How Grace Kuhlenschmidt Became the First ‘Straight Lesbian’ Correspondent on ‘The Daily Show’

“I mean, the alumni are pretty esteemed,” Grace Kuhlenschmidt says of her alma mater, Marymount High School in Los Angeles. “It’s Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, and Olivia Jade from the college admission scandal.” She pauses, before adding: “and senior lesbian correspondent Grace Kuhlenschmidt from The Daily Show.”

It’s that kind of humor that earned 28-year-old Kuhlenschmidt her post at the stalwart late-night show. She originally found niche fame online, posting videos that combined absurdism with slice-of-life comedy, often incorporating references to sexuality and body image. In her social media bio, she jokingly refers to herself as a “straight lesbian comedian,” and has an ongoing bit in which she wears a fedora and surrounds herself with attractive young men. One of her most viral TikToks skewers influencer marketing. “I’ve struggled with my body and my sexuality my whole life,” a caption reads as Kuhlenschmidt heaves a heavy sigh. She then breaks into a huge, toothy grin: “That’s why I’m partnering with Amazon Prime.” Yet while her fanbase grew steadily over the years, she had no idea that producers from The Daily Show were following along.

When a correspondent job opened up near the end of Trevor Noah’s tenure as host, Kuhlenschmidt jumped at the opportunity. She penned a script in which Noah asks her for a report on what’s happening at the White House. “It just kept weaving into me asking him for 20 bucks so that I could go to the Spy Museum,” she says. “There was a bit in it about me needing an extra $10 for some space ice cream.” Still, she was certain that the odds weren’t in her favor. “I do remember feeling like I crushed that, but I genuinely did not think I was getting the job—not for any lack of confidence on my end, that’s just how auditions work.”

It should go without saying that she did, in fact, crush that. But not every comedian who finds success on social media is cut out for the world of television. Suddenly, Kuhlenschmidt wasn’t coming up with her own material, but rather handing her persona off to a team of writers. “This is a different type of comedy and a different type of writing than what I’ve been doing for the last three years, [which] is essentially writing, directing, and acting everything myself,” she says. Yet the transition has been fairly smooth. “They write the pieces specifically for us, with us in mind, and the writers have been pretty incredible. I feel like it took two weeks for them to fully understand my voice.”