Barack Obama is pictured. Obama at WHCD: 'My stellar 2013'

President Barack Obama took aim at Republicans, the media and himself at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner — opening and closing his comedy routine with the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov.


“I usually start these dinners with a few self-deprecating jokes, but after my stellar 2013, what could I possibly talk about?” the president joked, adding moments later, “At one point, things got so bad the 47 percent called Mitt Romney to apologize.”

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the WHCA and the annual bash was full of D.C.’s notables — and some bold-face-name stars from Hollywood — who streamed into the , also serves as a fundraiser for the WHCA’s scholarships for up-and-coming journalists. New this year was an award honoring Harry McAlpin, the first black reporter to attend a presidential press conference, who had been barred from the organization because of his race. McAlpin died in 1985, but WHCA president Stephen Thomma recognized McAlpin’s son, Sherman, at the gala dinner, in one of the event’s few somber moments.

( PHOTOS: White House correspondents' dinner red carpet)

Taking the stage, Obama deadpanned that while the launch of HealthCare.gov “could’ve gone better,” it was made into one of the year’s biggest movies — before a title screen for the film “Frozen” flashed behind him.

At the end of his 20-minute remarks to the crowd of 2,600 in the Hilton ballroom, Obama even brought out former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to “fix” a technical problem that he was supposedly having with a video the president said he wanted to play for attendees.

“I got this,” Sebelius said. “I see it all the time.” Obama warmly put his arm around her as they were leaving the podium.

Obama didn’t spare Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and some potential 2016 candidates.

( VIDEOS: White House Correspondents' Dinner)

“These days House Republicans are giving him a harder time than they give me, which means orange really is the new black,” Obama joked — observers said later it was his best line of the night.

The president also riffed about Washington gridlock at the expense of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the Bridgegate scandal.

“Gridlock has gotten so bad, you’ve got to wonder, what did we do to piss off Chris Christie so bad,” Obama joked as the New Jersey governor looked on from a table.

Obama praised Olympic gold medal snowboarder Jamie Anderson, who was in the crowd, in a humorous jab at Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for his support of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

“I haven’t seen anybody pull a 180 that fast since Rand Paul disinvited that Nevada rancher from this dinner,” Obama said. “As a general rule, things don’t end well if your sentence starts, ‘Let me tell you something I know about the Negro.’ You don’t really need to hear the rest of it.”

Obama also told the audience he had read a letter recently that was sent to him by a Virginia man “who’s been stuck in the same part-time job for years, has no respect for his boss, no chance to get ahead.”

( Also on POLITICO: Obama's top 10 lines)

“I really wish Eric Cantor would stop writing me. You can just pick up the phone, Eric,” Obama quipped.

Turning to the recent battle over unemployment insurance, Obama said Republicans continue to refuse to extend it.

“I’m beginning to think that they’ve got a point,” the president said. “If you want to get paid while not working, you should have to run for Congress just like everybody else.”

Obama hit the GOP for repeatedly trying and failing to repeal Obamacare, saying it reached its 8 million enrollment goal.

“How well does Obamacare have to work before you don’t want to repeal it?” Obama asked. “What if everybody’s cholesterol drops to 120? What if your yearly check-up came with tickets to a Clippers game? Not the old, Donald Sterling Clippers — the new, Oprah Clippers. Would that be good enough? What if it gave Mitch McConnell a pulse? What is it going to take?”

Obama also turned to the media, including CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — a frequent target of the night’s jokes — noting that he had just returned from a trip to Malaysia. “The lengths we have to go to to get CNN coverage these days,” Obama said, adding, “I think they’re still searching for their table” at in the Hilton ballroom.

“MSNBC is here. They’re a little overwhelmed. They’ve never seen an audience this big before,” the president said.

Not leaving out Fox News, Obama addressed the criticism from the right he received for promoting Obamacare on “Between Two Ferns.”

“I’m not the first person on television between two potted plants,” Obama joked while a photo of “Fox and Friends” host Elisabeth Hasselbeck sitting between her co-hosts, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, was displayed on screen.

Later, the president took another jab at Fox, suggesting Hillary Clinton would be succeeding him in the White House.

“Let’s face it Fox, you’ll miss me when I’m gone. It’ll be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya,” Obama joked.

“Sometimes I do feel disrespected by you reporters,” Obama said, but added he got some tips from Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. “Jake Tapper, don’t you ever talk about me like that! I’m the best president in the game!”

Before Obama spoke, a video was played starring HBO “Veep” star Julie Louis-Dreyfus with Vice President Joe Biden sneaking into the Oval Office and White House kitchen to eat ice cream, eventually getting “busted” by the first lady. Biden then drove Dreyfuss around in a yellow sports car, and the pair broke into the Washington Post and Amazon offices before finally stumbling upon House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) getting a “tattoo” at a local D.C. ink parlor.

McHale followed Obama and mocked both the city and its politicians — sometimes landing clean shots, other times drawing groans from the crowd.

“It’s a thrill to be in Washington, D.C., the city that started the whole crack-smoking mayor craze,” McHale joked.

Like Obama, McHale also took a few shots at Christie, saying, “I promise tonight will be amusing and over quickly, just like Chris Christie’s presidential bid.”

McHale joked about one plus side if Hillary Clinton were elected. “As our female president, we could pay her 30 percent less,” he said, noting it would be a savings to taxpayers. “Who’s with me?”

To honor the centennial milestone of the WHCA, the History Channel partnered with the media organization to produce a video chronicling the group’s inception in 1914 and its growth over the past 100 years. The video, which was screened at the dinner, featured interviews with including Obama and former President Bill Clinton, former White House press secretaries Mike McCurry and Dana Perino, and past celebrity hosts.

This year’s dinner was seen as more muted than those of years past, with only a handful of entertainment’s elite descending upon the District. Those included Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen.

Also making the rounds were Patrick Stewart, Sofia Vergara, Matthew Morrison and Katharine McPhee. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was there with his wife, as well as “Duck Dynasty” stars Willie and Korie Robertson. Others on hand were the cast of HBO’s “Veep”: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Gary Cole, Tony Hale, Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Kevin Dunn and Sufe Bradshaw.

After the dinner, journalists, politicians and celebrities fled to a variety of afterparties, including the exclusive Vanity Fair and Bloomberg cocktail reception at the residence of the Italian ambassador, and Buzzfeed’s Bowties & Burgers at the Jack Rose Dining Saloon in the nearby Adams Morgan neighborhood. Spotted dancing at the MSNBC afterparty at The National Building Museum were actor John Leguizamo and Casey Affleck, as well as NSYNC singer JC Chasez.

Elizabeth Meyer contributed to this report.