Late Night’s Michelle Wolf joins The Daily Show as contributor
By Hector Cruz
Former Late Night writer and performer Michelle Wolf has joined The Daily Show as a writer and contributor
Comedian Michelle Wolf made her debut as a correspondent during Thursday’s episode of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah. She previously worked on Late Night with Seth Meyers as a writer since 2014, and appeared on screen several times as various characters, including “Grown-up Annie.” Wolf will also serve on the Comedy Central show’s writing staff.
Wolf was introduced during a segment revolving around Donald Trump’s continued struggle with female voters, resulting in the GOP front-runner bringing his wife Melania on the campaign trail to speak at recent rallies, which Wolf argued was offensive.
Host Trevor Noah began by outlining why 73% of all women have a negative view of Trump, listing such reasons as his recent comments about abortion, his campaign manager being charged with battery against a female reporter, and his comments regarding various women’s looks, including rival Ted Cruz’s wife.
Noah then introduced Wolf to ask her whether bringing out Melania will help Trump with women voters. “Oh, yeah, Trevor, ’cause if you want to appeal to everyday American women, bring out a Slovenian supermodel to help make your case,” she responded sarcastically.
Wolf went on to argue that it continues a trend by all male politicians who try to appeal to women using their wives as props, which she joked is the job of the children. She also pointed out the double standard that exists where female politicians’ husbands either talk policy while on the campaign trail like with Bill Clinton or are almost never seen as is the case with Angela Merkel.
She then demonstrated how male politicians talk about their wives in a condescending manner by showing a series of clips that featured such elected officials as Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal and President Obama describing their partners as their better half.
“Look, if the wives really are the better half of these candidates, why aren’t they the ones running for president?” she asked. Watch the entire segment below:
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
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Wolf displayed an expected amount of nerves during her first appearance on the show in a segment that seemed reminiscent of Kristen Schaal’s bits on women’s issues. But if she had anything to do with Late Night‘s recent strides when it comes to political humor (she rose to writing supervisor before her exit) then she’ll be a welcome addition to The Daily Show, which has struggled to remain relevant despite it being election season as Meyers’ segments such as “A Closer Look” have emerged as some of the best political satire in late-night TV.
In addition to Late Night, Wolf created and starred in two Comedy Central digital series, Used People and Now Hiring, so it makes sense that she would expand her relationship with the network. Her other credits include Louis CK’s Horace and Pete, Meyers’ animated series The Awesomes and writing credits for the 2014 and 2016 Oscars.
She joins veteran Daily Show contributors Schaal, Lewis Black and John Hodgman, as well as newcomers Neal Brennan and Adam Lowitt. Current correspondents and members of the “Best F#@ing News Team” include Jessica Williams, Roy Wood, Jr., Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic and Hasan Minhaj.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central. This week’s guest include Jennifer Hudson, King Bach, Ken Jeong and W. Kamau Bell.