Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Obama The White House Correspondents' Association dinner

President Barack Obama has turned his hand to comedy as he poked fun at himself and his adversaries at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

"I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be," he joked.

He suggested Republicans seeking to reach out to minorities could start with him.

There were shrieks of laughter from the star-studded audience as he delivered his lines.

But Mr Obama also took a more serious tone as he paid tribute to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing and the explosion at the West, Texas fertiliser plant.

He heaped praise not only on the emergency services but the journalists who covered the stories.

Mr Obama came on stage to the sound of the rap track All I Do Is Win by DJ Khaled, quipping that conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh "warned you about this".

The president tickled his audience - who included actors Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Claire Danes and South Korean singer Psy - with the following lines: