I am friends with too many damn comics because I saw about 5000 posts/tweets/blogs/shares about Michelle Wolf. MIGHT AS WELL JUMP IN SINCE I DO JOKEY TIME AND I KNOW EVERYTHING. Breaking news: My liberal friends who do comedy are saying, “Suck it up, reverse snowflakes!” and my non liberal comics friends don’t seem to like it as much (yes, there are some comics who aren’t liberal/progressive).
First, stop defending Michelle Wolf. She knew exactly what she was doing. If you have the balls to go in front of White House officials and the media and blast the skin off their backs, you aren’t looking for allies. She has a Netflix show coming out. She’s doing exactly what she wanted to and will benefit from the criticism in ways you couldn’t hope for. She’s a big girl and her show will get a huge boost now.
Second, it was vulgar. Doesn’t mean a lot of it wasn’t funny. Doesn’t mean she did well for the event’s crowd (she didn’t) – she didn’t care about that, see the previous paragraph. Was it her fault, the booker’s, the crowd’s? We will probably never know. I’ve been paid to work formal events and even the lower standard fund raiser show. I did a show where the patrons told me before and after to curse or they wish I had cursed because the comics seemed uptight. I didn’t. Why? The person paying me told me not to. She used language and references that from my experience were way out of line for that type of room…but I have no idea and don’t care. Until the emails are released of what was expected, it’s a waste of time to jump on a horse and scream into the wind about it was her fault or the booker’s fault or the room was uptight. Probably all three. The world will turn and they will adjust the show accordingly.
Third, was it funny? Some of it was. I must admit, if I hear another Nazi joke I’m going to vomit. She did a great job covering the news topics of the day and even since Trump’s election, but I thought was light on media jokes and heavy on him, so the balance may not have been there for the event. Also, the abortion joke was poorly written. Abortion supporters claim a fetus is not a baby, so her wording played into the hands of the pro-life supporters if she was attempting a knockout blow. Again, not sure the parameters set or expected, but as a rule, if people are wearing formal clothes, probably not the place for such a joke, if such a place exists – you can watch it or read the joke, I’m not going to transcript the whole thing. Just my two cents and I’m not a clean comic by nature, so I’m not prudishly swatting away any crude humor, just observing material as someone who has been paid to perform in a tuxedo or suit on multiple occasions.
Like everything, this will pass and next year, they’ll probably give the room to much less partisan or dirty comic. I really don’t care about this event – it was a private event that got way too much coverage regardless of the politics. I don’t care who is supporting the event or performance. The same people cheering Dave Chappelle’s support of Ms. Wolf were losing it over his last couple specials’ lack of sensitivity towards the trans community and women. Calm down everyone, it was a comedy roast of sorts. A traditional roast is for one person and they expect it, so this is a little different, but not much. It was highly partisan and very blue and wasn’t very nice. And not one person I know or ever will talk to was there or could have been there. It’ll be OK for her and the administration, which will probably also get a boost. People don’t like seeing a comic tee off on someone unless they think they deserve it. In other words, everyone is exactly where they were before this event in regards to their disdain for Trump world or liberal celebrities. Hugs for all (don’t touch me, please; hug each other or whatever).