"Daily Show" correspondent and comedian Michelle Wolf brought her fiery brand of comedy to this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner, roasting D.C. politicians and media figures in a performance that some are saying went too far.
President Donald Trump didn't attend the annual D.C. bash hosted by the White House Correspondents' Association (he didn't go last year either). Instead, he held a rally in Washington, Michigan, commenting on the party on Twitter Sunday morning.
"While Washington, Michigan, was a big success, Washington, D.C., just didn’t work. Everyone is talking about the fact that the White House Correspondents Dinner was a very big, boring bust...the so-called comedian really “bombed.” @greggutfeld should host next year! @PeteHegseth"
Wolf's take-no-prisoners style of comedy was on full display Saturday night as she held nothing back at the event known for its playful roasts of the president and other D.C. media figures.
But it was the comedian's several jabs at White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that has many crying foul.
"I'm a little starstruck," Wolf began. "I love you as Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale."
It wasn't all pop culture references, Wolf also went after the press secretary's makeup.
"I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful," Wolf said. "She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies."
"I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders," Wolf added. "Is it Sarah Sanders? Is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what's Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women?"
The jokes seemed to take the audience (mostly made up of members from the media) off-guard, with some even getting up and leaving the room.
Despite the president's absence, Trump didn't escape Wolf's wrath. She went after him with several jokes that ranged from the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape, to the recent news about settlements with porn stars.
- "Tonight, I'm going to try to make fun of the president in a new way, in a way that I really think will get him. Mr. President, I don't think you're very rich. Like, I think you might be rich in Idaho, but in New York you're doing fine."
- “(Trump) wants to give teachers guns, and I support that, because then they can sell them for things they need, like (school) supplies.”
- "I know as much as some of you might want me to, it's 2018 and I'm a woman, so you cannot shut me up — unless you have Michel Cohen wire me $130,000."
At the end of the night, Wolf had her critics, and her admirers. Some saw her speech as another 'truth-to-power' moment, while others called it "vile."
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrote on Twitter that he thought the dinner was a "disgrace."