SCENES FROM LAST NIGHT: COLIN JOST making last-minute revisions to his remarks at the backstage VIP reception before the dinner. … REINCE PRIEBUS chatting with CAITLYN JENNER at the dinner. … Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.) in a hoodie with parts of a tux imprinted on the front. … Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER chatting up CHRIS PINE at the VIP pre-reception. … JOHN KIRBY complimenting EUGENE’s outfit, then noticing his lack of socks: “What the hell?” (It’s called fashion, Kirby. Look it up.) … Rep. SETH MOULTON (D-Mass.) speaking with Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN at the NBC party at the French Embassy. … Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF and JON HAMM chatting like old friends. … Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) getting some facetime with ScarJo. … DAVID RUBENSTEIN and CIA Director BILL BURNS making a beeline for the garden bar at the NBC party. … LARA TRUMP walking around the NBC party with her hair and makeup artist JESS in tow. … SCARLETT JOHANSSON mobbed by gawkers on the rear terrace at the French Embassy because D.C. still has no chill.

BEST OF THE DINNER — An NBC production: NBC promised to put a lot into this weekend and it showed. Led by White House Correspondents’ Association president KELLY O’DONNELL, NBC leaned on its formidable stable of news personalities and the firepower of “Saturday Night Live” to help create one of the more highly produced and polished WHCA Dinners we’ve attended. The show included a montage of SNL’s best political sketches, a vignette by STEVE KORNACKI breaking down the map of the famously crammed ballroom of 2,600 people, and lots of references to Johansson, with many C-SPAN cutaway shots of her sitting front and center below the dais.

Johansson’s husband, SNL “Weekend Update” anchor Jost, roasted President JOE BIDEN. VIPs (and those who have been nice to RICHARD HUDOCK this year) gathered after the show at NBC’s classy affair at the French Embassy, where Washingtonians took Jost’s joke encouraging them to ask for a selfie with his wife a little too seriously.

BEST OF BIDEN:

Biden’s best jokes about DONALD TRUMP:

— “I want to thank you for the warm welcome, but please, not so loud. Donald is listening … ‘Sleepy Don’! I kinda like that, I may use that again.”

— “Trump’s speech [about Gettysburg] was so embarrassing, the statue of ROBERT E. LEE surrendered again.”

— “Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it STORMY weather.”

— “Of course the 2024 election is in full swing. And yes, age is an issue: I’m a grown man … running against a 6-year-old.”

Biden’s best jokes about age:

— “I’m campaigning all over the country: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina. I’ve always done well in the original 13 colonies.”

— “Age is the only thing [Trump and I] have in common. My vice president actually endorses me.”

His edgiest joke: “Being here is a reminder that folks think what’s going on in Congress is political theater. That’s not true. If Congress were theater, they’d have thrown out LAUREN BOEBERT a long time ago.”

His best joke about the media: “The NYT issued a statement blasting me for ‘active and effectively avoiding independent journalists.’ Hey, if that’s what it takes to get the NYT to say I’m active and effective, I’m for it.” [NB: Emotions on both sides are still pretty raw when it comes to the recent WH-NYT dustup, according to Times staffers and WH aides we chatted with throughout the weekend.]

BEST OF JOST:

Best ScarJo joke: “Doug, as you can tell from all the comments about my wife, I’m also used to being the second gentleman.”

Best jokes about Biden:

— “I have to admit it’s not easy following President Biden. I mean, it’s not always easy following what he’s saying.”

— “My Weekend Update co-anchor MICHAEL CHE was going to join me here tonight, but in solidarity with President Biden, I decided to lose all my Black support.”

— “The last time I was in D.C., I left my cocaine at the White House. Luckily, the president was able to put it to good use for his State of the Union.”

— “The economy is sort of like you on the steps of Air Force One: It feels like it’s stumbling, but there is somehow upwards progress.”

Best jokes about Trump:

— “Can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a president of the United States at an event that doesn’t begin with a bailiff saying ‘All rise’?”

— “LARA TRUMP is here tonight. She recently released a cover of ‘I Won’t Back Down.’ Upon hearing it, TOM PETTY died again. I can’t believe I’m saying this to a member of the Trump family, but maybe stick to politics.”

Best media jokes:

— “By the way, when I started at the Staten Island Advance, we had a circulation of 100,000. The Washington Post would kill for that.”

— “Wordle is here tonight. Sorry, I meant the New York Times.”

— “Fox News is here tonight. It’s the end of an era: RUPERT MURDOCH’s stepped down at Fox News. Which is strange: I didn’t think there was a step down from Fox News.” [Both STEVE and PETER DOOCY allowed a chuckle at that one.]

— “The Washington Post is here. Washington Post — they were the ones taking your coats at the door. Please be sure to tip.”

— “The New York Post is like having the New York Times summarized for you by a crackhead.”

Jokes that elicited the most uncomfortable laughter:

— “I am honored to be here at what is — according to swing-state polls — the final White House Correspondents’ Dinner.”

— “I would really like to take a moment to recognize all the print journalists in this room. Your words speak truth to power. Your words bring light to the darkness. And most importantly, your words train the AI programs that will soon replace you.”

The one that had perhaps the biggest reaction from the crowd, especially Biden himself: “I’m not saying both candidates are old, but you know JIMMY CARTER is out there thinking, ‘I could maybe win this thing.’”

NEXT YEAR AT THE HILTON? — Despite the good vibes and roasting, there was an undercurrent of foreboding about how things could be very different next April.

Biden — and perhaps more surprising, Jost — both ended their remarks on a serious note about the fragile nature of a free press that seemed perhaps a little less pro forma than usual.

Biden: “There are some who call you the enemy of the people. That’s wrong and it’s dangerous … The defeated former president has made no secret of his attack on our democracy. He has said he wants to be a dictator on day one. And so much more. He tells supporters he is their revenge and retribution. When, in God’s name, have you ever heard of another president say something like that? And he promised a ‘bloodbath’ when he loses again. We have to take this seriously. … I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides. I’m asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment. Move past the horse-race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have sensationalized our politics. And focus on what’s actually at stake. I think, in your hearts, you know what’s at stake.”

Biden ended with this toast: “To a free press, to an informed citizenry, to an America where freedom and democracy endure. God bless America.”