WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mentalist Oz Pearlman will headline this year's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton, taking the stage traditionally occupied by a comedian. President Donald Trump plans to attend, which would be his first appearance at the century-old event for politicians and political journalists as president and his first since 2011.

"As the world's most celebrated mentalist, Oz Pearlman will offer a fascinating glimpse into what's truly on the minds of Washington's newsmakers," said association president Weijia Jiang. Past headliners have included George Carlin, Chevy Chase, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert.

Pearlman, 43, has been a full-time entertainer for more than two decades. He began performing card, rope and coin tricks as a teenager, using the work to pay for college, and continued performing while working on Wall Street. He finished in third place on America's Got Talent in 2015 and is most recognizable for short-form, rapid-fire mentalism in social media clips, where he has gone viral for appearing to read the minds of news anchors, podcast hosts, professional athletes and Fortune 500 chief executives.

Pearlman initially thought the invitation was a prank or a mistake. He has nearly 30 minutes allotted for his performance.

"My hope for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and why they brought me there instead of a comedian to roast people, is that my job is to bring us together," Pearlman said. "People in the room don't necessarily agree on how the country is being governed or the war or economy or a million different things. I think that for 25 minutes they're going to laugh, they're going to applaud, they're going to have their jaws drop. I think as a country, we need that at times."

Mentalism is a form of magic in which performers appear to read thoughts from others' minds rather than produce physical illusions, creating the effect through research, suggestion, showmanship and other techniques.

"Oftentimes, the natural response to experiencing magic or mentalism is laughter," said Anthony Barnhart, a psychological science professor at Carthage College. "So I suspect the kind of tenor of the show will be pretty similar to what we've seen in previous years; it's just a different approach to eliciting that laughter. And, I guess, people love the notion that he's going to be divulging the secrets of politicians."