Sid & Friends In The Morning Ends Another Week With a Bang!

The movers and shakers of New York City gather for the annual Al Smith dinner.

It is a fundraiser for the Catholic Church, but it's also a political roast.

Dick Brennan is just back from the Waldorf to tell us all about it.

Dick?

All right, Christine.

It had to be a difficult night hosting this event for Archbishop Ronald Hicks, whose father just died last night, and there were prayers for Pope Leo suffering from cancer.

But the Al Smith dinner, a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser, always becomes a joke fest, and in some cases, the zingers come from people you least expect.

The Waldorf Astoria Ballroom was packed for the 2026 Al Smith dinner, with Mayor Mamdani alongside Governor Hochul, and a first for the new Archbishop of New York, Ronald Hicks.

Sometimes to project confidence, we'll say things like, "Well, you know, this isn't my first rodeo." And, uh ...

But friends, this is my first rodeo.

[laughs]

Not the first rodeo for the keynote speaker of the evening, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Thanks for inviting this now-retired, unemployed pensioner on Social Security and a fixed income as your speaker this evening.

I used to be in Who's Who, now I'm who's he?

The dinner, a fundraiser for Catholic Charities, attracting the rich and powerful of New York.

We have a pretty diverse dais.

Uh, we have with us the 1%, the 0.01%, and the 0.001%.

Sadly, Mayor Bloomberg couldn't make it.

Honored tonight, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who stepped out of character and even made jokes of her own.

Things have got a little hot for me this week, just in case.

Anyone hiring?

Tisch referring to New York Democratic Socialists, part of the mayor's base, demanding she step down over the department's handling of protests and the presence of ICE in the city.

There's a lot of talk these days that the mayor's friends don't like l- like me.

That is simply not true.

President Trump and I get along great.