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.”
Movie Reviews
Bandar Movie Review: Bobby Deol roars in Anurag Kashyap’s unsettling legal thriller that refuses to spoon-feed
Name: Bandar
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Bobby Deol, Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi, Saba Azad, Jitendra Joshi, Raj B Shetty
Writer: Sudip Sharma, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5/5
Plot:
Bandar follows Sameer Mehra’s character, essayed by Bobby Deol, a fading star who is desperately clinging to his past glory. Just as he attempts to rebuild his life and finds solace in a new relationship, his world comes crashing down. A former girlfriend files a heinous allegation against him, dragging him into a vicious, high-profile legal battle. Written by Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee, the film moves away from standard Bollywood courtroom setups. Instead, it dives straight into the murky waters of social media trials, public perception, and a sluggish judicial system where the truth gets buried under layers of gray.
What works:
Known for his chaotic energy, Anurag Kashyap takes a remarkably mature and controlled approach here. He avoids sensationalizing a highly sensitive topic, choosing instead to focus on the psychological claustrophobia of the protagonist. The prison sequences are exceptionally well-shot. They create a suffocating, raw atmosphere that makes you feel the weight of the character’s confinement. The script successfully avoids preachy, black-and-white monologues. It bravely forces the audience to confront their own biases regarding modern-day public trials and the digital judge-and-jury culture.
What doesn’t:
Clocking in at nearly two hours and twenty minutes, Bandar feels heavily weighed down in the second half. The narrative stretches thin, and a few subplots demand too much patience, making you wish for a tighter edit. The film stubbornly refuses to take a definitive moral stance or offer a neat resolution. While film enthusiasts might appreciate the complexity, mainstream viewers looking for a clear-cut ending or emotional payoff might walk away feeling detached and frustrated.
Performances:
- Bobby Deol is the beating heart of this film. Stripping away the massive macho swagger and menacing villainy of his recent hits, he delivers a deeply vulnerable, understated performance. He plays Samar with a mix of arrogance, confusion, and raw helplessness, proving his immense range.
- Sanya Malhotra anchors her screen time with her trademark reliability, turning in a grounded and impactful performance.
- Saba Azad and Sapna Pabbi excel in their respective roles, bringing genuine nuance to characters that could have easily been sidelined.
- Jitendra Joshi is an absolute scene-stealer, commanding your attention every single time he steps into the frame.
- Indrajith Sukumaran and Raj B Shetty are absolute show stealers with their raw acting.
Final Verdict:
Bandar is an unsettling, morally complex thriller that refuses to spoon-feed its audience. It isn’t a comfortable watch, nor does it try to be. While the sluggish pacing in the second half prevents it from being an absolute masterpiece, it is worth a watch for Bobby Deol’s spectacular acting reinvention and Anurag Kashyap’s gritty, thought-provoking storytelling.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Pinkvilla. No statement in this article is intended to defame, harm, or malign any individual or entity.
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Kathy Hilton will no longer be the grand marshal of West Hollywood’s pride parade.
The city and WeHo Pride on Wednesday released a joint statement, announcing that “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star would no longer serve as the Grand Marshal Icon for the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade. The event is scheduled for Sunday.
“After thoughtful discussions, the City of West Hollywood, the WeHo Pride production team, and Kathy Hilton have determined that the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade will not designate a Grand Marshal Icon honoree,” read the statement.
The decision comes less than a week after Hilton was announced. That May 28 announcement was met with swift backlash from the LGBTQ+ community and allies, who called out Hilton’s ties to President Trump and alleged MAGA-leaning politics. Critics also cited accusations that the socialite had used a homophobic slur while on a trip with other cast members of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” an action she has previously denied.
In their joint statement, West Hollywood and the WeHo Pride team expressed their appreciation for “the respectful and sincere dialogue” around both the event and the “role and significance” of Pride honorees.
“The City of West Hollywood has always believed that Pride belongs to the community,” the joint statement said. “Since its earliest days, Pride has served as both a celebration and a platform for activism, visibility, resilience, and the ongoing pursuit of equality, dignity, and justice for LGBTQ+ people. … These conversations reflect the passion people have for WeHo Pride and underscore the importance of ensuring that WeHo Pride continues to honor the history, values, and diverse voices of the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a statement, Hilton expressed gratitude for being considered for grand marshal and reaffirmed her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and causes.
“My reason for wanting to be involved in this year’s WeHo Pride weekend was simple: to celebrate, support, and share in the joy of a community that means a great deal to so many people,” Hilton said. “Pride is, and always will be, about celebrating and uplifting LGBTQ+ voices, experiences, and achievements. … My support for the community and WeHo Pride is unwavering.”
She also mentioned several queer advocacy organizations and events she has supported over the years, including GLAAD, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Dr. Mathilde Krim, God’s Love We Deliver and Project Angel Food.
