Success More Than Jokes For Birmingham’s Roy Wood Jr. On Daily Show

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:393;s:6:"height";i:221;s:4:"file";s:31:"2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:4:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:31:"ds_roywoodjr640x360-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:31:"ds_roywoodjr640x360-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:29:"ds_roywoodjr640x360-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:31:"ds_roywoodjr640x360-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Comedy Central photo
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_edit_lock] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1450454232:9
        )

    [_edit_last] => Array
        (
            [0] => 9
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:64534;s:14:"optimized_size";i:39659;s:7:"percent";d:38.549999999999997;}s:5:"sizes";a:6:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:59:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:24276;s:14:"optimized_size";i:12153;s:7:"percent";d:49.939999999999998;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:67:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360-140x140.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:6035;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4557;s:7:"percent";d:24.489999999999998;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:67:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360-336x189.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:13841;s:14:"optimized_size";i:9166;s:7:"percent";d:33.780000000000001;}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:67:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360-300x221.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:15139;s:14:"optimized_size";i:9869;s:7:"percent";d:34.810000000000002;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:67:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/ds_roywoodjr640x360-125x125.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:5243;s:14:"optimized_size";i:3914;s:7:"percent";d:25.350000000000001;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

)
1652067952 
1450425834

Comedy Central beams in reports from Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. from around the globe. But before he landed a role that blends his passions for journalism and entertainment, you could find Roy in Birmingham schools, on baseball diamonds, on radio stations and in clubs.

Wood graduated Birmingham’s Ramsay High School and studied journalism at Florida A&M University. His father, Roy Wood Sr., was a pioneering radio newsman who offered national commentary with his “One Black Man’s Opinion.”

Recently, Roy Wood Jr. spoke with WBHM about his days in Birmingham and his climb from local comedian to the cast of one of the nation’s most popular nighttime shows.

What it takes to get the big breaks

“It just boils down to convincing yourself that you can do it and then doing everything possible to do it. You have to be willing to make sacrifices because there will be sacrifices. Belief is not enough. You have to show effort. I could sit on the couch and say I want to be the best comedian in the world. But at the end of the day, I had to get in my car and drive from comedy club to comedy club across the South for ten years just to prove that, then do it for another seven years in Los Angeles. It’s not enough to say I want to be on the Daily Show and I want to crack jokes.”

How the opportunity with the Daily Show came about

“They found me. They reached out. My name was thrown around the grapevine from a couple of sources. If you continue to do good work, eventually somebody will notice and they did. I got called into town for an audition. Next thing you know, boom. I was on the dadgum show. It happened pretty fast. I got the call to audition, and probably a week later, I got the call that I had gotten the part. I had nine days to move everything that I own from Los Angeles to New York City.”

How his journalism background helps

“The Daily Show, in and of itself, is a satire of television news. For me, I think I have been very, very lucky to have a career up until this point where pretty much everything I have done prepared me for what I am doing today on The Daily Show – from the acting, to the stand ups, even the prank phone calls I was doing in Birmingham on 95.7. There is an element of improv that is no different from interviewing someone.”

The impact of Birmingham school experience

“For me ultimately it was about sports. Sports is kinda where I came out of my shell. The baseball field was probably the only time I showed any remote semblance of being funny or being comedic. I was first baseman. Then I played left bench most of the time. Sometimes, I just played the bench. But sometimes the coach would put me in the game. He was very justified. If you would have seen me play, you too would have put me on left bench.”

Roy’s role in The Daily Show’s take on Bentley & Syrian refugees

“Most everything at the Daily Show is collaboration. One person might have pitched, then another person contributes an element, and someone else adds a joke. We have a meeting as a group, me and a couple of the writers, and we decide on the angle of the pack. Where that piece is concerned, it’s no different. Everyone knows it was ridiculous with all these governors were coming out and talking crazy about Syrian refugees. And the moment we realized one of them was from Alabama, well hey I am from Alabama. What better person on the staff to address the issue than Roy. You pair off with a couple of writers, and together you guys put together something that lambastes the governor just a tad.”

From left, retired broadcast journalist Roy Wood Jr., young Roy Wood Jr., and brother Arthur Wood, a retired public television general manager attend a National Association of Black Journalists convention in Houston, where their father received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Courtesy of the Wood family
From left, retired broadcast journalist Roy Wood Sr., Roy Wood Jr., and Arthur Wood, a retired public television general manager, attend a National Association of Black Journalists convention in Houston, where Roy Wood Sr. received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Response from the Wood family of journalists

“Most of my family is proud. They are happier than they were when I was doing prank phone calls. That’s for dang sure. I don’t think everyone loved me just sitting on the phone cussing out people. But you know, entertainment is entertainment. I think my father himself would have been very proud. It’s weird in a way, because I never thought I was following in my family’s footsteps. When I was getting ready to graduate college, the only thing I wanted to do was get on ESPN. As I started continuing with my comedy, it slowly became more and more socially aware. But once I got to that point, I just looked up and said oh my God, I’m just a goofy version of my Dad.”

 

 

 

First Afrikaners granted refugee status due to arrive in U.S.

Three months ago, President Trump signed an executive order telling white Afrikaans South Africans they could apply for refugee status in the U.S. The first group has been swiftly processed and is set to arrive on U.S. soil Monday

Court rules Alabama violated Voting Rights Act in drawing congressional lines

A three-judge panel permanently blocked Alabama from using a state-drawn map that they said flouted their directive to draw a plan that was fair to Black voters. The decision was not a surprise because the panel ruled against the state twice previously and put a new map in place for last year’s elections.

Who is the new Pope Leo XIV and what are his views?

Pope Leo XIV was born and raised in Chicago. He is of French, Italian and Spanish descent. He spent years working as a missionary in Peru.

India and Pakistan trade attacks amid risk of war between nuclear states

The escalation began after India accused Pakistan of being behind an attack where gunmen killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in India-administered Kashmir on April 22. Pakistan denies it.

FEMA’s acting administrator is replaced a day after congressional testimony

The abrupt change came the day after Cameron Hamilton testified on Capitol Hill that he did not agree with proposals to dismantle an organization that helps plan for natural disasters and distributes financial assistance.

RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info

The National Institutes of Health will partner with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to create a database of Americans with autism, using insurance claims, medical records and smartwatch data.

More Arts and Culture Coverage