“They rioted because they didn’t want to work until they were 64,” Roy Wood Jr. said at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner tonight about the recent rebellion over pension reform in France. “Meanwhile in America we have an 80-year-old man begging us for four more years of work,” daily show Correspondent paired with President Joe Biden sitting a short distance away
“Let me get the job done,” Wood Jr. said of POTUS’ recently announced re-election campaign. “It’s not a campaign slogan, it’s a plea.”
Following Biden on stage at the Washington Hilton in front of the Beltway and Hollywood elite for the current administration’s second in-person WHCD, Roy Wood Jr. might not have much name recognition from his old boss and last year’s headliner, Trevor Noah. But the Alabama-based comic went up in flames on Saturday. In a routine that moved from ridicule of the powerful to attention to racism, sexism (specifically against VP Kamala Harris), hurting American democracy and the need for an honest free press, Wood brought down the house and delivered a The strong POTUS performance left as an affectionate memory.
Wood Jr. began his remarks by saying, “Tonight, we are all united under one thing, and that is scandal.” “The scandals are hurting careers this year,” he said of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon’s pink slips by Fox News and CNN and the $787.5 million settlement of the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet. Trial over 2020 false election claims from Dominion Voting Systems.
“The untouchable Tucker Carlson is out of a job,” Wood Jr. said with perfect pitch from the president’s sealed podium. “Some people celebrate it,” he announced to the audience, who were mainly clearly happy to see the one-time ratings kingpin. “To Tucker’s staff, I want you to know that I know what you are feeling. I work at The Daily Show so I too am saddened by the sudden departure of the fake-news-program host. I’m blindsided,” he added, with a comparison to Noah, who left the Comedy Central series in recent months. Tucker gets hit. caught like that dude from vanderpump rules,he said in the crowd with members of the Limbo Low Bravo reality show.
Wood Jr. said, “Speaking of asses, Don Lemon is out of a job,” touching on material previously explored by Biden in a softer way. “Don Lemon. My dog, Don Lemon. Don Lemon released a statement saying he was fired from CNN, then CNN released a statement saying they offered Don a meeting. They had to split, because Don Lemon can’t even accurately report a story about Don Lemon.
Of course, with the first and second families sitting right next to him at the WHCD top table, Wood Jr. felt compelled to take a scathing attack on Biden and Vice President Harris. Part of the glory of his routine tonight was how the one-time journalism student flipped the script repeatedly and deftly.
Wood Jr. said of Biden, “What you want with our president, when he wakes up from that nap, gets the job done.” “That may be off but then there’s this infrastructure bill. Student loan forgiveness. Bring home Brittany Griner.
Caught up in the scandals of Donald Trump’s presidency and post-presidency, Wood Jr. sees the current administration’s own soft underbelly.
Wood Jr. returned to his main topic, saying, “I think the most outrageous scandal of the Biden administration was laid at the feet of our Madam Vice President.” “Scandal: What does Kamala do?” He continued. “Which is an outrageous question. It is an outrageous question because nobody asked the vice president that question until a woman got the job,” Wood Jr. said. “I don’t know what Mike Pence did. Did. The only thing I know about Mike Pence is that he’s really good at playing hide and seek in the Capitol.
“At the end of the day, as a vice president, the only thing you’ve got to do is be better than Dick Cheney,” Wood Jr. deadpanned in reference to the veep who takes pride in his Darth Vader nickname. The WHCD headliner said, “If the job of a VP is actually waiting to step in to save the country in case of emergency, then the job of vice president is the perfect job for a black woman, it shouldn’t be, but it is.” The crowd waited to see where he was taking it all. “And whatever you accomplish, whatever you accomplish, whatever they do, they give credit to just one guy… They just give credit to one guy that you do. And by the way, Mr. President, great job being the first female vice president… I don’t even know how you did it, amazing job.
Unlike Biden and Harris, scandal-plagued Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wasn’t at WHCD tonight, but he was on thoughtful Wood Jr.’s target list — funny and not so funny
Wood Jr. said of the GOP and others’ denunciation of critical race theory as a concept and a curriculum, “The anti-CRT policies are an assault on black history and an attempt to erase the contributions of black people.” Wood Jr. hit out at conservative and controversial justice with the punchline, “A lot of black people wouldn’t mind some of that erasure … as long as that black person is Clarence Thomas,” we can all see Clarence Thomas. ..but that belongs to billionaire Harlan Crowe – and that’s an NFT,” Wood Jr. said, bringing up undisclosed luxury travel, real estate deals and more Justice Thomas and his family have been beneficiaries of a man whose business front Was of Scotus.
Taking his first moment in the Beltway WHCD spotlight and in the ballroom with his mother, Wood Saturday also made it a point to highlight the work that his parents did in their commute and in the world. The comedian also praised the power of local journalism in a country where local reporting is being lost in many towns and cities.
Daring to challenge the bigwigs in front of him and his business model, including Shari Redstone and many of his Paramount Global bosses, the veteran stand-up comic offered the media some advice in their best interest in today’s divided America. “All necessary, fair and nuanced reporting,” Wood Jr. said. “It’s all stuck behind a pay wall… say what you want about a conspiracy theory, but at least it’s affordable.”
Not the first time nor the last time tonight Roy Wood Jr. received an encouraging and well-deserved response.