Comedy has forever been rooted in truth which is no different for comedy veteran Roy Wood, Jr.
As a beloved stand-up comedian, The Daily Show correspondent, and host of the Roy’s Job Fair and Beyond the Scenes podcasts, Wood continues to put forth work that is rooted in his truth which is exactly what has been delivered in the new Comedy Central stand-up, Roy Wood Jr.: Imperfect Messenger.
“I think we’re all imperfect messengers,” said Wood in an a recent interview with Shadow and Act just shy of the new year.
“I think all of us probably have something that’s worth saying that should be said,” he continued. “If people want to nitpick your opinion about the world, in total, they will [always] find something that they don’t agree with that disqualifies what you’re saying.”
For Wood, acknowledging that everyone might not agree with the message within the project’s title gives fans the advantage of knowing whether or not they want to engage.
“You probably don’t agree with me on everything that I think about in this world, so let me acknowledge that off the top,” Wood continued. “And if we acknowledge that through the title of the special, then we can proceed with having a conversation.”
It’s mainly about ensuring that the work he puts out is always rooted in the truth.
“What’s wild now is that truth is almost a relative term,” Wood recalled. “Unfortunately, you know, I can present my truth based on facts that I hope we agree upon, but with having a degree in broadcast, research is always a heavy part of that element and if there’s a topic that I want to talk about, then I want to know everything there’s to know about it first and then I want to know every opinion about it and once I have those two pieces of information, I can decide what parts of the issue people don’t talk about or, on the other hand all of the different places that the conversation can go from there.”
This particular comedy special hits home for Wood because it was shot during the thick of the pandemic and the filming process took on a much different approach.
“I did a run of shows in New York City back in May or June where we bagged everyone’s phones and we made it clear to the crowd that this is a new joke show where we let the audience in on what the process was,” Wood explained. “So it was less of a comedy sho and more of a focus group and over the course of three weeks, we took a lot of ideas and concepts that I had that were jello and turned them into concrete.”
Roy Wood Jr.: Imperfect Messenger is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
