'I was brought in to unite': Mentalist Oz Pearlman to host White House Correspondents' Dinner
"I was brought in to unite ... in a sense of wonder and amazement," he said.
Oz Pearlman, better known by many as Oz the Mentalist, has stunned some of the world's richest and most powerful people with his ability to seemingly read their minds and conjure up information even their closest friends wouldn't have access to.
But Pearlman will be the first to tell you he's not actually reading anyone's mind. He's just reading people.
As this year's host of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Pearlman is facing perhaps his toughest match yet: the sitting president of the United States, Donald Trump.
"This will be a career-defining moment," Pearlman told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "I think it's going to be the ultimate challenge, and it's also the most authentic, genuine reaction, because when I do things, the easiest solution is always, 'Well, they're in on it, right?'"
"President Trump, you know, everyone knows is not going to be in on anything," Pearlman said.
Pearlman is also excited by the makeup of the rest of the crowd: "I think it's an incredible opportunity, just in terms of being in a room full of skeptical journalists. That is my bread and butter, to amaze people that like getting to the bottom of things."
Pearlman sat down with Karl just days ahead of his gig hosting the biggest Washington press event of the year, scheduled for Saturday, April 25. The D.C. tradition goes back more than a century and is a chance for journalists to come together with some of the nation's biggest power players.
"The fact that we're there to celebrate the First Amendment, the freedom of the press, the fact that this country has a freedom of the press" is notable, Pearlman told Karl. "No matter what you do or don't think, I would take this country as the greatest country in the world over any other country."
Trump has attended the annual dinner before as a private citizen but has yet to do so while in office. His most notable appearance came in 2011, when he was on the receiving end of several jokes made by then-President Barack Obama and that year's host, comedian Seth Meyers.
Pearlman thinks he may have played a small part in Trump choosing to attend for the first time as president.
"[People] said to me, 'It's unprecedented. President Trump has never attended one of these while in office, so he probably won't.' And I, at that first call, said, 'He absolutely will.' And they go, 'How do you know that?' And I go, 'You know what I do for a living, right?'"
Although Pearlman has performed for former presidents, using his ability to wow the likes of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, this will be his first time trying to get into the mind of the current commander-in-chief.
And while the event is usually hosted by a comedian, Pearlman believes that he was brought in this year to bring people together, help turn down the temperature, and not showcase his own politics.
"My job is not to come in and roast. I don't think that's what I was brought in for. I think I was brought in to unite, unite in a sense of wonder and amazement," Pearlman said. "I do things that blow you away, that you get to laugh, wow, gasp, and feel like you're a kid again."