Entertainment
Roy Wood Jr.'s 'Have I Got News for You' is 'a chance to live within the jokes first'
When Roy Wood Jr. played sports in high school, he spent a lot of time warming the bench — an experience that primed him for a career in comedy.
“Your job as a bench warmer is to come up with the heckles against the other team. I took pride in writing insults to hurl at other 15-year-olds,” Wood recalled in a recent Zoom interview. “If I could get the umpire to laugh, that was like an applause break. If I got the parents to laugh, that was the standing O.”
There on the sidelines, Wood discovered he was funny, a talent he has been honing relentlessly in the decades since. After years of nonstop touring, Wood’s elusive big break arrived in 2015, when he became a correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” His wry sense of humor and sharp takes on issues like race and criminal justice made him a standout on the late-night program known for launching comedic talent. But shortly after a well-received turn as emcee at the White House Correspondents Dinner last year, Wood announced he would be leaving “The Daily Show.” The news, which came amid a messy and protracted search to find a host to replace Trevor Noah, who stepped down in 2022 after seven years at the desk, was a blow to fans who considered him the ideal successor.
It didn’t take long for Wood to land on his feet, however: On Saturday, the comedian will make his debut as the host of “Have I Got News for You,” a panel show on CNN that will take on the week’s headlines and attempt to fill a void in the topical comedy landscape.
An American update on the BBC show of the same name — a fixture on British airwaves since 1990 — “Have I Got News for You” will feature guests from the world of politics and entertainment competing in a fast-paced news quiz. Joining Wood are fellow comedy veterans Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin, who are rival team captains. While comedy panel shows are an institution in the U.K., the closest equivalent in the United States might be the NPR quiz show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” “Have I Got News for You” will take on current events, but with a lighter, more nimble touch, Wood said.
Roy Wood Jr. says the show is “an opportunity to talk about the news, but we get to season it for taste, in terms of the depth in which we want to go on a particular topic.”
(Oliver Farshi / For The Times)
“We get to be in a very interesting piece of real estate in between, say, a Jimmy Fallon and a ‘Daily Show,’ ” said Wood, as he alternated sips of two smoothies, one a fruity pink, the other a healthy green. “It’s an opportunity to talk about the news, but we get to season it for taste, in terms of the depth in which we want to go on a particular topic.”
After so much time at “The Daily Show,” where every piece, no matter how silly, advanced a political point of view, Wood is looking forward to cutting loose.
“The burden of making the argument every single time is not on my shoulders anymore,” he said. “It’s a chance to live within the jokes first, the opinions second.”
For Wood, the intersection of news and entertainment is familiar terrain. He studied broadcast journalism at Florida A&M University, a historically Black school, and his father, Roy Wood Sr., was a pioneering radio reporter known for his coverage of the civil rights movement and Black platoons in Vietnam, who co-founded the first Black radio network.
Yet Wood also gravitated to comedy from a young age, watching movies by the Zucker brothers and Nickelodeon shows like “You Can’t Do That on Television” and “Clarissa Explains It All.” When the cable company in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., got Comedy Central, he discovered stand-up comedy, but it wasn’t until he was in college that he decided to give it a try. He started with open mic nights at nearby Florida State “so if I bombed, I could come back to the quaint quietness of my own campus.”
After graduating, instead of pursuing a job in journalism, he was hired as a morning radio host at the Birmingham station where his father had once worked. Because he was replacing comedian Rickey Smiley, whose prank phone calls were popular with listeners, Wood was forced to master the art too. “I did what I could to make them very effective, not realizing that in hindsight, those prank calls were the perfect training ground for man on the street interviews at ‘The Daily Show,’ ” he said.
He continued to hit the road and perform stand-up around the country. Wood’s early comedy was not very political, but as he grew older he began to explore socially conscious themes that were “innately buried in my subconscious,” he said, as a result of his upbringing in Southern, Black communities.
“The more hip you become to what’s going on in the world, you go, ‘Wow, this is what my dad was talking about. The government doesn’t care,’” he said. “All of those speaking engagements that I used to attend with my dad, where I was just in the back of the room playing my Game Boy and not paying attention, he was actually talking about some real stuff. That started becoming more evident in my work. Once I got ‘The Daily Show,’ I had to concede that I’m just a funnier version of my father.”
