“Psychotic & Lax”: Kennedy & Jimmy Failla Recap the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Psychotic & Lax": Kennedy & Jimmy Failla Recap the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Podcast: Kennedy Saves the World
Host: Kennedy
Guest: Jimmy Failla
Date: April 27, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Kennedy and comedian Jimmy Failla recount their experiences at the chaotic 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which became the scene of an attempted assassination. Their conversation candidly covers lapses in security, surreal moments during and after the incident, and reflections on President Trump’s relationship with the press and the surreal cultural vibe surrounding the event. Both bring humor and sharp commentary to serious security concerns, highlighting the bizarre and unsettling nature of the week's events.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Firsthand Accounts of the Incident (00:10–02:07)

• On-Site Perspectives:
  • Jimmy describes being moments away from the shooter, joking about just wanting a bread roll, and ending up "trampled to the ground by the Secret Service."
• Notable Moment:
  • Jimmy: “If you guys watch the long surveillance video, probably either the last or second to last person to go through the mags before the shooter.” (00:37)
  • Found himself comforting distraught Guatemalan waitresses: “Holding three tiny Guatemalan waitresses in my arms who were very upset. It was really sweet and it was how I pictured the night ending, just not because of an assassination attempt.” (01:22)
  • Kennedy: “Small Guatemalan women in tears.” (01:41)
  • Jimmy: “A thousand percent. What are we talking about here? But it was, listen, it was psychotic.” (01:47)

2. Consistent Lax Security and Alarming Access (02:07–05:25)

• Both Kennedy and Jimmy detail how easy it was to access the hotel and event, noting broken or ignored security protocols:

  • Kennedy: “In the elevator, there’s the scanner... Nope, just pushed the floor. Went right up.” (02:41)
  • Jimmy: “Anyone who walked in that hotel could go up to a floor, any floor.” (02:59)
  • Kennedy: “They were just waving people in. They didn’t ask me for id. They didn’t ask me for a press pass... I could have had, you know, C4.” (03:43)

• Comparison with Previous Years:

  • Kennedy notes markedly less security compared to Obama, Clinton, and Biden's years: "So I assumed because security is so much tighter around this president that it would be very difficult to move freely around the hotel. I was completely wrong. And I was like, oh, this is weird.” (05:25)

3. Aftermath: Surreal and Still Lax (06:00–08:20)

• Despite the shooting, hotel security remained slack:
  • Jimmy: “…there were people whose luggage was just sitting in the hotel... hours removed from a shooting and there's just random luggage in the hall.” (06:06)
  • Kennedy, recounting the bar scene: “It was the only thing that, you know, kind of calmed people down for a little bit, because there was no food, no answers. We didn't really know what was going on. And I looked around... there's no security in this lobby.” (06:49–07:16)
  • Jimmy: "The only good security the whole week was Fox Security. Our advance team was on the ground... [after the shooting] they're like, you actually shouldn't hang out in the lobby." (07:37)

4. Reflections on Press, Access, and Trump (10:18–12:16)

• Trump’s Approachability:
  • Jimmy on meeting Trump: "It was like two people who genuinely love comedy got left alone for a few minutes, and there was no power dynamic other than funny, funny, funny..." (10:20)
  • Trump joked about Jimmy's wife: "He's like, your wife's naturally beautiful. He's like, not like Kim Kardashian." (10:39)
• The Press’s Contradictions:
  • Kennedy: "A lot of people who manufacture this outrage are people like... the press is in danger because of this president... every liberal journalist has his personal cell phone number and calls him all the time and he picks up and engages with them." (11:03)
  • Jimmy: "He plays some loose ball in his own right with journalists, but the ones calling him the worst names are the ones who have the most access. And that's what's so psychotic about this." (11:35)

