Roy Wood Jr. couldn’t stand a few things from Tuesday’s debate and it wasn’t his “silly critique” that the candidates should have chairs on stage.
The comedian, who spent several years as a correspondent at “ The Daily Show ,” told HuffPost that Donald Trump “deflected” and his ego showed itself as he faced off with Vice President Kamala Harris .
“They asked some question about immigration and he backtracked to a comment about crowd size. No one cares. What are your policies, sir? To me, that’s where my real concerns lie,” said Wood before moving onto the GOP nominee’s “eating the dogs” lie .
“I really feel like if there were a bunch of Black immigrants eating a bunch of gun-owners dogs, there would be a lot more shootings in Ohio right now. I’m not saying it’s not true but I’m saying it’s not true.”
The debate arrived just days before Wood hosts the Saturday premiere of CNN ’s “Have I Got News For You,” an American adaptation on the iconic BBC comedy news quiz show .
Wood will be joined on the new quiz show by comedians Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, who will serve as team captains for a rotation of guests each week.
The new gig comes a little less than one year after Wood announced he’d be leaving “The Daily Show,” which cycled through guest hosts as the comedian became a fan favorite to take the permanent spot.
Wood told NPR at the time that he wanted to take time to figure out what was next for his career since he didn’t get hit with an offer to be the host.
He said the “biggest thing” that drew him to the quiz show is being able to tackle stories that may go overlooked and having “a lot more latitude comedically” covering the week in its entirety, not just the week in politics.
“If we want to talk about the debate, we can,” Wood said. “Or, if I want to talk about why I don’t believe Haitians are making Caribbean chihuahua dishes in Ohio, we can. And we can approach that from a place of, ‘How ridiculous is it that this conversation is happening,’ all the way down to, ‘Hey, how stupid are you?’”
Wood revealed that he never stopped watching “The Daily Show” but stopped watching cable news “for awhile.” He’s turned instead to local news channels and also studied how late night hosts cover what’s in the headlines.
The comedian has, nonetheless, continued to weigh in on national politics. This includes his use of the hashtag #WhenITurnedBlack which later became a trend on the platform after Trump attacked Harris’ racial identity in July.
“It’s like, ‘Let’s just take what he said and apply it in a practical sentence,’ and then you will hear how batshit ridiculous it is,” he said.
Wood has previously expressed caution toward joking about Harris, though, and explained that he was worried about people “weaponizing” his quips after he hosted the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last year.
“If you can take a joke of mine to support your point at Fox News , then I need to be very very careful because, for a lot of people that are undecided, humor can be a validating factor to how you decide things,” Wood said.
He continued, “So I’m trying to give some considerations. I cannot keep people from twisting my words and twisting my jokes but I cannot, just because of who she is and because of the democracy that is at stake, not make a joke at all.”
Wood described the dinner, which he’s “absolutely” open to hosting again, as a “live Yelp! review of our leaders” when it’s at its best.
“And I think this show on CNN is a live Yelp! review of the week that was in our country and an opportunity, if we have elected officials on our show, to allow them to get a couple jabs in while also getting jabbed,” he said.
He said his goal with the quiz show, a fresh take on a program that’s been around for over three decades in the U.K., is to “wow” people and get them to fall in love with the product.
“And then have them find out much later it has British origins much like ‘The Office’ or Idris Elba,” he joked.
CNN’s “ Have I Got News For You ” will run for ten episodes starting Saturday through November 23.
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