ORLANDO, Fla. – You may know him as one of “The Daily Show” correspondents, breaking through the chaos of the day’s top headlines with his hilarious and distinct voice of reason, but Emmy-nominated stand-up Roy Wood Jr. is now bringing his comedy to Orlando.
Wood, who’s been doing stand-up since his days as a journalism student at Florida A&M University, will be performing at the Orlando Improv at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 7, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 8, as part of his “Happy To Be Here” tour.
And he really is happy to be here.
“I’m anxious to get back to the state of Florida, which is something that not a lot of people will say publicly,” he said.
The Sunshine State is where he started his comedy career, traversing across Altamonte Springs, Ocala, Winter Garden and more to establish his footing in the entertainment world.
“Florida is hands down the most diverse place within age and race in America,” Wood said. “From the Panhandle to the Keys, I done did it in the state of Florida.”
And in the early days, catering to crowds that had “somebody who got gold teeth and somebody that got no teeth” showed him how to write material that appeals to a spectrum of people, leading to more well-rounded sets.
The comedian credits Orlando in particular for sharpening and challenging his act in ways other cities couldn’t.
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“Orlando has always been a tough city to crack because the comedy standards there are high and it’s a city that you’re not invited to be able to come to perform until the club and the people of Orlando — let’s keep it 100 — until they feel that you’re ready. So it’s an honor to be here,” said Wood, adding it’s been about 15 years since he’s taken the stage in the City Beautiful.
And he’s come a long way since sleeping in his car off the Florida Turnpike in between sets.
He’s become a household name on “The Daily Show,” made multiple Comedy Central specials, and most recently, hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, for a change, getting to poke fun at politics with the nation’s leaders in the room with him.
“I think at the end of the day, stand-up comedy is one of the rawest forms of journalism,” Wood said. “As a comedian, your job is to the report on your feelings or report on the world and the things that you see. And I think through both of those prisms, we can see a piece of ourselves, the view, the people, the consumer of that content. So, you know, for me to have a journalism degree and then also go do the most primitive form of reporting, which is live comedy, kind of gave me a little bit of an advantage.”
But his stand-up serves as a departure from the typical bureaucratic drama he comments on as a correspondent.
“I work on a political show. My act is not political,” he said. “If you hate self-checkout, come see me. If you’re tired of everything being flaming hot, come see me. If you’re tired of paying extra for sauces when you get nuggets, come see me.”
Wood added that if he were to set goals for his jokes beyond just making someone laugh, they wouldn’t land. As a performer, he said, it’s not his job to decide how the audience receives the material. He’s there to parse through the word puzzle that is comedy.
If you get the joke, you get it. If you don’t, you might get the next one.
“There’s days where the jokes are gonna be sushi and there’s days the jokes are gonna be chicken nuggets,” Wood said. “You might not be a sushi person, that’s fine, I got a chicken nugget coming around the corner, but I’m not gonna put a chicken nugget on a piece of sushi.”
Needless to say, he’s quite the chef on stage.
If you want to come see him, visit Orlando Improv’s website.
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