Barbed humor on the menu at annual Gridiron dinner

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has a ready excuse for anyone who doesn't think he was funny enough at Saturday night's Gridiron dinner in Washington: "My joke writers have been placed on furlough."

Always a target for humorous barbs, the president tossed out a few of his own during the Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner. The annual event features political leaders, journalists and media executives poking fun at each other.

Obama kidded his vice president, Joe Biden, over his ambitions, saying he has had to take Biden aside and tell him that he's way too young to be the pope.

During a pause in his remarks, Obama took a long, slow sip of water and then said, "That, Marco Rubio, is how you take a sip of water."

The dinner was the organization's 128th since its founding in 1885.'