Roy Wood Jr. thanks Birmingham during ‘The Daily Show’ as guest host, vows not to get canceled
Roy Wood Jr. shouted out his Alabama hometown in the opening seconds of his first episode as guest host of “The Daily Show” on Monday.
After Trevor Noah’s exit, the satirical Emmy-winning show has employed guest hosts to fill in until Comedy Central finds a permanent replacement, including the likes of Leslie Jones, Sarah Silverman, John Leguizamo, Al Franken and the show’s correspondents. Wood marked the first of the show’s reporters to sit behind the desk.
The Alabama-raised standup comedian will guest host the show this week. His colleagues Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan, Lewis Black and Jordan Klepper also will guest host the program between now and the week of May 8, according to Variety.
Hosting responsibilities gave Wood a break from reporting in the field, but he will handle monologue duties, interviews and all else we’ve seen from past hosts like Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah and the slew of guest hosts in recent weeks.
“The Daily Show” airs weeknights at 10 p.m. CT on Comedy Central. You can also stream new episodes of the show on Comedy Central’s website or Paramount+.
“This is a big moment for me,” said Wood, dressed in a black suit, shirt and tie. “So I want to thank my mama, I want to thank the city of Birmingham, I want to thank Florida A&M University. Most importantly, I gotta thank Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Appreciate ya for hookin’ a brother up with an indictment during my week.”
Wood is a comedian, writer, actor and producer who grew up in Birmingham, where he emerged as a jokester making prank phone calls on radio station 95.7 JAMZ.
Wood teased the night’s guest, U.S. Sen. Cory Brooker (D-N.J.), before launching into the show’s “Headlines” monologue segment about former President Donald Trump’s indictment. Trump is expected to be booked and arraigned Tuesday on charges stemming from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign.
“Ol’ Trumpy was indicted last week for paying a porn star hush money,” Wood said. “You know Trump gotta be mad. He paid all that hush money, didn’t nobody hush. It’s in the word, ‘hush’ — shhhh!”
Wood then joked no affair has been “less hushed” than Trump’s with Stormy Daniels. “Everybody know about this damn affair,” he said, quipping “there’s uncontacted tribes in the Amazon” who know about it. “’I do not know what a plane is,’” Wood said, mimicking an Amazonian tribesman. “’But I do know Stormy Daniels spanked Trump with a magazine.’” Wood then turned to a side camera to say, “Now if you noticed, I did not do a native accent. I’m not trying to get canceled on my first day. I am holding a spear, my bad. But I didn’t do no accent.”
Watch the entire segment in the video above.
Wood also joked about LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese trash-talking Iowa’s Caitlin Clark during Sunday’s NCAA championship game, he did a Morgan Freeman impression (which he admitted was “terrible”), he reported on Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis’ Stop WOKE Act while serving up a lesson in “White History 101,” and he interviewed Booker, who gave Wood his seal of approval right away (watch the interview below).
“I think you look so good behind that desk,” Booker said as soon as he sat across from Wood. “Let’s just settle and go permanent right now.”
Will this week’s guest stint offer viewers a preview of the Comedy Central show’s next permanent host?
TMZ reported in October 2022 the longtime correspondent is a candidate to fill Noah’s seat. The report said Wood Jr. is “in the running” to take over. “Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ that Comedy Central executives view Roy as someone who could potentially become the next face of ‘TDS’,” the TMZ story said. They reported Wood Jr.’s contract was coming up for renewal and Comedy Central executives consider him “a natural fit” to replace Noah. Read the full TMZ story.
Speculation continues to grow for who might take over, including current and past correspondents like Wood, Jordan Klepper and Samantha Bee, among others.
The Birmingham-raised standup comic also topped a list for potential replacements for “The Late Late Show” on CBS after James Corden announced he would leave the job in 2023. Vanity Fair named Wood among ideal candidates along with Amber Ruffin, Nathan Fielder and Ziwe. Author Chris Murphy also suggested “another Broadway Baby” with a similar musical theatre background to Corden’s, or “an Audio Guru, meaning a popular podcast host like Michelle Collins or Matt Rogers. The piece called Wood Jr. “an obvious choice for the gig.”
“With decades of comedy experience under his belt — just check out his multiple acclaimed Comedy Central specials — plus the political bona fides to take on the current events aspect of the gig, given his many years serving as a correspondent on ‘The Daily Show,’ Wood Jr. would be a wonderful successor to Corden,” Murphy wrote.
“His dry and brutally honest takes about hot topics in American politics, from critical race theory to Black History Month, delight as much as they inform, and appearances on Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ prove he can banter with the best of them.”
Murphy also said Wood Jr. would serve as “a welcome alternative to the homogeny” of the late-night scene historically dominated by white males.
You can apply similar logic for “The Daily Show” job, though they differ in that one is a network gig and the other cable. Regardless, Wood Jr. remains an appealing candidate for parts on the big and small screens, with a recent appearance in the critically acclaimed comedy “Confess, Fletch,” also starring “Mad Men” actor Jon Hamm.
Deadline reported in February that CBS will revive an old Comedy Central format to replace “The Late Late Show” with James Corden, ending the franchise after almost three decades.
Wood Jr. also has a popular podcast, “Roy’s Job Fair,” which he referenced on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” while also discussing his upbringing in Alabama. “I did morning radio in Birmingham for 10 years, and one of the things we did in the 9 o’clock hour was we would just invite listeners, if you were working somewhere that’s hiring, call our show and tell us so that people who were unemployed would just know. It was kind of like an audible Craigslist back in like ‘03-’04.”
The 44-year-old comic is well-respected in the world of comedy, having appeared on Marc Maron’s hit “WTF” podcast, during which the host sang his praises as “one of the greats.” Maron plugged his three standup specials (“Father Figure,” “No One Loves You” and the most recent “Imperfect Messenger”) and admitted he wasn’t familiar with Wood Jr. prior to the interview prep, but he was quickly all in.
“This guy’s one of the best. He’s one of the best,” Maron said during the intro. “He’s not afraid of taking risks. He talks about real things. He’s smart. He knows and understands policy, the subject of race from a personal point of view. He wrestles with things that we all wrestle with, but he’s got a delivery and a long-form approach that’s just so sharp and so funny and so deliberate.” Maron continued, gushing, “He’s a real deal. He’s a guy that can talk about real stuff in a way that’s provocative and meaningful and funny.”
Maron and Wood Jr. discussed a variety of topics including his upbringing in Birmingham as the son of a journalist (his father) and an educator (his mother). Wood Jr. received a degree in broadcast journalism from Florida A&M University. He said he was interested in working at ESPN, where he could crack jokes and talk sports after riding the bench as a baseball player. Wood Jr. said while growing up in Birmingham, he didn’t know the city had a comedy club. Maron even asked, “Is there one?” Wood Jr. plugged the Comedy Club StarDome and praised owner Bruce Ayers. He performed his first stand-up set there, at an open mic night in March 1999 when he was 19.