Roy Wood Jr.’s Full Circle: From Journalism to Comedy to ‘The Daily Show’

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“Roy Wood Jr. began his comedy career in 1998 at the age of 19 while studying journalism at Florida A&M University. He took off like a rocket, hosting a popular morning radio show in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, starring in the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son, performing on Conan and David Letterman, and making the rounds at comedy clubs nationwide. Now a huge hit as a correspondent on The Daily Show, the comic’s double-decade commitment to comedy is paying off in a big way. A few days after taping his first one-hour Comedy Central special in Atlanta, Wood Jr. took some time to talk to me from his “noisy-ass corner office” at TDS about politics, prank phone calls, and puzzles.”

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How Chris Cubas Spent $30,000 In One Month

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“In a new Fusion comedy documentary, Chris Gets Money, Austin-based standup comedian Chris Cubas endeavors to make sense of income inequality in America. Cubas grew up financially insecure and has never been able to comfortably make ends meet as an adult. Why? He works hard for over forty hours per week. His family worked hard. Why do so many hardworking people still struggle to pay for basic necessities like shelter and food? Cubas reasoned that if he could live like the super rich for a little while, maybe he would develop a more nuanced understanding of their logic. The documentary explores questions like, why do those in the top 1% find it sensible to purchase seven sports cars, but unreasonable to pay their employees a livable wage and offer health benefits? How is finding tax loopholes for wealthy people a real job? Is the American Dream truly achievable? Cubas gets money — $30,000 to be exact — to spend over the course of 30 days and embarks on an anthropomorphic journey into Austin’s wealthy westside.”

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Wanda Sykes on Standup, Parenthood, and This Nightmare Election

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“In her dazzling new one-hour comedy special, What Happened…Ms. Sykes? airing tomorrow night on EPIX, comedian Wanda Sykes is quirky as ever. Though familiar in style, her new material on motherhood, aging, and breast cancer reflects how much life has changed since the days of The Chris Rock Show and Pootie Tang. Since quitting her job at the NSA in her thirties, she’s won Emmy awards, written a book, started a family, hosted the White House Correspondents dinner, advocated for the LGBT community, starred in her own late night talk show, and lifted millions of people up with her comedy. What a life! Ms. Sykes took some time to talk to me about her insights on work, love, politics, and parenthood.”

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Derek Waters Is Living the Drunken Dream

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“Emmy-winning Comedy Central series Drunk History returns for a ten-episode fourth season tomorrow night. The new season features fascinating historical events, more endearing drunken narrators, and stand-out lip sync performances by all of our favorite funny people in the universe. Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda narrates the untold version of the Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr rivalry. Paget Brewster narrates the friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Busy Phillips) and Soviet soldier Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Mae Whitman). Other exciting guest stars featured this season include Jack McBrayer, Billie Joe Armstrong, Michael Cera, Ben Folds, Dave Grohl, Tony Hale, Ed Helms, Thomas Middleditch, Aubrey Plaza, Ronda Rousey, Liev Schreiber, Alia Shawkat, Bob Odenkirk and many more.

I had the privilege of speaking to the wildly gifted and charming Drunk Historycreator Derek Waters about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s personal life, death by Ronda Rousey, and turtles.”

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A Little Time with Quinn Marcus and Adam Pally

pally-quinn“You may not have heard of Quinn Marcus, but at a spry twenty-five years old, she’s already on her way to becoming a household name. It all began at the age of seventeen in the town of Little five Points in Atlanta, GA. Marcus hit the streets asking strangers funny, disarming questions for a series she dubbed Quinnterviews. She pitched the show to MTV-U and next thing you know, she’s sharing a laugh with Tina Fey, speed dating with the cast of Community, and exchanging hair caresses with Paul Rudd. A crossed path with Adam Pally, and A Little of Your Time With Quinn Marcus, a new show on ABC Digital, was born. Pally produced the show and Marcus stars, interviewing celebrities including Ben Schwartz, Terry Crews, Casey Wilson, Maria Bamford, Isaiah Mustafa, and Moby. The interviews take place in non-traditional settings like at Marcus’ house, on a basketball court, and around a campfire. Marcus has a gift for making her subjects laugh by just being herself. Her interviews are so much fun because she reveals the genuine person behind the media persona. She carried this spirit of authenticity into her short film, Alone With People, a funny, affecting story about coming out to her parents as a teenager. She’s onto feature films next, maybe talk shows and definitely more shorts. Who knows how far she’ll go? Pally certainly thinks she has what it takes to make the big time.”

