Brownstein: Satirist Roy Wood Jr. will win hearts at Just for Laughs
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Roy Wood Jr. should touch all the bases when he hits Just for Laughs — both literally and figuratively.
One of the sharpest satirists on the continent, the former Daily show correspondent and host of CNN's Have I Got News for You news-panel series is equally adept at discoursing on American political buffoonery as he is on baseball. Audiences may even catch him sporting his beloved Expos jacket when he takes to the stage hosting a Gala, July 25 at Théâtre Maisonneuve, or when he does his solo 'experimental talk-show,' Today, Tonight … Tomorrow, July 26 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine.
Though a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Wood can feel our city's collective pain on the loss of the 'Spos. He makes his living taking shots at the powers-that-be, but baseball remains his holy ground, and little is more sacred to him than the power of a home run as exemplified in his new TV special, Going, Going, Gone: The Magic of the Home Run, now streaming on Roku.
Wood was in suburban Atlanta on Tuesday, both taking in the baseball All-Star Game in suburban Atlanta and commenting on the pure poetry of hitting dingers for the MLB Network. As always, Wood, who played some high-school and college ball, took his glove to the game — just in case.
'I love that old-school Expos logo and I'm also a big Andre Dawson fan,' says Wood in a Zoom interview, referring to the star outfielder known here as the Hawk, who spent most of his career with the Expos and Cubs.
Wood, like many an up-and-coming comic, got his start in the JFL New Faces series in 2006 and came back a decade later to perform in another show. But this is the first time he'll do the fest as a solo artist.
'I felt that an Expos jacket as a non-Canadian would be the safest thing to wear,' he cracks, noting he purchased the jacket in — yikes — Toronto on a JFL tour — that didn't come to Montreal — two years ago.
As a non-Canadian, he is also up to speed on the angst his president is imposing on Canadians with his ever-volatile trade tariffs.
'It's definitely a time now when as an American you're paying the price for someone else's policy,' he says, before jumping in with this chestnut: 'I just almost want that our voting results be made public so I could just go through Customs in the I-Didn't-Vote-for-Him Lane.'
'Regardless of what's happening on the federal level, Americans still have to pay close attention to state and local politics — when you look at the flash flooding that's happening in Texas that's taken over 100 lives. And when it's time to figure out who to blame, it's state and local … But I'm thankful to get up to Canada and argue with you guys about your politics,' he quips.
Anything to get his mind off the current state of affairs back home.
'It's almost surreal what's happening now. You've got one group of Americans who are basically still celebrating the (Trump) win, but still can't really tell you what they won. There's another group of Americans still fighting it. And then there is a third group who are in their own Dystopian let-me-know-when-this-is-over type situation. It's like a roller-coaster … you've got people up front with their heads down and their eyes closed, and you've got people in the back hanging on for dear life.
'People who love Trump still love him, but we will still need more time on blowback of some of his policies. It will be interesting to see what happens with his cuts on Medicaid in the next couple of years, with his spending-bill cuts. I'm not calling it 'a Big Beautiful Bill.' That's part of the problem: Americans want to give everything a title to make everything more glorious than what it is. … Stop it.
'It used to be kick-ass to be an American … now you just have to tuck your head down and go whoops and say 'sorry about that.''
The good news is American political parodists have an abundance of fodder, and Wood's career has been going gangbusters of late.
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that with his carving skills, Wood headlined the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2023 — under Biden as president — to its highest ratings since 2017. He also served as a Daily Show correspondent for eight years and later guest-hosted it for a period.
Apart from his baseball special, he appears in the coming film comedy Outcome, alongside Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill. And his book memoir, The Man of Many Fathers, will be released in October.
'That book is about all the dads who helped raise me after my father passed when I was 16,' elaborates Wood, the father of a 9-year-old son. 'We all encounter various people from whom we get our values. I don't feel our parents are exclusive instructors of a child's moral core. This is a collection of stories of random people, some of whom I can't even remember their names, and others like high-school coaches and Trevor Noah, all of whom helped me in one capacity or another. I'm just thankful to all these people who saw enough in me to take me under their wing.
'And I just want my son to learn and appreciate failure, because that is the key to success.'
