Correspondents’ dinner host to play it nice

Cecily Strong says she’ll play it nice when she headlines the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.

“I don’t want to be too mean where it really hurts somebody,” the “Saturday Night Live” comedienne tells Capitol File magazine for its latest issue.

{mosads}Strong, who was announced as the April 25 fête’s headliner back in November, says she’s setting her own limits for what’s fair game to poke fun at: “I’d rather do things we can all laugh [about]. I’d like to be able to make fun of myself as much as anyone else. I don’t want to make fun of the way someone looks — things like that.”

Strong adds, “Children are off-limits. There are definitely people in that room whom I respect and admire a lot.”

That approach for the black tie, celeb-filled event is different than some of Strong’s predecessors. Last year’s host, Joel McHale, told ITK ahead of the 2014 gala that virtually everything was fair game.

“Things that aren’t funny are off-limits,” McHale said. “My goal is to write funny jokes and to make funny jokes.”

Strong says she’s going against the advice of some of her colleagues by agreeing to emcee Washington’s annual “it” event: “A lot of people say no because it’s notoriously a very tough room. I was encouraged by a lot of people to say no. Comedian people. They’re like, ‘It’s the worst room, you even have to go after the funniest president.’ I’m just looking to break even.”

While Strong says she’s most excited about meeting the Obamas, making wisecracks for (and about) the commander in chief will be nothing new to her.

The Chicago native tells the mag, “I did a video in Chicago years ago to be shown at Camp David. I remember [talking] about President Obama’s mom jeans. It was like all my gay friends and me doing all these jokes for Obama. So I have met him a couple of times. I want to see if he remembers me.”