Michelle Wolf: The Best Job in the World review – motherhood, mischief and The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s menopause

Michelle Wolf's touring show, 'The Best Job in the World,' leaves it to the audience to decide whether the title refers to motherhood or stand-up comedy. The Pennsylvania-born comedian, now a mother of toddlers, takes a sardonic look at society's dubious regard for mothering, breastfeeding, and other facets of women's lives that often go unheralded.

Wolf, 41, highlights the menstrual cycle as a poorly understood month-long process, and criticizes how pregnancy is discussed—saying it should focus less on fruit-sized fetuses and more on the miracle of manufacturing a spine. She also finds humor in breastfeeding and uses Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' as a parable for menopause.

The show is animated by Wolf's devilish streak, as seen in her routine about her infant son's testicles and her mixed feelings. She also recycles some catty gags from her stint as Kim Kardashian's joke writer. However, some arguments, like the one on female facial grooming, lose persuasiveness. A closing point about gender-essentialist propaganda is tenuously illustrated by sketches about Stockholm syndrome and the children's song 'The Wheels on the Bus,' but both routines are funny regardless.

By the end, it's clear that whether or not motherhood or stand-up is the best job, Wolf has mastered at least one of them. The tour runs until December 5.