Wood joined “The Daily Show” just as the South African Noah was taking over for Jon Stewart, infusing the celebrated late-night show with a younger, more diverse, global perspective on the news. Wood’s tenure began a few months after Donald Trump announced his first run for the White House, overlapped with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, and spanned the COVID-19 pandemic and Jan. 6 insurrection. It was, to say the least, a complicated time to be making political comedy.
(Oliver Farshi / For The Times)
(Oliver Farshi / For The Times)
“The biggest thing I learned from watching Trevor Noah is to not let anger pollute your sense of humor. It’s infuriating what’s happening in America, but the moment you allow yourself to be consumed by the anger, you lose your ability to make fun of everything,” he said.
Wood recalls the episode taped on the day when the officer who killed Philando Castile was found not guilty. “I remember Trevor allowing not anger but compassion to drive the segment. As I recall, there wasn’t a single joke in that first act,” he said. “He just spoke sincerely to camera about where we are as a country. There were so many moments where Trevor could have used that pulpit to cuss America out, and he never did it, but instead he used calmness as a more precise scalpel.”
Noah abruptly left in late 2022, and a rotation of guests hosts, including Wood, auditioned to become his replacement. When it became clear that one-time front runner Hasan Minhaj wasn’t going to get the job, Wood started to worry that there was no plan for “The Daily Show” as it headed into an election year — and as massive changes were underway at Comedy Central’s parent company, Paramount Global. “At that point, Jon Stewart coming back was not in the conversation,” he said. “For me, it felt like, ‘What is life going to be like for me after ‘The Daily Show’? If they pick somebody that doesn’t want me as a correspondent, then what am I going to do next year?’ ”
He figured, “if I’m gonna have to eventually find a place to land, I should just start that process now.”
“Have I Got News for You” arrives at a moment of contraction for topical humor on TV, as networks scale back on the political programming that boomed during the Trump administration. But “Have I Got News for You” aims to fill a void for shows that fall in the middle ground between pop culture and politics. “We’re trying to discuss things that have stakes without putting stakes on them,” said Wood, noting that the show will tape Fridays, giving it an edge on late-breaking news.
“Roy is not a reporter, and he’s not a newscaster, but he certainly could be. He just happens to be hilarious,” said Ruffin, who hosted her own late night show on Peacock for three seasons. “Roy knows every current news story, but also the history of them, which is amazing to me. Even when you think, ‘Oh, well, he’s not gonna have the back story on this,’ he does.”
“Roy has a kind of gravitas. He feels like he belongs in that chair,” said Black, praising Wood’s ease as a comedian. “He just feels like a dude you might be hanging out with around the grill at a barbecue, whereas I’m the a— who’s going to be like, ‘Do you have impossible burgers?’ ”
Wood has been preparing by taking notes on Steve Harvey on “Family Feud,” because he is “the king of hearing something ridiculous, pausing and reacting to it and then getting the game back on track.” As for dream guests, he wants to book as many sitting politicians and newsmakers as possible, and hold them accountable — in a funny way. As he puts it, “Let’s laugh at the emperor for having no pants, and then let’s invite the emperor’s tailor on and find out, ‘Why did you not give any pants to the emperor?’ ”
And while he’s excited about “Have I Got News for You,” he’s keeping an open mind about the future.
“If ‘The Daily Show’ called, I’m not going to send them to voicemail,” he said, “but I am dating someone.”
“Nahir,” a brooding, glamourized and sexed-up account of a notorious Argentine murder case, is a mystery thriller that aims for engrossing and immersive that never falls short of quite watchable along the way.
Screenwriter Sofia Wilhelmi and director Hernán Gu
erschuny take great pains — with flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks — to show us several versions of the title character’s account of what happened the fateful night in which she allegedly killed her allegedly abusive lover.
We’re treated to backstory which dissects the aloof and mysterious teen beauty who either planned a crime of lover’s revenge, carried it out and took some pains to cover up her involvement, or didn’t. Not in the ways the earliest versions of her account of that fateful night played out, anyway.
