Roy Wood, Jr. has been a fixture on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show since 2015, and recently began to shine even brighter as a guest host and the top contender for new hosting duties since Trevor Noah’s sudden departure at the end of last season.
Now, the Alabama-born comedian’s name is on the lips of millions after his hilarious yet astute host’s speech at the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, the annual “nerd prom” as it’s colloquially known, where funds are raised for scholarships for the next generation of journalists as the current White House reporters and political pundits rub elbows and celebrate.
ESSENCE caught up with Wood just ahead of his big night on Capitol Hill to talk all things pressure, political comedy, and representing for those that can’t be in the room.
You’ve been on The Daily Show for a number of years now (and many are rooting for you to be the new permanent host) but what has it been like testing out that host seat for the last few weeks?
You know what, the guest host week was pretty dope. The show moves faster in the guest-hosting chair. Now going from guest host, to Correspondents’ Dinner. Now that’s the heavy, that’s the high octane. Now that’s what I’m not ready for. At least when you host The Daily Show, I got other correspondents, I got people that can help me. When your ass is up there at that podium? Oh baby. It’s just you and your thoughts.
What pressure do you feel with the job of hosting this iconic night? Do you worry more about being too offensive or to soft on the people in the room?
The Correspondents’ Dinner is an opportunity to crack jokes at powerful people and punch up and make sure that I’m representing for Black folks from Black colleges and I’m not embarrassing my mama or the city of Birmingham. I don’t care if some people don’t laugh at my jokes. A joke is a joke. I don’t care if you get offended by a joke. A joke is just a joke. But if I’m up there and fumbling lines or forgetting jokes, that’s on me.
The Correspondents’ Dinner is an opportunity for people to say stuff back to Washington if they want to. It’s not an opportunity a lot of people get. So, it’s something that needs to be done well and with some degree of precision. Cause it’s not just saying…it’s what are you saying? To me, just as important as the jokes is what point you’re trying to make.
Now, being that you’re an alum of Florida A&M University yourself, I’m sure you’ve been closely following what’s going on in Ron DeSantis’ Florida – even going so far as to consider bans on Black Greek organizations. Are there issues that are near and dear to you that you want to make sure you touch on during your set?
The thing that’s so difficult about going at DeSantis while being an alum of FAMU is that if there’s one thing that some politicians are in this country is that they’re [vindictive]. How do you defend family without putting a target on the school’s back from this administration?
You need to be up there trying your best to make a point so that people can understand and hopefully light a fire into some people to change some stuff. What’s going on in Florida, you can make some jokes about it, but the shit ain’t funny.
Are there any prior Correspondent’s Dinner hosts that you’re asking for advice from?
I’m going to get advice from Larry Wilmore, Trevor Noah and Hasan Minhaj… but I’m going to wait until a couple of days before. Once I have the jokes, then I’m going to them and going, “Hey, which of these jokes going to get me in trouble? Let me know so I can make sure to do that one first.”
I’m very excited about it but I’m very nervous and I told some people, “This isn’t so much a gig as much as it is a deployment, and you’ve just got to make it back alive.” But no, I think it’ll be fun to try and talk a little bit of shit to some of these politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike. Because at the end of the day, the Correspondents’ Dinner is an opportunity for regular citizens to have a shot to be heard. I’m not just up there for myself. I’m up there for every other community and person that’s been done dirty at some point.
So at which politicians is your comedy sniper rifle aimed?
Oh. I might just do the whole thing about Clarence Thomas. But then if I do it about Clarence Thomas, Ron DeSantis will just have it erased from the history books cause Clarence Thomas is Black History. So Ron might just erase it.