When Roy Wood Jr. left The Daily Show in 2023, he knew it was only a matter of time before he’d be back talking about the news of the day in some form. The looming election virtually guaranteed it. But his new gig as host of Have I Got News for You affords him the opportunity to flex some new muscles, as he aims to find the funny amidst both the serious and the sometimes trifling headlines.
“I get to be a little bit more silly,” Wood tells LateNighter of the new CNN series, which is adapted from a long-running British comedy panel series. “If I want to be heartless and just do a slick joke, I can. If I want to be shallow and talk about something less sensical, I can.”
In a way, Wood’s career has been a steady stream of proof points pushing against the idea that his eight-year tenure on The Daily Show meant the actor and comedian’s interests were limited solely to the endless U.S. election cycle and the resulting cultural collateral damage. Wood did some amazing work breaking out of The Daily Show box while he was working on the show—co-starring opposite Jon Hamm in Confess, Fletch; executive producing The Neutral Ground documentary; and creating stand-up specials like Imperfect Messenger, which showcase the true expanse of his interests.
Wood has continued finding new and unique projects since departing The Daily Show, including selling two scripts and one book, creating the outstanding Road To Rickwood podcast miniseries with NPR and Major League Baseball around the history of the Negro Leagues in his native Alabama, and recording a new stand-up special for Hulu.
LateNighter recently caught up with Wood to chat about his new hosting gig with Have I Got News for You, the challenge of launching a comedy show on a cable news network, Jon Stewart’s return to late night, and who he thinks should host The Daily Show full-time.
The history is mixed as far as being able to bring full-on comedy to a cable news channel. I’m curious about the challenge of that and if that was part of the appeal of Have I Got News for You to you?
The only challenge to comedy working on a cable [news] network is cable execs trusting the comedy producers. And it seems that we have that dynamic in place at CNN with the people at Hat Trick Productions, which is part of why I took the job.
My first real fear and concern was being managed by “news” people on what is and isn’t funny. To me, this show is 1000 percent about the jokes and not anybody’s political leanings or protecting anybody, even anybody within the network. And this includes critiques of the media, including CNN personalities. I think everybody has to be up for being joked about or talked about. We’re all part of this ecosystem of politics.
It’s also a real opportunity to talk about non-political issues and pop culture stuff. We want to be a little bit silly. But to also be able to see in a different light so many of our elected officials and journalists and media figures, because we’re going to have a ton of guests on this show as well. To me, that part is just as important in figuring out what the actual tone and tenor of the show is.
I really want people to watch this show for the laughs, then worry about the politics second. I think we succeed best when people get to watch this show and understand that they’re watching comedy and not news.
How does CNN’s show differ from the original BBC version?
I think a lot of how this show differs from the UK version is going to boil down to the type of energy our guests bring. From a humor standpoint, we have the same structure, the same people laid out with myself, Amber Ruffin, and Michael Ian Black.
I’ve fielded some DMs from nervous British people basically telling me, “Better not screw this up” in a very polite way. But I don’t think it’s fair to even try to emulate that because then we’re having to emulate the way Brits look at comedy or take in comedy. So, can we get a Boris Jonhson-type guest? Or do we even want that in America?
In the UK, you have politicians who are more inclined to make fun of themselves. We don’t know yet if we’re going to have that here in the States. I would love to have some sitting politicians come on the show, because it’s fun. When you look at what politicians do now, they don’t really go on TV and have fun anymore. They go on political talk shows, and they’re either on Morning Joe or Fox And Friends, and that’s really it…They’re not coming out to late night. You might get Hillary [Clinton] on Colbert or something, but it’s all revered and it’s a conversation.
I want to crack jokes. I want it to be perfectly clear that you’re coming on here for laughs. I would love for a politician to be as comfortable on my program as rappers are on Wild ‘n Out with Nick Cannon. [Laughs] You’re just here to have a good time and then go back to your life. Go back to your job. I would love to talk with Eric Adams about policy and then turn around and ask him if he thinks Lil Wayne should be performing at the Super Bowl.
What we have to also acknowledge here in America is that we have a different expectation of our politicians and a different expectation of our media. So, for the American version of this show to operate within a political structure, the same as the UK version, I don’t think that’s possible… It’s just going to come down to the things we try to make jokes about and the people we make the jokes with.
I don’t want to ask if you necessarily regret leaving The Daily Show because, just from talking with you over the years, I don’t think there would be regret. But when you see the changes that have happened on the show, from the celebrity guest host of the week model to Jon Stewart on Mondays and the news team other days of the week, what’s your response?
I’m happy for them. Jon Stewart came on my episode and I’m grateful to have even had an opportunity to be on camera with the man on the institution that he built. When I left the show, the Jon Stewart configuration was not even up for discussion. It wasn’t even a rumor. So I left the show based on the information I had at the time. Would I have stayed had I known that Jon was coming? I think it would be very tough to turn down an opportunity to work under Jon Stewart. That would be a very, very tough thing to walk away from. I don’t have regret because I made the decision based on the information I had at the time.
I think a lot of it boils down to: What are you trying to accomplish and what are you trying to say? And whether or not the show you have is giving you ample opportunity and space to do that. Up until that point, The Daily Show had always given me space to tackle stuff that I was curious about. A lot of the stories that the correspondents do, we pitch. So, it’s not always the writers and the producers pitching us. We get to go, “Hey, this is important to me. Can I go do that?”
My assessment of the show and leaving the show was never about whether or not I was a host. It was: Where do I fit into whatever the new system was. And if Jon Stewart was the system and there was a place where I felt like I fit and I could still do the things that were important to me while honoring what Jon wanted, I would’ve stayed. At least through the election. But I think, by and large for me, it was about making sure that I’m in a position where I’m able to do the things that I want to do, that I’m able to talk about the things that I want to talk about in some capacity and whatever medium affords that. And at that time, it didn’t seem like political satire.
So let me go write a couple TV shows and let me do a book about fatherhood, because I also want to talk about that. But in terms of regret for leaving because Jon’s there now? No, not in the least.
I’m happy for everybody over there. I’m happy ratings are up. I’m still going out on the road with [Jordan] Klepper. Ronny [Chieng] and I still argue over text. [Laughs] Still got a lot of friends in the building.
It’s hard to know if Stewart hosting is going to be a thing that’s going to continue after the election. Do you think they need to land on a permanent host or can they continue this as long as everybody is down?
I think that this last year with Jon Stewart and the news team has proven that the answer to the future of The Daily Show is in the building. Period…
I think the show is essential and remains essential to American politics. I don’t see a world without this show. Like anybody else, I’m sure Jon is tired. But the future of The Daily Show is in the building.
Getting back to Have I Got News for You: The gamified model obviously takes some wayback inspiration, but also more directly from what Jimmy Fallon has done and what James Corden was doing. And now there’s After Midnight; this feels of that same kind of cloth. It seems like people increasingly want a little less severity in their late night shows. Would you agree?
There’s definitely an opportunity with what we’re doing here to have a show that, essentially, can at least make you feel like it’s fun. Even though we’re still sometimes talking about some pretty sad sh*t, and pretty evil people, and pretty terrible things that are going on in the world. I think the gamification of late night definitely helps in the digestion of some of the content and some of the topics that are being broached. But we’ll see.
I just think it’s important for people to have a place on a weekend to exhale about the week. That’s all we’re trying to be. It’s just a comedic exhale. We can get back to seriousness and the mud and the muck on Monday morning. For me, that’s the real goal. The real win is that you’ve had six days to be angry about it. Now let’s see what we can find in the funny.
Have I Got News For You airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on CNN and is available to stream on Max the following day.
