WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) -

U.S. President Joe Biden, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

and Utah Governor Spencer Cox are expected to skewer American

politics and poke fun at themselves in speeches at the Gridiron

Club dinner Saturday, a Washington tradition that began in the

1880s.

Biden's appearance at the dinner, in which politicians and

journalists trade humorous barbs in a white-tie formal affair,

will be the first time a president has attended in person since

former President Donald Trump in 2018. Trump then made jokes

about his wife leaving him and Vice President Mike Pence being

humorless.

Biden recently clinched the Democratic Party's nomination

for November's presidential election, and is trying to court

voters, boost his low approval ratings and allay concerns that

at 81 he is too old to run again.

The more than 650 expected guests include the Taoiseach of

Ireland Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas,

Amazon ( AMZN ) founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, and TikTok

CEO Shou Zi Chew, whose U.S. business could be banned by Biden.

"Your presence reminds us of the stakes - for the Baltic

nations, for Europe and the world at large - of the war in

Ukraine," Gridiron President Dan Balz, chief correspondent of

The Washington Post, will say to Kallas, according to prepared

remarks.

The club's 65 members, all representatives from news

organizations, will perform satirical songs and skits that poke

fun at Biden and Trump's ages and the luxury trips Supreme Court

Justice Clarence Thomas took from a Republican donor.

Presidents occasionally take the stage with the costumed

performers to sing a song, but there was no word that Biden

planned to do so.

At last year's dinner, Mike Pence, who served as Vice

President under Trump, offered a forceful rebuke of his one-time

boss, saying history will hold Trump accountable for his role in

the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Unlike its sister event, the White House Correspondents'

Association dinner in April, the Gridiron dinner is not

televised and tries to retain its yesteryear vibe with men in

white tie and tails and women in long dresses.

No photos are allowed during the dinner and participants are

asked not to post on social media until after it has concluded.