US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama skewered allies and rivals alike last night in his once-a-year stand-up routine, at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

Obama appeared before a ballroom packed with journalists, media types and celebrities for his penultimate correspondents’ dinner, before he finishes up in the White House.

At one point, he unveiled a new alter-ego to tell the press how he really felt about them – Luther*, his ‘Anger Translator’…

Cruz missiles 

With the battle for the 2016 election well under way, would-be successors were the target for a good deal of Obama’s jibes at Washington’s annual “Nerd Prom.”

“Ted Cruz said that denying the existence of climate change made him like Galileo,” Obama said of the conservative senator.

That’s not really an apt comparison. Galileo believed the Earth revolves around the Sun. Ted Cruz believes it revolves around Ted Cruz.

But his digs weren’t just reserved just for political enemies - Hillary Clinton also got a mention…

Times are hard, he said, “I have one friend, just a few weeks ago she was making millions of dollars a year. And she’s now living out of a van in Iowa.”

Making light of his limited time in office Obama joked:

“My advisors ask me, ‘Mr President, do you have a bucket list?’ I said, well, ‘I have something that rhymes with bucket list.’”

Take executive action on immigration? Bucket. New climate regulations? Bucket.

*Comedy fans might recognise ‘Luther’ as Keegan-Michael Key from the Comedy Central double act ‘Key & Peele’.

Includes reporting from AFP.

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