First Lady puts the joke on Bush

"Not that old joke again," Mrs Bush chided her husband

US First Lady Laura Bush has upstaged her husband at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner with a string of jokes at his expense.

Presidents normally deliver a humorous speech at the dinner but as soon as George W Bush set off on an old joke, his wife stood up to interrupt him.

Mrs Bush bemoaned his early bedtimes, saying she was often left watching TV show Desperate Housewives.

She said: "If you want to end tyranny, you're going to have to stay up later."

Ranching skills

President Bush had begun a joke at the 91st correspondents dinner in Washington when his wife quickly rose to say: "Not that old joke - not again.

"I've been attending these dinners for years and just quietly sitting there. Well, I've got a few things I want to say for a change," she said to great applause.

People think [Barbara Bush] is a sweet, grandmotherly... type - she's actually more like Don Corleone Laura Bush

She went on to tell the audience of journalists, politicians and celebrities: "Nine o'clock and Mr Excitement here is in bed and I am watching Desperate Housewives - with [vice-president's wife] Lynne Cheney. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife."

Mrs Bush poked fun at her husband's riotous youth, saying: "I was a librarian that spent 12 hours a day in the library. Yet somehow I met George."

The First Lady said her husband's ranching skills had come on since he bought their plot in Crawford, Texas.

"He's learned a lot about ranching since that first year, when he tried to milk the horse. What's worse, it was a male horse," she said.

Mrs Bush also joked about her mother-in-law, Barbara Bush: "People think she's a sweet, grandmotherly... type. She's actually more like [Mafia character] Don Corleone."

The White House Correspondents' Association was founded in 1914 and since Calvin Coolidge its dinner has traditionally been attended by presidents.

Among the celebrities at the 91st dinner were Richard Gere, Venus and Serena Williams, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda and rap star LL Cool J.