Comedy

From Washington D.C. to Netflix, no one can stand in Michelle Wolf’s way

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Michelle Wolf performs at 4:30 and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Illustration: Photo by Willy Sanjuan / Courtesy

MICHELLE WOLF Saturday, 4:30 & 7 p.m., the Kicker.

Her hosting of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner resulted in one of 2018’s most controversial televised moments. Given the kind of salacious year we’ve had so far, that’s saying a lot. Michelle Wolf left no stone unturned, nor any politician unscathed during her remarks; she was so wittily cutting that her comments about the president, not to mention Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ eye shadow, sent Trump and Fox News’ commentators into a full meltdown for several days.

“Of course, Trump isn’t here, if you haven’t noticed,” Wolf said at the opening of her monologue. “I would drag him here myself, but it turns out the president of the United States is the one pussy you’re not allowed to grab.”

Before the evening was over, she’d taken all of Washington to task. “I have no agenda; I’m not trying to get anything accomplished,” she said. “So everyone that’s here from Congress, you should feel right at home.” She called Trump racist, misogynist, incompetent and impotent, and suggested that Kellyanne Conway should get stuck under a tree. Not many comedians can claim to have upended a century-old tradition, but Wolf can.

Still, bringing down the Correspondents’ Dinner and pissing off every white person in Washington isn’t all for which Wolf should be known. The comedian’s HBO special, Nice Lady, is equally raw and hilarious, like when she talks about men’s obliviousness to menstruation: “Every day at some point during your day you talk to a woman who has her period, and you don’t know it because she says things to you like, ‘I’m good, how are you?’ when all she wants to do is lay down on the ground and fart.” And her talk show, The Break, was one of the funnier things Netflix put forth this year, despite the streaming service’s decision to cancel it without a second season.

That isn’t likely to hold back the resilient Wolf. Before she became a breakout comic, Wolf appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers (where she later became a writer) and on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, where she honed her chops as a contributor.

It’s a path that has led Wolf to become an A-list talent. Where she goes from here is anyone’s guess; she’s got the momentum to do pretty much anything she wants. That’s what makes her Life Is Beautiful inclusion so exciting—like in that room full of politicians and journalists, there’s no telling where Wolf will take us next.

Life is Beautiful September 21-23, gates open at 2 p.m., $135/day (Friday & Saturday sold out), $655 3-day VIP (3-day GA sold out).Downtown Las Vegas, lifeisbeautiful.com.

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