they're saying, I don't know what they're doing. I have no idea. It's not my show, so I will be sitting there and watching like everybody else. And we'll see. All of these people are going to do what they're going to do. So, that's the beauty of comedians. Especially these comedians — they're going to do whatever they do, and I have no idea what they're going to do.

Bill Burr

When asked about whether things were going to get political during the show:

None of my business. I'm just gonna doing what I'm doing. 

I don't know when it became it became like this. Comedians have always made fun of current events. It's weird. It's just a weird time. 

And on the reaction to his recent comments about Elon Musk, which our own Brad Slager covered here:

What has been the reaction? You mean the international reaction? I'm a comedian, I'm a clown. It's been positive, negative, bots.

Jake Tapper

Hoo boy, hit the motherlode here. The first question came from an AP reporter, so, of course, Tapper had to opine about the wire service being barred from the White House pool.

It's horrible and also the worst slippery slope. And anyone who thinks it's a great idea now is gonna hate it in three years, four years. Boycotting the AP? The White House blacklisting the AP because it doesn't like some of the terms they use? It's a horrible precedent. 

When asked if he had any apprehension about being at the Kennedy Center:

Conan's a friend, he's an icon, and I have zero apprehension. I had to get my wife out of the house.

And, in possibly the most absurd framing of the evening, a reporter complimented Tapper on being the "funniest" of "all the news people," to which he responded:

That's like saying, of all the dogs who ride bicycles, you keep your balance the best.

And on how he incorporates humor into his reporting:

Viewers want news anchors and reporters to be as authentic as possible. And for me to pretend I'm not trying to suppress a laugh would be phony.

As a reminder, the oh-so-authentic Jake Tapper is currently writing a book about Joe Biden's cognitive decline, something Jake Tapper himself helped cover up for years. The guy is a piece of work.

Some final takes:

• The Kennedy Center staff was top notch and professional; they were unfailingly helpful to all of the media present, from the big networks on down to lowly scribes like myself. They were there to make the evening a success for everyone.
• It's clear that the left seems to have assumed for a long time now that they had sole ownership of the Kennedy Center, and also entertainment as a whole. The vibe coming from some of the attendees and participants was weird and almost funereal.
• I grew up in the DC area and have been to the Kennedy Center many times. Most recently, I saw an excellent version of "Bye Bye, Birdie" with a Broadway cast, so the idea that only left-wing schlock is being staged there is patently false. Conversely, there has long been a feeling there that only liberals are truly welcome and conservatives attend at their own risk. That definitely needs to end. We all help fund the place, so we should all feel welcome.

I joked with my husband when I got home that it felt like this was a crowd of people who were going to leave the event and key every Tesla they came across. That's a pretty sad statement on the current state of the entertainment world.

The Mark Twain Prize show will be shown on Netflix at a date still to be announced.

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