At the 2024 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, comedian and impressionist Matt Friend drew audible gasps with a joke about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s account of killing her dog Cricket. Friend delivered the line in a Donald Trump impression: “I am killing this dinner harder than Kristi Noem kills the puppies.”
What Matt Friend said
Friend’s punch line compared his performance at the dinner to Noem’s killing of puppies. Contemporary reports reproduced it as: “I am killing this dinner harder than Kristi Noem kills the puppies.” The line was Friend’s, delivered in character as Donald Trump—not a remark by Trump himself. Yahoo Entertainment and Forbes both reported the joke.
Why the joke referred to Kristi Noem
The reference was to Noem’s account in her book No Going Back of killing Cricket, her 14-month-old dog. Coverage described Noem as defending the decision publicly, saying difficult decisions involving animals happen on a farm. The joke drew on that recently publicized account; it did not describe a separate event at the dinner. Yahoo Entertainment’s coverage of Noem’s account provides that context.
How the audience reacted
Reports said the puppy line prompted audible gasps. That was one moment in a set that received a mixed, generally tepid response, with coverage also noting groans and some laughter. The reports do not support describing the room as uniformly shocked or uniformly amused. Friend also joked about a man who had set himself on fire outside the courthouse where Trump’s criminal trial was taking place; that line, too, received a mixed response. Yahoo Entertainment and Forbes reported on the set.
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