5. Bigger Picture: Societal and Political Anxiety (08:23, 12:04–13:47)

• Sense of Real Danger:
  • Jimmy: “I just feel like there's an indifference to this guy [Trump]. And I don't think the people who feel that indifference understand the consequences for themselves… his assassination… might change the access of the Earth's rotation in terms of the level of human unrest it would cause.” (08:23–08:37)
• Media Rhetoric:
  • Kennedy and Jimmy critique the extremes of both sides in reacting to the event and Trump, calling the climate "psychotic."
  • Kennedy: “He has granted more press access, access to a free press who had every opportunity to push back against every other president than him and didn’t take that opportunity.” (11:50)
• On the Shooter’s Motivation:
  • Kennedy: "The alleged shooter said in his manifesto, 'I don’t care if I take out everyone in the room, they're complicit.'” (13:02)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jimmy: “If you guys watch the long surveillance video, probably either the last or second to last person to go through the mags before the shooter. Wow.” (00:37)
• Kennedy: “I could have had, you know, C4... God knows what I could have had up that dress. And maybe I did.” (04:00)
• Jimmy: “It was psychotic because... noticeably lax compared to other years.” (04:18)
• Kennedy: “So I assumed because security is so much tighter around this president that it would be very difficult to move freely around the hotel. I was completely wrong.” (05:25)
• Jimmy: “The only good security the whole week was Fox Security.” (07:37)
• Jimmy: “I just feel like there's an indifference to this guy. And I don't think people understand the consequences for themselves.” (08:37)
• Kennedy: “A lot of the people who manufacture this outrage... every liberal journalist has his personal cell phone number and calls him all the time and he picks up and engages with them.” (11:03)
• Jimmy: “He plays some loose ball in his own right with journalists, but the ones calling him the worst names are the ones who have the most access. And that's what's so psychotic about this.” (11:35)

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:10–01:45: Jimmy details his brush with the chaos at the dinner
• 02:07–05:25: Both recount insufficient security at the hotel and event
• 06:00–07:37: Observations about ongoing lapses after the shooting, surreal bar scene
• 08:23–09:51: Jimmy comments on societal stakes and political consequences of security failures
• 10:18–12:16: Discussion on Trump’s relationship with press & the irony of media narratives
• 13:02–13:47: Reflection on the shooter’s motivations and calls for more reason in discourse

---

Tone and Style

The conversation is fast-paced, irreverent, and laced with witty asides and gallows humor, yet it doesn't shy away from highlighting the seriousness of security failures and societal polarization. Both hosts maintain a balance between critique and levity, with Kennedy’s dry, incisive style playing off Jimmy’s comedic storytelling.

---

Conclusion

Kennedy and Jimmy’s recap of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is equal parts gonzo journalism and pointed social commentary. They paint a portrait of a surreal, sometimes dangerously lax atmosphere, even as global and national tensions run high. Their firsthand accounts and humorous banter underscore the gravity of the event while skewering both official complacency and media contradictions. The episode serves as a wry, insightful lens on contemporary politics, media culture, and the unpredictable state of American public life.

Transcript

[A]

Hello and welcome to this episode of Kennedy Saves the World. Jimmy Fala is here. We were both in the room in Washington D.C. at the Correspondents Dinner. Jim, tell me your side of the story, man. What happened?

[B]

Can I just give you real talk? This is real talk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. We were shooting on the red carpet. You did a phenomenal job. We both went into the dinner. Okay. I had wrapped up the red carpet portion of my show and had like a 10 minute window to go into that dinner. And I really just wanted to go to get a role because I knew I was going to be live for the next nine hours. So I was. If you guys watch the long surveillance video, probably either the last or second to last person to go through the mags before the shooter. Wow. Because everybody was in the room by then.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And mags are really there for people entering the room. If you're leaving the room to go to the bathroom, you don't have to go back through the mags, you're just there. So I went through those mags, made a bunch of jokes to the people about how I was just going to get a roll. I'm the only TV host who actually eats. If anybody was cranky, it's because they're all starving. These people are miserable. Nobody eats. I just want to roll. So I go to get a roll and wound up getting trampled to the ground by the Secret Service. I initially thought it was Fox wardrobe being like with the carbs already, you know, that whole thing. But I watched this whole chaos unfold like you did and was like, good God, what's going on here? And I wound up getting behind a pillar, calling Jenny really quickly and then holding three tiny Guatemalan waitresses in my arms who were very upset. It was really sweet and it was how I pictured the night ending, just not because of an assassination attempt. So it was like I was halfway there.

