Michelle Wolf, who lit up the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, is from Hershey
FILE PHOTO: In this March 24, 2018 file photo, Michelle Wolf arrives at the 6th Annual Hilarity For Charity Los Angeles Variety Show at the Hollywood Palladium n Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
(Undated) — A central Pennsylvania native captured the nation’s attention this weekend. And a lot of that attention wasn’t positive.
Michelle Wolf is a comedian who grew up in Dauphin County. She’s posted on social media about running track and playing field hockey for Hershey High School. Looking back on those days, she’s called herself a “little hick.”
But most world knows her as the controversial comedian who delivered a raunchy, scalding routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this weekend.
The annual tradition brings together journalists and politicians, with a comedian for the evening’s entertainment. It’s not unusual for the set to take aim at politicians and journalists alike, but Wolf’s roast was unusually brutal, even drawing criticism from event organizers.
Her harshest punchlines were aimed at Trump and his inner circle. Mocking Trump’s wealth was a staple of her routine, which was transcribed and annotated by the Washington Post.
People call Trump names all the time. And, look, I could call Trump a racist, a misogynist or xenophobic or unstable or incompetent or impotent. But he’s heard all of those, and he doesn’t care. So, tonight, I’m going to try to make fun of the president in a new way — in a way that I think will really get him. Mr. President, I don’t think you’re very rich.
Like, I think you might be rich in Idaho, but in New York, you’re doing fine. Trump is the only person that still watches “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and thinks, “Me.”
She went on to introduce a running call-and-response joke: Wolf called out “Trump is so broke,” the audience responded “How broke is he?” then Wolf delivered a punchline.
In a tweet, Trump called Wolf “filthy” and said the dinner was “an embarrassment.”
Wolf took particular heat for a series of jokes at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. Like, she burns facts, and then she uses the ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe she’s born with it; maybe it’s lies.
It’s probably lies.
Some, including CNN’s Mika Brzezinski, jumped to Sander’s defense. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell tweeted that Sanders was owed an apology.
Wolf has her supporters too. Among them: NBC analyst Howard Fineman and comedian Sarah Silverman.
The official reaction to her set: It wasn’t in the spirit of the night.
You’ll probably be hearing more about Wolf. Her new Netflix show starts May 27.
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.
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