Comedy comedians use blunt language to describe peers that make their audience howl.
They “kill” on stage. They “kill” on stage, but there is only laughter.
It’s the highest compliment a stand-up can share, and it’s why Bill Burr used the phrase for his new Netflix special.
“Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill” lets the “Paper Tiger” star tell a few jokes of his own before introducing his “killer” friends. This list also includes Steph Tolev and Michelle Wolf as well as Jeff Ross and Dave Attell.
Ross and Attell are comedy institutions who don’t need a boost like this. The same is true for Wolf, who had her own Netflix talk show and made waves with her angry, uber-partisan gig at the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner.
Wolf’s part of “Friends Who Kill” inadvertently gave us a lesson Woke Comedy 101.
The host of Netflix’ short-lived “The Break with Michelle Wolf” immediately went woke with her 10-minute set. It is rare for women to be leaders in America, she complained. She cited Vice President Kamala Harris’s example as an exception.
Rather than dig into Harris’ pathetic approval numbers or legendary gaffes, Wolf lectures the crowd about other nations that routinely have women in charge.
There’s an interesting cultural point here. It’s just not funny, at least not the way Wolf presents it. An even better comic could bridge this gap but Wolf’s shrieking voice is too weak.
Wolf spends much of her allotted time mocking white women because, as she puts it, “it’s fun and easy.”
On steroids, Woke. And, as a comic, “easy” jokes are the laziest to tell.
This comedian notes that MeToo died from self-inflicted wounds. It is a setup that can help us understand why.
Instead, she digs up one tiny morsel – some women like to be dominated in the bedroom by men. Not bad, but she’s ignoring so many truths in the process.
And that’s what Wolf’s set lacks. Truth.
Even the most satire is not without a grain of truth. It’s why when “The Simpsons” mocked President Donald Trump for an alleged lack of stamina it hit a sour note. Trump is a deeply flawed soul, but for a 70-something adult he’s a bundle of energy.
Wolf strays from the truth over and again after the female leaders opening, leaving an act that doesn’t remotely “kill.”
Then again, woke comedy isn’t mean to make us laugh.
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