And thenThe Breakhit a new gear on July 15, in an episode titled Sincere and Angry.
Hes the Hillary Clinton of Batmans, Wolf said.
Perfect on paper, disappointing in reality, and nipples always rock hard.
Credit: Netflix
She moved on to the Thai Cave Rescue.
In America, the only time a coach leads you into a dark cave is Womens Gymnastics!
I know, Wolf said, believably shocked, It was covered up fordecades.
Netflix
We care a lot about comedy in 2018.
And, in 2018, comedy cares.
Many late-night comedy shows have become halfway journalistic endeavors.
And going political goes viral.
We, the audience, have successfully incentivized moral seriousness in comedy.
Importance is great for ratings: Ask Colbert, dont ask Fallon.
Huzzah for engaged comedy!
And yet, and yet, and yet.
Theres this burgeoning staleness in late nights hysterical topicality.
You feel sometimes youre watching the news with quote marks,What Trump Just Didperformed with fair-to-medium impressions.
to play ever-less-specific variations of headline personalities.
A format that Wolf parodied, splendidly, when she moved behind the desk.
This is the time of the show when we do a viral segment, she said.
She started talking about Anthony Kennedys departure from the Supreme Court, and called President Trump the devil.
The Cheeto devil, small hands,time to clap!
she said, going meta.
she declared, an image of sheep pictured next to her.
Wolf explained, sarcastically, how her sarcastic tone was setting up a news barrage.
You probably thought I was only gonna go after the orange clown, Trump.
But Im also calling out the liberal media.
A chyron for UNEXPECTED PIVOT wabammed across the screen.
She went on, imitating the symphonic ranting of news comedy, the clapter-bait, themad as hellsermonizing.
The news is bad!
It was hilarious, a rant about rants.
It was also, I think, a complicated commentary.
You want to pitch this in clippable, GIFable terms: Michelle Wolf versus the Late Night Establishment!
But Wolf rose through the news-comedy complex: She worked onLate NightandThe Daily Show.
(Meyers, her old boss, was a guest onThe Break).
Writing jokes is hard, Wolf said.
You know whats easier?
Still, circa 2018, it was a boldfaced assertion.
Earnestness = easy, whereas jokes = difficult.
Wolfs delivery is apocalyptically cheerful, but watchingThe Breaks first 10 episodes, you wondered if shes just exasperated.
And Im starting to think thats true.
Its probably why all the jokes are so bad and hacky!
Shots fired, but Wolf had a larger point about comedys presidential fixation.
Why, Wolf pondered, was no one talking about this?
Its the hardest pitch in show business:Youre all focusing on the wrong thing.
A tough argument to win, even when youre right.
Is it possible for a late night comedy tobethat in 2018?
Absurdist, anti-topical, explicitly focused away from Trumps latest tweets?
If youre mad as hell, shouldnt youtellpeople youre not gonna take it anymore?
Its something Wolf wrestled with throughout these 10 episodes.
Her Salute to Abortion felt like a precise version of the news-based comedy thatThe Breakis aiming for.
At times she was blunt (Abortions are super common, and the stigma is bulls!
Maybe Tuesday or Thursday would be better, a break in the midst of a work week?
(I usually watched it over breakfast on Monday morning.)
But I worry not enough people have discoveredThe Break, and they should.
This Sundays installment ended its initial run of episodes.
Its not clear when the show will return.
Im optimistic, hoping we get a lot more very soon.
The last few episodes were the shows best.
There were no more guests, and should never be again.
The sketches have gotten sharper.
that it made theinevitable Fox News rebuttallook like part of the joke.
Wolf can be a deadpan delight in character; her oft-repeated mantra Im under indictment!
in Strong Female Lead is the funniest thing Ive heard all year.
And for all her performative bombast, theres something admirably low-key about Wolfs hosting.
Im just a vulgar, mouthy bitch who tells jokes about fed up s!
she said in one episode.
Theres a lot of fed up s lately.
Jokes wont fix everything.
But whoever said comedy had todoanything?
At its best, Wolfs show has been an earnest plea to keep laughing.
Its a break from bleak times, like how a breath of fresh air is a nice break from drowning.B+