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Ben Falcone on Being Partners in Comedy and Life with Melissa McCarthy

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“Before Ben Falcone became the writer/director/producer/actor/father/husband to Melissa McCarthy that he is today, he worked as a waiter at California Pizza Kitchen for seven years and performed with a comedy troupe at The Groundlings. Whether it was his abrupt firing from CPK or an inborn strength of character, Falcone seems to have maintained his humility and warmth amidst his family’s growing fame. Which is a great quality to have when your comedic success shows no signs of stopping. McCarthy and Falcone’s pilot Nobodies was just ordered to series, a new movie, Life of the Party starts shooting next month, and The Boss, a movie they co-wrote with Steve Mallory recently released on DVD with special features. I talked with Falcone about the couple’s favorite place to write, playing with dolls in volcanoes, and the joy of comedy in an uncertain world.”

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Ana Gasteyer Gets Into Character in ‘Lady Dynamite’

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“Legendary SNL cast member Ana Gasteyer lives up to her reputation on the brilliant new Netflix streaming comedy Lady Dynamite, on which she plays talent agent Karen Grisham. Created by Arrested Development‘s Mitch Hurwitz and writer/producer Pam Brady, Lady Dynamite follows comedian Maria Bamford (playing a version of herself) as she struggles with mental illness and her career in Hollywood.

If you’ve ever met a talent agent in the flesh, you’ve probably met someone like Gasteyer’s Karen Grisham. She chatters at the speed of light, flatters with abandon, and is prone to deranged bouts of irrational anger. Saying so much crazy so quickly was a challenge, but Gasteyer makes it look easy. Be forewarned: the jokes land swiftly, so it can be difficult to catch all the funny over the sound of your own laughter.

I caught up with Gasteyer on Lady Dynamite, her jazzy musical act, and method acting at the guacamole table.”

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How Andrée Vermeulen Turned Self-Loathing Mac and Cheese Into Celebratory Mac and Cheese

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“You may recognize Andrée Vermeulen as a house performer at UCB or as one of the many hilarious characters she played in CollegeHumor videos, but hopefully you now know her best as Dr. Monica Scholls in Steve and Nancy Carell’s hilarious hit series Angie Tribeca. If you haven’t yet seen the new slapstick comedy on TBS, you’re missing out. Vermeulen plays an all-business deputy medical examiner, analyzing forensic evidence for LAPD detective Angie Tribeca (Rashida Jones) and drawing absurd conclusions. We got the scoop on Vermeulen’s big break on Angie Tribeca, her self-loathing macaroni, and her dream role in the musical Hamilton.”

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Mo Welch on Larry Bird, Qweirdos, and Laughter in the Dark

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Photo credit: Mandee Johnson

“Whether she’s hosting The Mo Show, performing standup, making music videos, drawing her hilariously depressing cartoon, Barely Blair, or bringing her A-game on the basketball court onto the stage for the Larry Bird Variety Hour, the impossibly cool Mo Welch is constantly stretching the boundaries of her comedy and devising new ways to find the funny.

I got a chance to talk with Mo about the antics behind the making of her CBS sports special, Foul Ball, what it’s like to be Larry Bird, getting her start with The Grawlix, joining the Qweirdo community, and her unexpected moment of brilliance with a Pop-Tart.”

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