Long before becoming Fox News’ resident libertarian firebrand, Kat Timpf honed her skills in smoky comedy clubs. “I bombed constantly,” she admits in her memoir You Can’t Joke About That. But those grueling nights prepared her for cable news in ways no journalism degree could.

Her big break came in 2015 when a viral clip of her roasting political correctness at New York’s Stand Up NY caught a Fox booker’s attention. But her first Fox Business appearances nearly ended in disaster. “I did a segment comparing Trump’s tariffs to my ex-boyfriend’s controlling behavior,” Timpf recalls. “The VP of programming called it ‘unprofessional comedy hour.’”

For six months, producers tried to sand down her edges – until a 2016 segment about campus safe spaces went viral. “That’s when they realized my humor was my strength,” she says. Now, her ability to deliver hard truths with punchlines makes her Fox’s secret weapon with younger demographics.

Former colleague Kennedy Montgomery observes: “Kat proved you could be serious about ideas without being solemn. She created the template for Fox’s next-gen commentators.”