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Winnipeg Free Press
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Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hulk Hogan's death resurfaces painful contradictions for Black wrestling fans
One of Kazeem Famuyide's earliest memories is sitting on his father's lap watching Hulk Hogan wrestle in the 1988 Survivor Series. His love of Hogan in the ring became inextricable from what would become a lifelong obsession with the sport — including a yearlong role touring the country and writing scripts for WWE's top talent. 'He was a superhero to a lot of people, including myself,' said Famuyide, who is Black and now co-hosts the WWE-themed podcast 'The Ringer Wrestling Show.' He remembers Hogan telling audiences to 'train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins,' often in front of giant American flags. But for the 38-year-old Famuyide and other Black wrestling fans and sports commentators, Hogan's death this week at 71 has resurfaced an irreconcilable contradiction in the iconic wrestler's legacy: Hogan's undeniable role in broadening wrestling's appeal to fans of all backgrounds versus his well-documented racism. 'You never really got the feeling that Hulk Hogan truly felt remorse,' Famuyide said. Reactions to Hogan's death reflect American divide on race 'The Right Time' podcast host Bomani Jones noted there were two sharply different reactions to Hogan's death. Remembrances have split between those who see no need to harp on past controversies and those who struggle with his behavior that got once got him banned from the WWE. 'This was never going to be one where people were going to mourn quietly,' Jones said. Hogan's death drew remembrances from politicians, celebrities and fans alike, celebrating his accolades. Many applauded how he was able to parlay his wrestling persona into movie appearances, brand deals, a reality television show and notable political influence. On Friday, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, whose fame arguably rivals Hogan's acclaim, paid tribute. Johnson, the son of pioneering wrestler Rocky Johnson, one of the WWE's first Black champions, said Hogan was a hero 'to millions of little kids.' 'You may have 'passed the torch' to me,' Johnson wrote under a 2002 video showing him and Hogan facing off at Wrestlemania. 'But you, my friend…you 'drew the house' meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the country in your prime as Hulk Hogan, on your way of becoming the greatest of all time.' Other notable Black professional wrestlers, from Booker T and Mark Henry, to Jacqueline Moore and Carlene 'Jazz' Moore-Begnaud, have found success and fame in the WWE. But just as many people took Hogan's death as an opportunity to regale Hogan's more controversial behavior. In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan over $115 million against Gawker Media, after Hogan sued them for posting a video of him having sex with his former best friend's wife. The litigation led to the discovery that Hogan had used racial slurs in 2007 to describe his daughter's Black ex-boyfriend. 'I am a racist, to a point,' Hogan said, before adding the slur against Black people, according to a transcript. Hogan apologized at the time and called the language 'unacceptable.' Around the same time, some outlets reported that Hogan used the same slur on a recorded phone call with his son. Hogan's enthusiastic endorsement of conservative political figures like longtime friend President Donald Trump made many people doubt the sincerity of that apology, Jones said. 'It's one thing to get caught on tape saying these things in private. It's another thing for you to decide publicly to align yourself with a cause that many Black people find antagonistic toward us,' Jones said. Professional wrestling has a history of reckoning on racist tropes For many Black wrestling enthusiasts, Hogan's death brings up familiar contradictions in how the sport deals with race. Lyric Swinton, 27, a freelance wrestling writer, first fell in love with the sport when she was 8. She describes wrestling as 'the most nuanced and colorful' form of storytelling. Although she feels representation has improved, Swinton remembers WWE use racist tropes in Black wrestlers' plot lines. Swinton recalls Shelton Benjamin having a 'mammy,' played by Thea Vidale, invoking a racist caricature. Swinton considers Benjamin one of the most talented wrestlers at the time, but feels he never got the recognition that his contemporaries did, in part because he was scripted to those roles. 'I kind of felt like I had to check my Blackness at the door,' she said. Hogan hasn't tarnished sport for all Black fans For WWE enthusiast and sports journalist Master Tesfatsion, the mixed reactions to Hogan's death mirror fault lines that exist throughout the country, and highlight how central wrestling has become in pop culture. Growing up, Tesfatsion, who is Black, remembers watching Vince McMahon, the company's co-founder and former chairman, use a racial slur in a match with John Cena in 2005; or the storyline in 2004 when wrestler John Layfield chased Mexicans across the border. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'In some strange way, the WWE always had a pulse on where America stood,' Tesfatsion said. 'You cannot tell the history of America without all these issues, just like you cannot tell the history of the WWE without these issues.' Tesfatsion was in the audience at Hogan's last appearance at a professional match in January. He was one of the many who booed Hogan. After decades of fandom, it was his first time seeing Hogan live. 'I never thought that I would see 'The Hulk' in person, and that I would resort to bullying him. But that's what his actions made me do.' Still, Tesfatsion said he will never stop being a super fan. 'I still love America, I still love the WWE. It's an emotional contradiction that I choose to deal with because I still find value in it,' he said.