[A]

Small Guatemalan women in tears.

[B]

It was sad. It was sad, but it was real.

[A]

That was on your bingo card. It's a different context.

[B]

A thousand percent. What are we talking about here? But it was, listen, it was psychotic. But I think we would both agree having been to this dinner a bunch and stayed in this hotel a bunch. The old adage is defense wins championships. They were not playing championship ball. Like not even kinda, not even a little.

[A]

So we got our room. We were supposed to stay at a different hotel. There was rain in the forecast that was supposed to start right when I would have walked over. I was in a full length gown, a hand painted fascinator Hat and in hair and makeup. And I told my beloved, like, I really don't want to walk in the rain and fight with protesters.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

So we got a room at the Hilton at like 3 on Saturday. It was easy. Walked right in. There were rooms available. They didn't question anything. Like, here's your keys. So in the elevator, there's the scanner that. Where you're supposed to tap your hotel key, your key card, and then push your floor. Nope, Just pushed the floor. Went right up. And he kept going. Well, this is weird. He's like, normally you have to scan these in order to get access.

[B]

I was in that same hotel since Wednesday. I did not have to use my key card once.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Anyone who walked in that hotel could go up to a floor, any floor,

[A]

or down to any floor, because the gym is on the lower level.

[B]

Where the ballroom is, is the concourse. Yes. So understand, guys, everybody listening around the country, you've got the President, United States coming into this hotel for an event. And it's not just any president, it's a president at a time of multiple global conflicts. We've already had assassination attempts. And not only is there not defense being played on the floors, one of which is where this, you know, attacker was staying. But the reality is, even at the dinner itself, when Donald Trump comes to a Yankee game on September 11, you go through metal detectors before you get into Yankee Stadium. In this instance, because of the dinner, you could come into the lobby of the hotel, you could come into the red carpet area of the hotel with nothing more than either your media credential or your room gate.

[A]

So I was, I was waiting in line to go down the red carpet before I saw you. And there were people coming in from outside and people coming in from the hotel, and there was a crush of people from two directions. And they were just waving people in.

[B]

Of course they were.

[A]

They didn't ask me for id. They didn't ask me for a press pass, anything identifying which organization I claim to be from. And it's like I was wearing a billowy gown. I. I could have had, you know, C4. It was M4. Like, God knows what I could have had up that dress. And maybe I did.

[B]

Hey, it was in that regard, psychotic because.

[A]

But noticeably lax compared to other years.

[B]

Everyone felt the same way. And it's. And it's not because this happened that we go. Come to think of it, it's actually just because the whole vibe was that way all week. Okay. I guess there was a Secret Service presence. Yes. There were cops but we checked in Wednesday night, me, Vic, and Max, and we didn't get there till like, you know, probably after 11. And we walked into that lobby where the President was about to be. And usually the advance team has everything secure. We walk in the lobby 11:30 at night because we had so much GE with us. I'm not kidding. I had a garment bag around my neck like it was a cape. I had two other bags, a box of shoes, and I was pinning a tie in a tie bag to my chest with my chin. I walked into that lobby and no one even looked at me. They just didn't care. And it's again, the overnight bellhop's job is not to secure the presidential perimeter. But the point is, it was a known fact that the President was coming and people were obviously checking in at a time of lack security and making, you know, other plans.

[A]

So we've been there for President Obama, President Biden. I was there when Clinton was president at the dinner, and this is the first time Trump's there. So I assumed because I had been there in the non Trump years where, you know, there was no president. And I've been there. Obama, Clinton, Biden. And there was always a lot more security with the president. So I assumed because security is so much tighter around this president that it would be very difficult to move freely around the hotel. I was completely wrong. And I was like, oh, this is weird.