Valentina Zenera plays Nahir as a vain beauty confident in her allure, even at her (seen in a flashback) quinceañera. Nahir dreams of riding the premiere float at Gualeguaychú’s famed carnival parade and riding that to fame as a model.
Not that she says much of this out loud. Nahir is depicted as inscrutable, controlled and controlling. All the boys fancy her and no one gets more of her attention, and manipulation, than 20 year-old Federico (Simon Hempe).
Nahir says they’re broken up. Then they’re together. As the narrative jumps back and forth from “before the crime” (in Spanish with English subtitles) to “after the crime,” we see both their torrid affair — “torrid” at least in his eyes — and her “No, we weren’t dating” way of describing it to her friends and eventually to the cops.
Because one night, Federico rides his motorbike to his doom.
We see how Nahir takes the “news” of his death. “Poker-faced” barely does that reaction justice. We watch the early questioning, the tear she tries to summon up or fake with a tissue.
And we learn that Nahir’s adored and adoring Dad (César Bordón) is a pistol-packing police officer. If there’s one thing that’s become accepted wisdom the world over in recent years, it’s the idea that police in most any country all consider themselves experts in one thing — knowing what they can get away with, and how.
When Dad says “I’ll get you out of here…I’m working on it. You’ll be home by New Year’s,” Nahir believes it. Is it because of what she knows, or what she knows that he knows?
As we see Nahir’s (perhaps) ex-beauty queen mother (Mónica Antonópulos) primp and prep her for a pageant and for a TV prison interview, we pick up on the dynamic of the household and the narcissism of our heroine.
“No crying,” Mom insists before her interrogation. Or did she? Federico’s come-ons are punctuated with a macho “I get anything I want.” Dad wasn’t shy about showing his pistol to would-be stalkers who stare at Nahir in crowds. His icy “princesa” never betrays any emotion at any of this.
The court case reveals more than just the lovers’ exchanged “love of my life” texts. Protesters demand “justice” for Federico, but witnesses paint a more complicated picture of their on-and-off romance. And as her situation isn’t quickly resolved — one way or the other — and her “story” changes, we wonder what really happened.
I like the way the story’s jumps backwards and forwards in time to wrongfoot the viewer. We’re given just enough information to decide on guilt or innocence, and then new information is brought to light. Think again.
Now on Amazon Prime, “Nahir” was longer when it played in Argentina, and reviews of this “true” story there weren’t the best. Perhaps it’s tighter, as the Prime cut of the film is 14 minutes shorter. Or perhaps Argentines are more invested in the story and uninterested in the doubts “Nahir” suggests.
Zenere, underplaying in ways that hint at the character’s similarities to Amanda Knox — accused because she underreacts to news of a murder — makes her character believably guilty or possibly innocent. And whatever verdict, she ensures the narcissistic Nahir is never seen with a hair out of place or eye shadow and earrings that aren’t perfectly matched, even behind bars.
Rating: TV-16, violence, sex, profanity
Cast: Valentina Zenere, Simon Hempe, Mónica Antonópulos and César Bordón
Credits: Directed by Hernán Guerschuny, scripted by Sofia Wilhelmi. An MGM release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:48
Entertainment
Watch Duty, first responders and Steve Guttenberg: Jimmy Kimmel's ode to 'superheroes' of L.A. fires
Jimmy Kimmel is moved by community support and the commitment of first responders amid a dark period of L.A. history defined by devastating wildfires and immense loss.
Returning Monday to his late-night TV slot, Kimmel delivered an emotional opening monologue about the “very scary, very stressful, very strange week here in L.A.” Several fires broke out last week across Southern California, stoked by a “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm. The most devastating blazes, in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, continue to burn and have damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 structures and killed 24 people.
“It’s been terrible,” Kimmel said after reflecting on the fires, including the since-extinguished Sunset fire that threatened his studio in Hollywood. “Everyone who lives in this city knows someone, most of us multiple people — families, friends, colleagues, neighbors — whose houses burned down, and the truth is we don’t even know it’s over.”
The last week has been a “sickening, shocking, awful experience,” but Kimmel also said a bright spot has been the “beauty from seeing the community coming together to support each other.” After briefly chiding President-elect Donald Trump for railing against California politicians, Kimmel turned the spotlight onto first responders, including the inmate crews that have been battling the wildfires.
