(CNN) This year's White House correspondents dinner featured a deeply satirical edge and a variety of voices in an evening of provocative political humor.

Comedian Michelle Wolf, best known for her contributions on "The Daily Show," headlined the event, unleashing an unusually biting and raunchy routine. She mocked lawmakers and members of the media, but focused on President Donald Trump, who was not in attendance, and others from the White House in a routine that drew harsh critiques from many in the audience and online.

Trump, who has called the media "the enemy of the American people," held a campaign-style rally in Michigan instead, as he did in Pennsylvania during last year's dinner. Representing him at Saturday night's dinner, which raises money for scholarships, was White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

Sanders, who was seated at the main table just a few feet from Wolf, drew some of the harshest jokes of the evening from the comedian. Those jokes were met mainly with gasps, some chuckles, and sometimes silence.

The dinner, referred to in some circles as "nerd prom," brings together journalists and government officials to celebrate the First Amendment.

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