[B]

It was nuts, dude. There were literally. I'm not. I'm not even making this up. Okay. Saturday night on my floor, okay, When I was going back down to find you in the bar, this is after the shooting, there were people whose luggage was just sitting in the hotel. I don't know if it was because someone was coming to pick it up. They were shipping it. Whatever the case, it could very well have been a concierge thing. But the fact that we were now hours removed from a shooting and there's just random luggage in the hall.

[A]

Okay, so this is. This is what I noticed when we were at the bar. And yes, I did take three bottles of champagne.

[B]

Damn right you did.

[A]

And I do that every single year because all of that champagne has been paid for.

[B]

Yeah, no, throw it out. Take it. Yeah, exactly.

[A]

So I'm. I'm sitting there in the bar. You know, it's like doling out champagne to different news organizations. People I know, people I don't know, people from Fox coming up. I was with people from Daily Mail. And, you know, it. It was the only thing that, you know, kind of calmed people down. For a little bit, because there was no food, no answers. We didn't really know what was going on. And I looked around, and I said to my editor from Daily Mail, like, do you notice there's no security in this lobby?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was like, we know that there was one shooter. We don't know if this.

[B]

That's what I said. I'm like, if he's staying in the hotel, we just assume that we got the first guy now. Party on. Yeah, well, we got him. We got a guy who's been back to the hotel.

[A]

They closed the bars, they closed the restaurant, but they let you hang out. Everyone else was just hanging out, drinking the champagne they grabbed from the tables.

[B]

Can I say this? And it's worth saying, the only good security the whole week was Fox Security. Our advance team was on the ground, like, five days, maybe a week in advance. And after the shooting, when people were hanging out in the lobby, they're like, you actually shouldn't hang out in the lobby. They're like, because if, in fact, this guy is a hotel guest, there could be seconds and thirds and fourths. So don't be in the lobby. Like, we're telling you to get out of the lobby. And I was like, thank you. Nobody else was doing that. People just assumed the perimeter had been secured. And I would venture to say most of the people partying in the lobby just didn't know. Know that the guy was a hotel guest.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if another nut bag wants to come running back down, and now we have a third of the Secret Service. It doesn't end good.

[A]

Don't go anywhere more. Kennedy Saves the World right after this.

[B]

I felt this way after Butler, and I sort of felt this way after they got, you know, that attempted shooter at the golf course. I'm not like a conspiratorial guy who's like, they're trying to get him. I just feel like there's an indifference to this guy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I don't think the people who feel that indifference understand the consequences for themselves. You know, with all the things Trump has been subjected to and all the things that are hanging in the balance on the world stage right now, his assassination, like, might change the access of the Earth's rotation in terms of the level of human unrest it would cause. And that's why watching this on the grand scale that we're watching on is, like. It's kind of horrifying. And then there's this other, like, Jim Morrison thing I always talk about, you know, how he says, you know, I Woke up this morning I got myself a beer the future's uncertain the end is always near I just feel like we're living in roadhouse blues and I'm not high. Okay. I'm not. I look. You know, I look like I. You know, we'll talk, but it's crazy. That's where we are. What a gonzo moment. But that's why I do believe I've heard it mentioned multiple times. He's, like, dead serious. He wants this to go on. It's kind of like the return the Butler, because he doesn't want America to take a loss.

[A]

They'll do it at the Hilton.

[B]

100%. I'd be willing to bet. I would bet money that I think they will, because I think he looks at it as if we move, then we kind of conceded defeat on that point. I just think it'll be the Hilton, But I think there's going to be a greater effort by their team to secure it. I guess that's my guess.

[A]

Do you think they'll have the first lady, the vice President, and as many cabinet members as they have?

