Michelle Wolf’s cutting comedy sights set on Melbourne
Controversial US comedian Michelle Wolf doesn’t pussyfoot around. The curly-haired firebrand went viral after going to town on Trump at a White House event and now her sights are on Melbourne. READ OUR REVIEW.
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Controversial US comedian Michelle Wolf doesn’t exactly pussyfoot around.
The 33-year-old firebrand made a name for herself as a writer for The Daily Show and Late Night With Seth Meyers and for her short, sharp sets at comedy clubs.
The curly-haired redhead dishes out cutting punchlines, delivered with a gleeful, yes-I-just-went-there, unblinking face.
When she was asked to do a routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2017, she really took the bull by the horns.
President Trump couldn’t be bothered turning up so POTUS sent underling Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Wolf — a lamb to the slaughter.
“I wasn’t going to do it like Seth Myers,” she says.
“I’ve said it before, I tell harder jokes.”
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Wolf went all in on President Chump, his Press Secretary Sanders and cronies such as Roy Moore and Michael Cohen. The burns, they were sick.
The fallout was full-on, the trolls grabbed their metaphorical tiki torches then her heroes stepped in front to defend her.
Dave Chappelle and Dave Letterman called for other stand-up comics to support her. Michelle? She was fine.
“The funniest thing to me is I was hired to do a job and then I did that job and then people got mad at me for it. They should have known what they were dealing with going in. I went after everybody! That’s what I do with comedy, no one’s safe.”
Wolf’s new-found notoriety led to a stand-up special Nice Lady (HBO) which earned her a 2018 Emmy nomination. Her ten part Netflix series The Break came along, ran its course and wasn’t renewed.
The key to her resilience comes from the belief: “not everyone is gonna like you. And if they do then you’re probably gonna be a boring comic.”
She riffed in The Break: “Sea World has announced it will ban plastic bags after a dead whale was found in Thailand with 80 in its stomach. Sea World was like ‘Hey bags, don’t kill whales! That’s our job’.”
Wolf is in New York, where it’s snowing. “It was dangerous, I was tiptoeing the whole way home tonight, I was so scared I was gonna break a collarbone.”
Wolf had to watch her feet recently when she did a Valentine’s Day gig. She tweeted out “Bring a loved one or bring someone you can’t break up with because it’s Valentine’s Day.” Before she took the stage, she couldn’t help but notice the venue had gone all out with the schmaltzy theme.
“There were rose petals everywhere in the Green Room. Then when I walked out on stage they were literally red petals strewn all over the floor … and you’ve gotta be careful because depending on what side the rose petals land on they can get very slippery, it felt like a bunch of banana peels.”
She’s putting her good foot forward on a long haul flight to Australia for a six show Comedy Festival run.
“I have such a bad Australian accent. I can accidentally do one OK if I try a Southern accent. ‘In Down Un-dah they have sharrrks!” she says, murdering our twang, bubbling with laughter.
“I’m gonna make a snap judgment on all of Australia based on what I see the first day in Melbourne.”
OUR REVIEW OF MICHELLE WOLF’S SHOW
Rating: ★★★★★
Reviewer: Mikey Cahill
Michelle Wolf struts on to stage and immediately tells us about a butt-splinter she’s having problems removing.
The material is as fresh as the tiny piece of wood jammed in her heinie.
For a brisk hour she takes us on a wild and woolly ride through themes of consent, bad blogs, lesbianism, blackface, ISIS “having a craft guy” and breast milk bravado.
Whenever Wolf knows the room is about to get uncomfortable the 33-year-old American tells us to “loosen up your buttholes”.
No one and nothing is safe, Amazon’s virtual assistant gets shut down, giraffe mothers cop it for not having the decency to make their child’s birth at all pleasant and she lampoons women who aggressively out-compliment each other.
It’s all glorious, high-energy gear, she leans forward with that wicked, wide smile to really make her point as the crowd rocks back and forth in their seats. We’re all in on it.
She of course touches on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and how much she enjoyed — yes, enjoyed — the backlash afterwards.
Her detractors call her vulgar, which she absolutely relishes.
The whole hour we have no idea what she’s gonna say next. To borrow from Pantera’s great album title, this is a vulgar display of power.
Michelle Wolf, until Sunday, March 31, Max Watt’s. Tickets $35-$42.