Comedian Grace Kuhlenschmidt Reveals How She Landed A Job At The Daily Show

Grace Kuhlenschmidt, The Daily Show news team's newest member, sat down with The Daily Show: Ears Edition segment director Sarah Hamblin to discuss how she used "viral social media videos" to get hired, the perspective she hopes to bring to the team, and more! The 28-year-old comedian shared that she "spends very little time in offices" and the first thing she did when she arrived at the newsroom was "clock a free soda" and snack.

"This is like so cool...this is unreal." The internet standout was more than impressed by the ambiance of the office. She shared that she "kind of went in blind," and did not directly reach out to any correspondents before her first day.

"I don't think about the future too much I kind of just.. I'm very go with the flow." Kuhlenschmidt went on to describe her new role as "fun" because it is the first time that she's ever played herself as opposed to the characters she plays in her comedy sketches.

For her first field piece, Kuhlenschmidt interviewed astrophysicist Joshua Spodek who lives "off grid in Manhattan" with no electricity. The comedian mentioned that it was difficult at first to find balance between "poking fun" and getting the story.

"It did feel hard at times. My biggest thing was making sure that he didn't feel made fun of. Because I think to the audience, hopefully it's clear, that I am not making fun of him. So much of sarcasm and satire can like kind of border on making fun and that's not something I've ever done. If anything, my comedy is making fun of myself."

The Daily Show news team member shared how her hesitation to start TikTok actually led to garnering great success through social media.

"Before the pandemic I probably had like 3,000 followers on Twitter. My first manager, Kathleen, was like 'you need to post on TikTok,' and I was like 'I DO NOT want to.' I don't know why, I mean frankly it was some of the best advice I've ever gotten and I mean now its like if you want to be in this career, you just have to say yes to these things."

When the pandemic struck, Kuhlenschmidt was let go from her previous job, giving her time to create content at a fast pace.

"June of 2020 was the first time I started posting on there. I was happily unemployed because I hated the restaurant I was working at before the pandemic and I was like oh my gosh I can make videos all day long. And so I was. I was making like 3 videos a day. Now I do not have that stamina, but I am so glad I saw that opportunity and like...went for it."

Throughout the interview, the comedian stressed the importance of being able to make fun of yourself as you go through life, and her audition for a position on The Daily News team reflected that advice.

"I was asked to write my own one to two minute segment. I was having so much fun making that. I thought it was so silly. And I think that is the piece of advice that I tell myself through all of my comedy is like I don't need to be trying to make other people laugh, I just need to make myself laugh. So I felt really good about that audition. But I felt really good about it in a way like 'this is funny' not like 'i'm going to get this job.' Honestly, it felt unattainable and absolutely random to me, so meeting with producers here I was like what the h*** is happening. But i'm excited to bring in a new voice and put my own spin on things."

To close out the interview, Kuhlenschmidt detailed that she hopes to bring a "queer perspective" to the news team by just being her authentic herself.

"I am game to do everything gay. I love being gay. I think being in comedy, something about it, you're not trying to be political but it just is. I have a queer perspective in everything I do. I think it's so easy to make fun of herterosexuality, so easy to make fun of homosexuality, none of it needs to be like punching down. There's just obvious things about people culturally that we can all agree are funny."

Moving forward with her new role at The Daily Show, Kuhlenschmidt plans to continue to lead with confidence, put smiles on people's faces, and grow as a comedian, employee, and person through inspiration from her coworkers.

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