The Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. is the comedian Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner and to preview his big night, he sat down for an interview with CBS Mornings’s Vladimir Duthiers on Thursday. Wood doesn’t view his job simply as telling jokes, but “there’s an even bigger responsibility” to speak to those who are preventing “America from moving forward.”
As part of the interview, Duthiers recalled Wood’s recent time as The Daily Show temp host, “: If they were to offer you the job, what would you say?”
Wood replied that he would eagerly accept because the platform would be too great to pass up, “If I'm offered an opportunity to have a direct line to Americans every night, four nights a week, you can't say no to that offer. Also, I'm -- you know, I already live here, so it's-- I know the commute.”
Duthiers then switched to the dinner, “When we talk about legacy, that'll be something you can point to for your children and your children's children.”
Wood acknowledged the “honor” of being able to share a stage with the president, “but I think there’s an even bigger responsibility to be able to talk directly to the people in the room that are pushing against a lot of things that keep America from moving forward because I think the job of comedian is to be the voice of the regular person.”
Presumably, that means Fox News, conservatives, and Republicans; he's already promised Clarence Thomas jokes. Based off Wood’s history, that might also mean some references to genital size.
The interview was also a chance for Wood to tell his life story. Wood’s father, Roy Wood Sr., was a journalist who co-founded the National Black Network, the first radio network to be owned by black Americans. Duthiers wrapped up the interview by asking, “Do you think that he would find this a moment to applaud?”
Wood thought so, “I think my father would be proud, but I think he'd be even prouder if I go up there and make sure that I'm talking about something real because when you have the microphone, you better have something to say because you may not get it again.”
The great irony of liberal comedians, like Wood, thinking their job is to speak truth to power is that Wood will be sharing the stage with a Democratic president in a town that has Democrats control the Senate at an event put on by a predominately liberal press corps and yet, Wood thinks his job is to go after conservatives.
This segment was sponsored by Jeep.
Here is a transcript for the April 27 show:
CBS Mornings
4/27/2023
8:09 AM ET
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: If they were to offer you the job, what would you say?
ROY WOOD JR: If I'm offered an opportunity to have a direct line to Americans every night, four nights a week, you can't say no to that offer. Also, I'm -- you know, I already live here, so it's--
DUTHIERS: It's easy.
WOOD: I know the commute.
DUTHIERS: A love for laughter has led Wood to perhaps his biggest milestone yet -- being the entertainer of this year's White House Correspondents Dinner.
When we talk about legacy, that'll be something you can point to for your children and your children's children.
WOOD: It's an honor speak and crack jokes on top of that, you know, next to the president, but I think there’s an even bigger responsibility to be able to talk directly to the people in the room that are pushing against a lot of things that keep America from moving forward because I think the job of comedian is to be the voice of the regular person.
DUTHIERS: Being the voice for others, a lesson learned from his father.
Do you think that he would find this a moment to applaud?
WOOD: I think my father would be proud, but I think he'd be even prouder if I go up there and make sure that I'm talking about something real because when you have the microphone, you better have something to say because you may not get it again.
