Ivy Wolk will never abandon the internet

You’ve probably met Ivy Wolk in at least one unhinged corner of the internet. For me, it was her “did you just put yourself in a mid off with me girl?” Tweet, which blew up and became a meme. For others, it might be videos of her catfishing “creepy men” at a comedy show. Or writing about freak-gap relationships. Maybe you’ve seen her in Anora, or If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, but didn’t put it together that it was the same girl on screen that was posting every thought on her Instagram stories. The 21-year-old does it all – and she’s committed not to abandon the internet that influenced her comedic sensibilities. 

There are multiple reasons why Ivy Wolk could be scared of the internet. When she was just 16, she posted a public suicide note, and it became a meme. Also, she’s known to divide a comments section. But to her fans, Wolk’s unfiltered style of comedy scratches an itch best suited for the digital age. “I don’t have to wait for gatekeepers to give me permission for the things that I want to make and to articulate,” Wolk tells me before one of her “Age of Consent” shows in New York, a stand-up series which she says is about her “sexual issues”. “Comedy, acting, writing and the internet: these are all mediums where I can articulate how I’m feeling.” 

In the case of “Age of Consent”, Wolk has an hour-long worth of feelings on how female suffering has been sexualised and commodified throughout history, tying them all back to her own misgivings in a confronting way that only she could. Before the show, she told me about a decade-long “ginger fetish” she had, apologising in case that admission counted as “workplace sexual harassment” (I have red hair). It’s exactly the style of comedy that has got her in trouble online. “Don’t worry, it’s kind of out of my system now as I’m practically asexual in the moment you’re meeting me,” she said. 

Ahead, we spoke to the internet comedian-turned-actor about making skits online, cold DMing and following in the footsteps of transgressive women.

Did you always want to be an actress and comedian? 

Ivy Wolk: I would say so, yeah. I was always really pulled to it. I liked to imagine myself inside the TV. I used to do a thing where, if I saw a television episode I liked, I would rewrite it so I could somehow feature in the narrative that already existed. Or I would transcribe things. I would just write it down verbatim as best I could, watching it over and over again. From that, I got into writing my own jokes, sketches and scenes. It was a hobby.

When did you know that you were funny?

Ivy Wolk: I always had an understanding of it. I mean, other people didn’t because my sensibilities were kind of strange and abrasive. I would show my friends at school things that I had written, and they wouldn’t understand the humour. But I had other friends with whom I wrote and filmed sketches. The internet was like a really formative object of my comedic sensibilities. And I was really invested in people who made comedy on the internet. I loved the freedom that it allowed.

What type of videos were you posting back then?

Ivy Wolk: The early stuff is not even on the internet anymore, but it was imitations of the voices and comedic stylings of people that I admired online. Shane Dawson, Brandon Rogers and Miranda Sings were big ones for me. I always knew that it was something that I wanted to do, but I’m also really technologically inept and couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to edit anything. I decided to use TikTok when it first came out, and Instagram, as a vehicle for my ideas, without all the frills, costumes, wigs, bells and whistles. 

“I want to make things for the people who understand me and think that what I say is funny. I want them to feel seen. I just need the clout and the money to get it done”

What was it like breaking from comedy online into cinema?

Ivy Wolk: I’m not exactly blindsided by all of it. Even if I didn’t have the tangible resources to achieve it, this has always sort of been the map of what I wanted to do. But the thing is, I think some people become famous on the internet and get jobs in more institutionalised versions of comedy or filmmaking from their internet clout, then they sort of abandon the internet. That’s not what I want to do because the internet is a place where I can be completely free.

It’s interesting that you still feel free on the internet, because I know you had to delete your account after you got your first acting job. How do you think your online presence has both helped and hindered your career?

Ivy Wolk: I'm sure it’s hindered my career. I was fired from the first sitcom that I was on because of the flak for the things I was posting on the internet. But even still, throughout all of that, I returned to the internet because I believe that I am somebody who can have my cake and eat it too. And it’s worked for me thus far. The second I start believing that I can’t post the way I do on the internet and have a career in Hollywood, that’s when it starts to falter. My method is just barreling on through. 

That method seems to be working!

Ivy Wolk: I’ve been lucky that the people I’ve made really interesting films with and done great TV shows with are those who were attracted to me because they saw how I expressed myself on the internet. They were curious, not afraid of it, and that’s the kind of resume that I'm trying to build. I’ve had rough experiences on the internet, sure, and said cringeworthy things from an adult perspective. But, in the moment and with everything I post to this day, I had a feeling of conviction, and it came from an honest and experimental place. I think I would more easily abandon my work on the internet if it didn’t feel completely real to me. 

You were “cancelled” from a very young age. What did that teach you?

Ivy Wolk: What I’ve gleaned from it is that it’s not a sustainable way to interact with other human beings. It’s not a way we can achieve peace, love and understanding. I think when people feel disempowered and subjugated by the world around them, and they feel that their voices are not heard, they adopt this like moral righteousness where they can exert power over people whom they deem have committed some sort of transgression. I think we’ll frown upon it one day when we realise that it didn’t help us politically or culturally whatsoever.

In the past, you’ve spoken about the treatment of transgressive women compared to men. Who are the vilified women that you look up to and why?

Ivy Wolk: I have a tattoo of Courtney Love. I have a tattoo of Amy Winehouse. I just really dig them because their work was also really expressive of how they felt about the world. There are motifs in their work and things that they were communicating through their music that you aren’t going to be able to get from anybody else. Lena Dunham, of course, is someone going through her reappraisal period where everyone loves her and acts as if they’ve always been a day one. I think she’s really brilliant and has always had her finger on the pulse of something important, but people were not ready to receive it. That’s a career that I would love to model my own after.

I saw you landed your role in Anora by messaging Sean Baker. What did that DM look like? 

Ivy Wolk: Cold DMing is not a hard thing to do. I’ve done it many times. This time it paid off, but it hasn’t in the past. I had gone to see a screening of Red Rocket opening at the mall I worked at in LA when I was in high school. I raised my hand to ask a question during the Q&A, but he didn’t get to me. I figured that, because I was familiar with the fact that he was like an internet user, maybe he could see it and answer my question. 

Otherwise, people will know you from your role as Diana, a bored motel desk girl, in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. How did that come to be?

Ivy Wolk: That came about because Mary Bronstein had written a pilot that I did for A24 a year before we shot If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. I had just befriended Mary and knew she was working on this film, with a part in it she wasn’t really sure what to do with. She was like, ‘Would you plug in and do it?’ I’ve played roles now that were scripted for 10-year-old boys. I’ve played roles that were scripted for adults. People sort of understand that I am malleable and can bring something comedically interesting to a character part that they don’t necessarily want to have to go through the entire process of casting for. I’m really clutch for that.

What’s next for Ivy Wolk?

Ivy Wolk: I think just keep on the same path that I’m on. I want to make my own TV shows. I want to make my own movies. I think sometimes people get that opportunity, and they don’t make things that are very interesting or compelling. I want to be somebody who makes things that are deeply interesting and compelling while also staying true to my sense of humour and the way I see the world. I want to make things for the people who understand me and think that what I say is funny. I want them to feel seen. I just need the clout and the money to get it done.