Mayor Adams trades jokes with city press corps at annual Inner Circle charity show

Freshman New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ traded jabs with the city’s press corp Saturday at Midtown’s Ziegfeld Ballroom for the Inner Circle’s 98th annual charity show following a two-year hiatus thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

The mayor had the opportunity to crack some jokes of his own after the corps poked fun at Adams for, among other topics, his plant-based diet, and hiring his brother Bernard Adams as his head of security.

Several jokes were cracked about one of the mayor’s favorite words since taking office: “swagger.”

Adams took the stage around 11:20 p.m., saying he wanted to keep his time on stage “short and sweet,” and mocked the Inner Circle reporters in the show who were upset he was late and skipped the first and second acts. 

Henry Goldman, a former Bloomberg reporter and 23-year-member of the Inner Circle, called the mayor’s tardiness “really bad form.”

He dubbed the press corps “The Eric Adams fan club,” and called reporters “the city’s greatest people” for bringing the public the news they need to know. 

The mayor also took a jab at the New York Daily News, questioning whether “it still exists.”

Adams participated in a comedy sketch with SNL cast member Chris Redd. The mayor previously said he loved the comedian’s impersonation of the mayor on the late night comedy show.

The two performed a fake a press conference, where they roasted New York Post City Hall reporter Nolan Hicks, the Daily News’ Chris Sommerfeldt and New York Times’ Jeff Mays.

City Hall’s favorite punching bag — ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio — wasn’t exempted from the roasting — with jokes about his infamous tardiness and alleged unwillingness to do his job compared to his successor.