Comedian Michelle Wolf fired back Monday at Washington’s White House Correspondents’ Association for nixing the comedy act that has been in place at the famed dinner for decades. Wolf was the comedian in 2018. President Trump says she “bombed.”
This year’s speaker will be author and historian and resident Trump hater Ron Chernow.
The @whca are cowards. The media is complicit. And I couldn’t be prouder. https://t.co/OOIFGuZ731
— Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) November 19, 2018
One watcher gave comedian Kathy Griffin an idea: “Hi, @kathygriffin,” a fan wrote on Twitter.”How about doing a star-studded comedy roast of politics the same night? I know which one people would watch.”
Griffin responded to Wolf’s critique with four claps.
You can’t please everyone, but you can please some.
Joe Concha, a media writer for The Hill, is overjoyed by the news.
“That time the WH Correspondents Association was called cowardly for attempting to restore some dignity to its annual dinner while rightly putting the focus back on journalism over allowing partisan comedians to hijack the event in an attempt to elevate their careers,” he wrote on Twitter. “Bravo WHCA.”
Paul Farhi, a media writer for The Washington Post, was less enthusiastic.
“The comic stylings of…Ron Chernow?” he asked rhetorically.
David Rothkopf, an author and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sounded about as excited as a sugar-free pumpkin latte.
“And here’s my contrarian view: While I have nothing but respect for Ron Chernow and am even a sometime historian of DC myself, the fewer occasions we have for puncturing the self-importance and BS of DC with humor, the worse off we are,” he wrote on Twitter. “We need more comedians not fewer.”
Jake Maccoby, former chief speechwriter for ex-Attorney General Eric Holder, also thinks the WHCD needs humor and not a historian.
His advice? Go dirty.
“Ron Chernow should just do all 90 minutes of Eddie Murphy Raw,” he wrote.
But not all reporters are down in the dumps about this. Here’s The Blade’s Chris Johnson getting “so geeked” about this. Ugh.
I am now so geeked about the @WHCA Dinner next year! Ron Chernow is my favorite biographer! Everyone should read his books on Hamilton, Washington and Grant. pic.twitter.com/azMPKqS0qH
— Chris Johnson (@chrisjohnson82) November 19, 2018