The Uncomfortable Truth

Adam Conover on “Michelle Wolf Did What Comedians Are Supposed to Do”:

Comedy has no rules, per se. But in my 15 years of writing and performing, I’ve come up with a few guidelines that I find helpful:

  1. Be funny.
  2. Tell the truth.
  3. Make people in power uncomfortable.

By that math, in her performance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night in Washington, Michelle Wolf did exactly what a great comic is supposed to do. She made the crowd of assembled journalists, politicians and guests laugh; she made them squirm; and she made them gasp in astonishment (and yes, a little delight) when a sharp sliver of the truth cut a little closer to the bone than they were expecting.

I don’t know it for a fact, but I know it is true that Wolf received so many negative criticisms because she’s a woman who happens to be damn good at roasting politicians. From pussy-ass President to ball-less Speaker of the House to neck-circumcised Republican Majority Leader, she did not hold back.