The latest Pride-related dust-up follows the abrupt cancellation of the Long Beach Pride Festival in May. The city’s Pride Parade took place as planned.
Both snafus have occurred as conservative politicians and advocates continue to attack LGBTQ+ rights and visibility nationwide. Some Republican governors have even pushed for conservative alternatives to Pride month festivities. A recent Gallup poll has found that after years of steady gains, support for marriage equality and same-sex relationships has slipped, particularly among Republicans.
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Travolta’s “Propeller: One-Way Night Coach” is One for the Ages — All Ages
Back in the good ol’days — the ’90s — John Travolta would love to get off the topic of “Michael,” “Pulp Fiction” or “Get Shorty” in interviews with film journalists like me and regale us with how utterly besotted he had been with his first flying experience, how that drove his passion for piloting and buying planes and airfield-adjacent luxury houses.
He didn’t even seem to mind having to move house when this or that development balked at him flying his Boeing 707 out of there on the way to locations.
Travolta would tell any journalist who asked that he was writing a kid-friendly book, “Propeller: One Way Night Coach,” based on his first flights as a child in old propeller driven airliners — cheap red-eye overnight treks with too many connections for your average jet age traveller to tolerate.
I remember picking up the book when it came out later in the ’90s — at an airport gift shop — and thinking “Well, that’s as cute as I figured.”
And now, decades later and trapped in the B-movie hell of his post “Gotti” career, Travolta’s turned that cute book into the most delightful, fanciful and colorful bon bon of a movie.
“One Way Night Coach” is a child’s fantasy of flight and flying the way it used to be — with pristine, uncrowded, futuristic airports, an early ’60s era of jets and prop planes with over-uniformed stewardesses in white gloves, the days “Back before every Joe Sweatsock could wedge himself behind a lunch tray and jet off to Raleigh-Durham,” as Sideshow Bob memorably sneered on “The Simpsons’.”
It’s a fictionalized account of Travolta’s childhood about an only child (at least two Travolta siblings have bit parts in this movie) of a never-made-it/never-will actress/single-mom (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) who indulges her aviation-obsessed eight-year-old with a cheap cross-country overnight flight.
Little Jeff (Clark Shotwell) will revel in almost every Idlewild to Pittsburgh to Dayton to Chicago to Kansas City to Denver and Los Angeles minute. He strolls into the cockpit to meet pilots, charms the stewardesses and checks out the sleeping bunks on the TWA Lockheed Super Constellation, loving even the delays if not the Chicken Cordon Bleu he’s offered on legs of the journey that offer a meal.
And as he’s an observant child, he comments (Travolta narrates) on his 50ish mother’s vamping and posing, her choice of cigarettes (Newports) and drinks, the solo traveling men whose attention she pursues and earns.
“I was her best audience,” adult Jeff remembers of the mother who’d read him plays as bedtime stories and delusionally hopes that this trip to Los Angeles might be her “big break” even though she’s pushing 50.
“Hollywood called,” she’d explain about their overnight cheap flight arrangements to ticket agents and crew. “They told me to take the next flight!”
At every turn, Jeff meets or sees kindness — stewardesses who indulge his many questions and bump them up to first class on the mostly-empty planes, a captain who fixes his toy model of a Constellation, a mentally ill flyer who flips out but is calmed by a flight attendant who isn’t overworked and frazzled in jet-powered tin-can jammed with Joe and Jane Sweatsocks who think nothing of traveling in their pajamas.
Normally, I cringe at pictures this reliant on voice-over narration. I recoil from stars who populate their picture with Sandler etc. offspring. But “Propeller” is unfailingly sweet and never cloying.
Sure, it’s fictionalized. But if you’ve followed Travolta’s life and career, a lot of him is in this — his raptoruous engagement with flying, an indulged child who developed a taste for fine food and creature comforts, a mother who was his guiding star as an actor.
I get why there are less adoring reviews than mine floating around “Propeller.” It’s unfailingly sweet. Mom’s man-hunting is seriously dated. This TWA tale is decorated with Gershwin’s majestic “Rhapsody in Blue” — United Airlines’ signature tune. And Travolta’s been around long enough for recent generations to come up and not feel a connection to the “Saturday Night Fever/Get Shorty” star whose career has fallen off and life has been visited by too much tragedy.
But I’d hate to be seated next to anybody who doesn’t appreciate this adorable, pristine and nearly perfect aviation fantasy on any flight, much less an overnight one.
Rating: TV-PG
Cast: Clark Shotwell, Kelly Eviston-Quinnett, Ellen Travolta, Ella Beau Travolta, Olga Hoffmann and John Travolta.
Credits: Scripted and directed by John Travolta, based on his book. An Apple TV+ release.
Running time: 1:01
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