Obama gets last laugh at Washington's annual correspondents' dinner

Joel McHale roasts President Obama

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama slipped into the role of comedian-in-chief Saturday night and took jabs at journalists, lawmakers, celebrities and -- most pointedly -- his own administration's botched rollout of HealthCare.gov.

Remarks that would have otherwise put him in hot water drew applause at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner from an audience comprising some of the most famous faces in politics, entertainment and sports. The dinner is known in Washington circles as "nerd prom."

"Of course, we rolled out HealthCare.gov," Obama said of his tough year in 2013. "That could have gone better."

"In 2008, my slogan was 'Yes we can.' In 2013, my slogan was control-alt-delete," Obama said.

A poster for Walt Disney's animated hit "Frozen" flashed onto the large video screens in the ballroom, to which the president quipped that the launch of the online enrollment portal of Obamacare had been turned into one of the year's biggest movies.

After tickling funny bones with 20 minutes worth of jokes, Obama returned to the troubled rollout.

The president said he'd prepared a separate, short video thanking the White House Correspondents' Association for all their hard work as the organization celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2014.

When the video choked and froze, Obama called out for help. "Does anybody know how to fix this?"

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was bitterly criticized over the HealthCare.gov botch, rushed up to join Obama onstage.

"I got this. I see it all the time," Sebelius said, as she appeared to set a small laptop down on the podium. Sebelius punched in a few keystrokes in dramatic fashion, and Obama's video began to play as originally intended.

Comedian and actor Joel McHale, who spoke after Obama as the evening's entertainment, also targeted the once-troubled Obamacare site.