With the exception of Stephen Colbert's brilliant carpet-bombing of the Bush administration and the Washington press corps at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association dinner, the annual ritual of media-politico suck ups and self-congratulation is rarely funny to anyone outside the Beltway.

Last Saturday night, President Barack Obama and comedian Wanda Sykes changed the rules of the game. Mr. Obama defied the conventional wisdom that he's more earnest than funny by turning in an urbane and hilarious performance that Washington will be chattering about for a long time.

This isn't to say Wanda Sykes wasn't funny. She was, but her monologue -- saucier and more partisan than the president's -- suffered in comparison to Mr. Obama's more cerebral shtick. This isn't surprising. Barack Obama is quickly becoming the first American president in history to make it an occupational hazard for a professional comedian to follow.

Still, Ms. Sykes' good-natured jab at the president's hoop skills bordered on inspired. After observing that the "first black president" playing pickup basketball at the White House was "one step forward, two steps back," Ms. Sykes wondered aloud whether Mr. Obama was really "any good."

"I betcha think your game is really nice right now, don't you?" Ms. Sykes said as the president laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, you really do got good moves, huh? I mean, c'mon! Nobody's gonna give the president a hard foul with the Secret Service standing there. He's probably braggin' and everything: 'You shoulda seen me today, baby, I was ballin'."

Alas, Rush Limbaugh didn't find himself on the receiving end of such gentle ribbing. After accusing him of treachery for saying he hoped Mr. Obama -- and America -- failed, she added: "He's not saying anything differently than [what] Osama bin Laden is saying. You know you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on OxyContin, he missed his flight."

The audience reacted to the tasteless reference with a mix of groans and laughter. Ms. Sykes glanced at Mr. Obama, who wasn't exactly waving a finger of disapproval at her. "Too much?" Ms. Sykes asked the crowd. "You're laughing inside, I know you're laughing," she said before splashing more fuel on the fire. "Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail. How about that?"

She then finished with a comment that transposed Mr. Limbaugh with Fox's Sean "I'll Let You Waterboard Me For Charity" Hannity: "He needs a waterboarding, that what he needs."

It didn't take long for the false sanctimony of the Washington press corps to roll down like water on Wanda Sykes. Besides wishing renal failure on Rush Limbaugh, Ms. Sykes had the temerity to reach into truly dangerous places with her humor -- which is positively un-American.

Nearly two days after the laughter faded, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a subject "better left for serious reflection than comedy."

It was inevitable that the Obama White House would distance itself from yet another supporter frowned upon by D.C.'s morally complacent cafe society. Once Wanda Sykes was denounced on "Morning Joe," it was over.

Isn't it interesting that everyone who insults Rush Limbaugh -- with the exception of Keith Olbermann -- ends up either apologizing or on the defensive? If only people who engaged in justifying the torture of detainees could expect to be similarly shamed.

The irony is that Wanda Sykes at her most extreme never approached the vitriol you'd find in a typical three-hour block of Rush Limbaugh's show.

Mr. Limbaugh makes $38 million a year. He has an eight-year, $400 million contract with Clear Channel, a failing radio network that has cut 1,850 employees from its rolls since January, according to Media Matters for America. He's not sweating Wanda Sykes' joke about failing kidneys, OxyContin or being a terrorist.

I hope the White House will stick by Mr. Obama's quip that Rep. John Boehner's complexion doesn't correspond to anything in the natural world. Now that was some major presidential wrongness.