Many enjoy her sarcastic Facebook rants about broken political promises hashtagged “tbt,” snarky tweets at Michelle Obama about eating fatty food, and abnormally low-pitched “smoker woman voice.” One admirer even creates collages of her feet.
National Review reporter, comedian, and Hillsdale alumna Katherine Timpf ’10 first used humor to deal with a break up, but now, it’s a trademark of her journalistic style that has made her a Red Eye regular and “mini celebrity.”
“Free markets and no judgies—that’s my political philosophy,” Timpf said. “I feel like I’m able to explain things in a different way, especially in the conservative movement, because so many of the voices — even the young ones — sound like they’re 50 and cautious. It needs some spice. The message of freedom should be cool, and that’s what I want to do.”
Hillsdale College Professor of History Brad Birzer, who taught Timpf her freshman year and now follows her career closely, attested to her ability to accomplish this goal.
“Kat is genius. Certainly, she’s the leading wit of her generation,” Birzer said, “but I also think she’s one of those unique folks America produces only every once in a while.”
Contributing to this assessment is Timpf’s quick wit, humor-cloaked pessimism, and self-deprecation mixed with confidence.
“She’s able to be forceful without being over the top, confident without looking arrogant, and she has this detached irony that allows her to be successful,” said her former academic advisor and debate coach Professor of Theatre James Brandon.
“I’m good at conveying messages in a different way, because I’m a weirdo,” Timpf said. “Humor and sarcasm are very effective mechanisms — especially at letting people realize how stupid they are on their own.”
This brashness helps Timpf develop her own political ideology and effectively communicate herself, according to her former classmate and Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program Maria Servold.
Timpf’s desire to influence people through journalism about the virtues of limited government and free markets began in her early childhood and has continued to motivate her since.
“As long as I can remember, I would hear stuff on the radio about the government and ask my dad about certain laws and why the government wasn’t being held accountable,” Timpf said. “It blew my mind when I figured out I could combine wanting to act and write with my love for freedom.”
When she was nine, Timpf made up her mind she would one day move to New York City and pursue that dream.
“All my decisions would be based on trying to get there,” Timpf said.
Servold and Brandon both noticed this determination driving her in college.
“From the first time I met her, she always had a good sense of where she wanted to be and how to get there,” Brandon said. “At the end of the day, Kat knew what she wanted to do and she did it.”
After graduating magna cum laude from Hillsdale College as an English major, Timpf moved to California for a Fox News internship until a state law mandated interns could not work without pay. This further solidified her dislike for intrusive government regulations.
“I saw endless potential, but these laws hold people back. Especially shown when I had to find a new internship, I was like, this law only made it harder for me to achieve my dreams, bro,” Timpf said.
Afterward, she enrolled at a community college in order to legally intern at a radio station for
for low pay. At KFI AM 640, Timpf flew above Los Angeles, California, at 4 a.m. every morning to give traffic reports. Next in her daily schedule, she would drive to her internship at another radio station, which she left at 4 p.m. to work her job that paid the bills—the closing shift at a diner.
“I would get home at like 2 a.m., take a nap, and do it all over again five days a week,” Timpf said. “I went four months without a day off — it was insane.”
Amidst her packed work schedule from pursuing journalistic aspirations, Timpf’s comedy career also began growing while she lived in Los Angeles.
“I moved to LA and didn’t have any friends and when my boyfriend and I broke up, I for real had no friends, so I went to open mics and complained about my breakup and how lonely I was and people laughed,” Timpf said. “I noticed it was therapeutic to make people laugh by my being honest and talking about things I’m upset about. I can’t imagine life without stand up comedy now.”
Once she was laid off from her traffic reporting job due to listeners trending toward using the Internet instead, Timpf rented a car and drove up California’s coast doing demos at radio stations.
“‘We love your interesting voice,’ they used to call it,” Timpf said, “but nothing worked out.”
Regardless, she kept searching for her next journalism job.
“I think of life like stand up comedy,” Timpf said. “Certain things help whether you have a good or bad set, like the people in the crowd or the venue, but when it comes down to it, if you bomb, it’s on you.”
Soon after, the Washington Times offered her a job aggregating and writing content for its new website. Fortunately, the office also housed a radio station and Timpf took advantage of the opportunity.
“I bugged the radio people every day asking if I could have two or three minutes on the air. They didn’t have anyone covering breaking news, so I asked if I could do it, and I finally got a daily segment,” she said.
Next, Timpf accepted a job writing and making news videos for Campus Reform, a D.C.-based online, conservative news outlet, and continued honing her broadcast skills by conducting man-on-the-street interviews for work and performing comedy at night.
“Comedy makes TV less scary,” Timpf said. “With stand up, it’s just you and the jokes you’ve written about yourself. If people aren’t laughing, it’s totally on you and you gotta stand there for 45 minutes with everyone hating you — it’s brutal.”
As a result, Timpf attributes much of her success on TV with her stand-up comedy background.
“You get really comfortable with public speaking because there are always distractions at shows, a heckler or loud bachelor party, and you have to respond in a quick way. It helps me with being on TV shows and having to think on my feet,” she said.
After appearing on several TV and radio segments, Timpf received her first request from Fox and Friends in September 2013 to talk about feminism. She soon became a regular on the curvy couch and Fox’s other talk shows including: Red Eye, America Live with Megyn Kelly, and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.
The same spunky qualities that make her popular on these shows also existed in her college career, according to Birzer.
“I remember her having a rather spritely or pixie-ish look about her,” Birzer said. “She possessed that wonderful twinkle in her eye — the twinkle that radiates a confidence, sense of humor, intelligence, and mischievousness. You only have to watch her on Fox to see that very same look.”
In pursuit of her childhood dream, Timpf then moved to New York City was hired to report for National Review in July 2014.
Further exemplifying her success, Timpf was named to Red Alert Politics’ “30 Under 30” list of influential conservative voices under the age of 30 this summer.
“For the first couple months after I graduated, I lived in a dingy apartment and I slept on a yoga mat every night working toward what I’m doing now,” Timpf said. “That’s really powerful. I never lost sight of what I wanted to do and my favorite part is seeing it all pay off.”
With her “frightening intelligence” and determination, Birzer said he has high hopes for her to continue impacting audiences.
“Without a doubt, I am incredibly proud of her,” Birzer said. “She’s our current age’s H.L. Mencken, though much prettier.”