If you think about the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner when you hear Michelle Wolf’s name, we’ll allow it. After all, in pandemic years, 2018 was five minutes ago. But you are missing out on all the great things she’s done since then, including a Netflix special called Michelle Wolf: Joke Show.
In August, Wolf kicked off her It’s Great to Be Here tour, which stops in Nashville for a five-show run Sept. 7 through 9. We caught up with her recently to discuss social media, the WGA strike, comedy and politics.
Your team does a good job of uploading videos of your stand-up. Do you think comics uploading videos helps or hurts comedy?
It’s good to give people a snippet of what you do. What’s hurting is a lot of those crowd-work videos with almost no jokes in them. People go to a show and expect, “I’m gonna get called on and get a moment for me,” and it takes away the art of writing a joke.
How do you feel about social media?
I’m not a fan. I’ve been working on a bit about this in my set. We need to respect ourselves more by watching good and interesting things by talented people. We all doomscroll on Instagram. There are things out there more interesting than what you’re seeing on your phone. We need to value talent more than we are.
You’ve written on shows like The Daily Show, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Saturday Night Live. Are you part of the strike?
The entire [Writers Guild of America] is on strike. I don’t really have any sort of writing job, but we all are collectively on strike together. Stand-up is not a WGA position. I 100 percent stand behind the strike. It’s important that we’re standing up for this now.
How is the strike affecting stand-up?
People that normally aren’t able to do stand-up because they have a full-time writing job are able to do more stand-up. That being said, they’re also not able to make the money that they normally would, because we’re all on strike.
Is there something you wish people who aren’t in the big industry cities like New York and L.A. knew about the strike?
The overall perception that some people have is that these Hollywood writers just want money. But what we’re seeing in a lot of industries is that the people in charge are making more profits. So it’s just people wanting their fair share of what’s being made.
Do you like performing in Nashville at Zanies?
It’s a great club. I’ve always had a good time. I know people who, before they go out on their theater tours, they like to do some sets there because it’s always a fair read of your material, which is great.
Do you prefer a club to a theater?
For me, [a club] is the best way to do stand-up. I’ve done theaters and arenas, but clubs — that just feels like how stand-up is supposed to be seen.
Are you working up to a new one-hour special?
I just started, and we really like the hour that I’m going on. I would potentially like to tape it towards the end of the tour, but I just have to see how it goes. You only want to tape something if you feel like it is a good release.
How do you feel about the Trump indictments? Is he interesting to talk about?
I’ve never been particularly interested in talking about him. I think it’s always boring. A lot of the jokes about him are repetitive. If there’s something genuine sticking to him, it might be worth talking about, but for now, it just seems like a bunch of noise.
Is there anything you want to plug?
I’m really excited about this new hour and I can’t wait for people to see it. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff to talk about. And I am excited to try it out in Nashville.