[B]

Yes, I think they will. I just think what we're going to lose in the process is I don't think it's going to be White House correspondence week, meaning all those parties we got to go to, which were fun. They were great. There was a vibe. I mean, how good was the red carpet vibe, by the way? Like, we had Brian Stelter on. Like, we literally were trying. And that's what I felt the worst for, is not myself. I had such an amazing week. I was hanging out in the Oval Office. It was sick.

[A]

How was your visit with Trump?

[B]

It was amazing. It was, you know, the best way I can explain it to people. It was like two people who genuinely love comedy got left alone for a few minutes, and there was no power dynamic other than funny, funny, funny, funny, funny, funny. We just talked about funny stuff. We talked about Jackie Mason. We talked about the state of Late Night. We talked about running NBC. He knew. He knew Lincoln by name. He talked about Jenny. He had a funny joke about Jenny. He's like, your wife's naturally beautiful. He's like, not like Kim Kardashian. Ugh. He said, he's like the other beautiful. He's like the other beautiful. And I was like, oh, that's just so funny. And it was great. And it was. It was. The whole thing was, like, so surreal. But, like, there's no escaping the fact because you were on the five with him. There's A real person in there. And if the people like doing the Hitler thing and the. Everything else could just be like, no, what if it's just like a dude?

[A]

Okay. But here's, here's what drives me crazy is a lot of the people who manufacture this outrage are people like, you know, the press is in danger because of this president. He thinks he's a king. And it's like every liberal journalist has his personal cell phone number and calls him all the time and he picks up and engages with them.

[B]

I have literally said this before when they talk about, you know, him being the most transparent.

[A]

There will never be a president who gives out their cell phone like that ever again, I guarantee you. Because it's gotta be exhausting.

[B]

Yeah. Also, and there probably shouldn't be because it's gott a security risk, but I mean, he's doing it anyway, so that's the point. He plays some loose ball in his own right with journalists, but the ones calling him the worst names are the ones who have the most access. And that's what's so psychotic about this.

[A]

Yeah, it is psychotic because it's like he has granted more press access, access to a free press who had every opportunity to push back against every other president than him and didn't take that opportunity.

[B]

And then when this happens, they're like, you know, Hitler needs to tone down the rhetoric.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I wish him and his white suprem supremacist followers would just level out for a minute.

[A]

Yeah. Thank God for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[B]

So great. But I think he'll be back. I. I genuinely do.

[A]

Are you going?

[B]

Assuming they want us there. I'll be all over that. Are you kidding me? I should be opening the show. They need, like, somebody to, like, take the edge off and do some, like, bipartisan ridiculousness. I don't know that O's wants to do this again, but I bet he will. He was a good sport.

[A]

There was some very funny jokes about. Really? The Mentalist couldn't have predicted this.

[B]

No, that was funny. He did predict it on Special Report the day before, though. He was like, I'm. We was on with. I was on Special Report with him on Friday. And, you know, he didn't say it specifically. He just said, you know, I have a feeling something's going to happen at this dinner tomorrow that'll be talked about for centuries. He wasn't talking about that, but he was, you know, and then for some reason, he placed a huge bet on Poly Market. I don't know. I'm kidding Stop it.

[A]

Well, thank God none of that went down. You know, it didn't. We were very close to having that be a horrific situation because the alleged shooter said in his manifesto, I don't care if I take out everyone in the room, they're complicit.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And that's. That's the reality of the deranged, angry, agitated, activated people who hate the President so much, they feel justified in this.

[B]

Amen. And when Kennedy and I have become the voice of reason, we're screwed. Yeah, we look like we get paid in tide pods and tequila, and that's partly because we do better agents, but mostly because it's a vibe. And I think this is one day where everyone needs to adopt our vibe.

[A]

Yeah, they absolutely should. It'll be better for. For you. It'll be better for all of us. And that concludes this podcast. This has been Kennedy Saves the World along with Jimmy Faila. I'm Kennedy. Listen ad free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Prime. Members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon music app. Oh, go ahead and leave me a review while you're there. I'd love to hear what you have to say. You've been listening to Kennedy Saves the World on the Fox News podcast Network.