The White House Correspondents' Association is switching things up in the wake of Michelle Wolf's controversial barbs at last year's annual dinner.
The WHCA announced Monday that the featured speaker at the 2019 White House Correspondents' Dinner will be author and presidential biographer Ron Chernow, marking the first time since 1999 that a comedian won't be serving as the night's entertainment.
Chernow _ who has penned books on everyone from Ulysses S. Grant to John D. Rockefeller _ said he was "happy to oblige" the WHCA's request to "make the case for the First Amendment."'
"Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics," he said in a statement. "While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won't be dry."
The switch from comic to a less controversial figure is no shock, especially considering WHCA president Olivier Knox said in April that he likely would not be inviting an entertainer or comic to speak this year.
Wolf caused a stir last year when she roasted Sarah Huckabee Sanders by joking that the White House press secretary burns facts, then uses the ash to create a "perfect smoky eye."
The former "Daily Show" contributor was lambasted for the joke by President Donald Trump _ who has not attended the event the past two years _ and the association itself, which issued a statement distancing itself from Wolf.
For her part, Wolf chimed in Monday in response to Chernow getting the gig, and slammed the WHCA as "cowards."
"The media is complicit. And I couldn't be prouder," she wrote on Twitter.
The last time the White House Correspondents' Dinner booked someone other than a comedian was 1999, when Aretha Franklin took the stage.
Since then, hosts have included comedians such as Stephen Colbert, Jay Leno, Wanda Sykes and Seth Meyers.
