Comedian Michelle Wolf’s monologue at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner caused a clash of conflicting reactions from viewers, attendees and our president, who said he was embarrassed for our “great Country and all that it stands for.”
Wolf’s nearly 20-minute roast at the annual gathering threw digs at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump, etc., etc.
Shots fired ranged from comparing Sanders with a “Handmaid’s Tale” character and implying her “smokey eye” comes from the ashes of “burned facts” to breaking down Conway’s name (“All she does is lie”).
Wolf was met with immediate backlash inside the ballroom, according to The New York Times, which reports “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade called her jokes “personally offensive.” WHCA president Margaret Talev released a statement on Twitter Sunday noting the roast was “not in the spirit” of its “unifying” mission.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it. This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for. FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018
The “program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people,” Talev wrote.
But, she was also praised by various media outlets and celebrities (Kathy Griffin, Debra Messing) who felt her monologue was on-point.
The fiery reaction caused Wolf to become a buzzy search topic and trending term on social media platforms as the public went head-to-head in debate.
Here’s what you should know about the comedian, who’s become an overnight household name.
Who is Michelle Wolf?
The stand-up comedian grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, but currently resides in New York City. Wolf, 32, made her talk show realm debut as a “Late Night with Seth Meyers” writer in 2014 before landing a contributing gig on Trevor Noah’s “Daily Show” two years later.
Where have you seen her before?
Wolf spent a lot of time behind the scenes at “The Daily Show,” where she worked until 2017, but made notable on-camera appearances, too, in sketches about Harvey Weinstein, President Donald Trump, the Miss America pageant, Megyn Kelly and “Wonder Woman.” On “Late Night, “ she’d occasionally appear as the fictional orphan character, “Grown-Up Annie.”
Last May, she landed her own half-hour comedy special on HBO titled “Nice Lady” and riffed on climate change, feminism and other political and social issues.
She was also a frequent face in the city’s stand-up scene, booking up to 20 shows per-week at the Comedy Cellar, Village Underground and other local clubs, according to The Times.
Where will you see her next?
The comedian is set to release her first full series, a weekly late-night show coming to Netflix, next month. “The Break With Michelle Wolf” is billed as a half-hour platform for Wolf to delve into the various political and cultural issues plaguing the news cycle, according to the streaming site. Her series, to make its debut on May 27, follows David Letterman’s “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” as the latest talk show to be picked up by Netflix.
