Jimmy Kimmel is stepping into a hot seat with his newest gig as the featured comedian at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. The Jimmy Kimmel Live host will be the entertainment at the April 28, 2012 event, which the U.S. president traditionally attends.

The correspondents' dinner is renowned for trotting out pointed political humour, with Stephen Colbert, John Stewart and Seth Meyers having made memorable appearances. Kimmel is better known for spoofing celebrities, his permanent date with contestants from Dancing With the Stars and for his sketches, such as the Handsome Men's Club spot above. In 2010, he was chosen to roast Hugh Hefner, a suitable outlet for his often sexually tinged jokes.

"Jimmy's humour is sophisticated and edgy while appealing to a wide audience," Reuters journalist Caren Bohan, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said after announcing Kimmel's hosting duties.

By April 2012, Barack Obama will be well into election mode, with the presidential election set for next November. Obama, whose second term is in doubt, is bound to be fodder for humour. But the president gives as good as he gets, with reports that he got writers from The Daily Show to pen his speeches. Last year, Obama hit Donald Trump with a string of zingers, including showing a mock "birth video" reputing to prove that he was born in the U.S.

So Kimmel will be expected to put a sharp point on his jokes for the star-studded evening, without the benefit of having Sarah Palin as a presidential hopeful to mock. The evening marks a brief hiatus in the antagonism between the correspondents and the politicians they cover, before the gloves come off in the race to the presidency.