“We should never stop thanking them,” Kimmel said. In addition to local and out-of-state first responders, the Emmy-winning host also lauded police, the National Guard, local news reporters and the Watch Duty app.
“Real superheroes,” he added.
Kimmel’s opening segment also praised the Angelenos who have organized donation drives, businesses that have offered support to affected residents and “unexpected hero” Steve Guttenberg. Since last week, the “Police Academy” star has remained in his Palisades neighborhood to aid emergency efforts. Guttenberg told Kimmel his latest mission has included saving a dog and putting out small fires in the area.
Although the fires have brought devastation, Kimmel said, the last week has also been full of various lessons — including those on firefighting terminology and emergency responses.
“I feel like I’m an expert now,” he joked. “Before this happened, most of what I knew about fire safety came from watching ‘Paw Patrol.’”
The final minutes of Kimmel’s 15-minute monologue featured a super-cut of local coverage highlighting community efforts, including donation drives and free meal services.
On Monday, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” team announced its efforts to give back to people affected by the fires. The production has set up a donation center behind its Hollywood studio, at 6901 Hawthorn Ave. The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until Friday.
SoCal residents should remain vigilant this week as officials voiced concern that a new round of strong winds, paired with dry fuel and low humidity, could result in new fires starting or existing blazes expanding. An unprecedented fourth “particularly dangerous situation” fire weather warning took effect Tuesday morning and is expected to last through Wednesday, affecting swaths of Los Angeles County and surrounding counties.
“Life-threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already here,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said during a news conference Tuesday. “We are taking an aggressive, lean forward posture … strategically placing fire patrols and engines in the unimpacted high fire risk areas in the city. We are carefully managing our operations to ensure that we can quickly respond to any new fires.”
Times staff writers Rong-Gon Lin II, Hannah Fry and Grace Toohey contributed to this report.
Watch Red Rooms on Shudder
This new dark psychological thriller is written and directed by Pascal Plante, who previously made Les faux tatouages (2017) and Nadia, Butterfly (2020). While I feel I have to describe Red Rooms as slow-burn, it really doesn’t feel like a slow movie.
It packs a real punch. Just in a different way!
Every cast member in this movie delivers a strong performance, but for me, it’s still very much about Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne. She’s the character we experience everything through. Even in long scenes, she’s always in the background. Watching and evaluating everything.
This is a Canadian movie (org. title: Les chambres rouges) which means the trial setting is different from the typical US setting. Instead, it’s more like the UK and French (for obvious reasons) trials you may have seen. However, this is another element that works perfectly.
Red Rooms premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. After its premiere, it went on to screen at several leading global film festivals. Including the Fantasia Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival.
Red Rooms begins Streaming On Shudder on January 14, 2025.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol arrested after stand-off with police
Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires
SEC sues Elon Musk, says he didn't disclose Twitter ownership on time before purchase
Caitlin Clark's alleged stalker has contentious 1st hearing with Indiana judge
EXCLUSIVE: Red state sues insurer for using customer data to build ‘world’s largest driving behavior database'
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires
SEC sues Elon Musk, says he didn't disclose Twitter ownership on time before purchase
Palisades and Eaton Fires May Not Be Fully Extinguished for Weeks
The top 5 moments from Pete Hegseth's Senate confirmation hearing
Rescuers recover 36 bodies and 82 survivors from South African gold mine
-
Health1 week agoOzempic ‘microdosing’ is the new weight-loss trend: Should you try it?
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822586/STK169_ZUCKERBERG_MAGA_STKS491_CVIRGINIA_A.jpg "Meta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech")
Technology6 days agoMeta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech
-
Science3 days agoMetro will offer free rides in L.A. through Sunday due to fires
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25821992/videoframe_720397.png "Las Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion")
Technology7 days agoLas Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ Review: Thai Oscar Entry Is a Disarmingly Sentimental Tear-Jerker
-
Health1 week agoMichael J. Fox honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom for Parkinson’s research efforts
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoMovie Review: Millennials try to buy-in or opt-out of the “American Meltdown”
-
News7 days agoPhotos: Pacific Palisades Wildfire Engulfs Homes in an L.A. Neighborhood