Sorry, You're Not on the List

Brit Hume blows out the candles at his retirement party as former boss Roger Ailes looks on. (Robert Milazzo for Fox News)

One in an occasional series of dispatches from parties you should have crashed.

Event: Fox News's retirement party for Brit Hume Thursday night.

Site: Cafe Milano, Georgetown.

Draw: A guest roster so A-listy they rolled out a red carpet, Hollywood style -- Dick Cheney and daughter Liz, Don Rumsfeld, Tom Ridge, Fred Thompson, Brian Williams, Joe Lieberman, George Will, Greta Van Susteren, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

Spread: Oysters Rockefeller, penne, ravioli in rosé cream sauce, giant cake shaped like the Capitol dome.

Bar: Open!

Insider moment: Watching heart attack veteran Cheney gnaw on a rare lamb chop during the speechifying. ("He always goes for the meat when Lynne's not around," a former aide whispered to our colleague Manuel Roig-Franzia.)

Quip of the night: Hume, thanking his colleagues and guests: "I haven't been this honored since the rumor was going around that I was having an affair with Megyn Kelly."