Roy Wood Jr. Returns: ‘Daily Show,’ CNN, and ‘Lonely Flowers’
The Last Laugh
The Daily Beast
4.6 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been more than a year since Roy Wood Jr. left ‘The Daily Show’ and he’s not looking back. This week, the comedian is dropping what is arguably his best stand-up special yet on Hulu and next month will see the second season premiere of his CNN comedy quiz show ‘Have I Got News for You.’ In his return to the podcast, Wood discusses why he wanted to make his yearning for connection the central theme of his new hour, ‘Lonely Flowers.’ He also opens up about his decision to leave ‘The Daily Show’ behind before Comedy Central brought back Jon Stewart and elevated his former correspondent colleagues to become rotating hosts—as well as what it’s been like to bring some much needed humor to CNN in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s re-election.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Last Laugh. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast. |
| 0:09.3 | First off, I want to send my love and condolences to everyone impacted by the fires in L.A., |
| 0:15.2 | including many of the comedians who have been on this podcast. |
| 0:18.4 | I lived down there for many years and just moved up to the Bay Area not too long ago, |
| 0:22.9 | so I know a lot of people going through a really hard time right now. |
| 0:26.6 | So I'm thinking of you, and I hope things start to approach some sort of return to normalcy soon, |
| 0:31.9 | but I know it's going to take a lot of time. |
| 0:33.8 | Okay, so you may notice that my voice is kind of a mess right now, but I can assure you that |
| 0:38.9 | it was in great shape when I recorded today's interview with returning champion Roy Wood Jr. |
| 0:45.2 | Roy was last on this podcast around this time last year in an episode with his fellow |
| 0:49.7 | daily show correspondent, Jordan Klepper. |
| 0:51.8 | Since then, the Daily Show brought back John Stewart to host once a week and really elevated correspondents like Klepper to take the reins on a rotating basis the rest of the time. But Roy has missed out on this current era of the Daily Show after he decided to quit before he could get fired at the end of 2023. Once it became clear to him that he was not going to be chosen as Trevor Noah's successor. |
| 1:13.1 | But in that time, he has doubled down on everything that makes him, in my opinion, |
| 1:17.5 | one of the most successful comedians of his generation. |
| 1:20.4 | First and foremost, there is his brand new stand-up special, Lonely Flowers, |
| 1:24.6 | which premieres on Hulu this Friday, and I think is his best hour yet. |
| 1:28.3 | Then, there is his new role as host of Have I Got News for You, a sort of comedy quiz show on |
| 1:34.2 | CNN that just got picked up for a second season. We talk about all of this on today's show, |
| 1:39.7 | and as always, Roy is both very funny and super thoughtful about the comedy world and his place |
| 1:45.7 | in it. |
| 1:46.7 | So let's get to it in just a minute. |
... |
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