Confirmed: Leno to host White House Correspondents Dinner

An NBC source confirmed to our colleague Lisa de Moraes, and another source close to the discussions confirmed to us, that Leno (“this week’s most unpopular stand-up comic,” as Lisa put it) will do the comic keynote honors at the nationally televised event, which is traditionally attended every year by the president.

It’s a step up in terms of starpower for a dinner that in recent years has been headlined by Wanda Sykes, Craig Ferguson and Rich Little. Leno, of course, is at the white-hot center of late-night controversy, with NBC announcing this week it would oust Conan O’Brien from his 11:30 p.m. spot and return Leno to “The Tonight Show” after its failed experiment running him at 10 p.m.