Brownstein: Satirist Roy Wood Jr. will win hearts at Just for Laughs
By
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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As well having suddenly traded in English lit for budget sheets, Menzies had to learn and quickly master the art of balancing those budgets. 'She told me once that the first thing she did every morning was read the entire business section of the Winnipeg Free Press,' says Stobbe, who got to know Menzies in the 1990s while playing with the MCO. JOE BRYKSA/FREE PRESS In 2003, Menzies (right) moved from the MCO to the struggling WSO as Interim Director, seen here in 2004 with violinist Claudine St Arnauld. Potential funders, donors and board members — Menzies was, by all accounts, always on the hunt for allies and resources to better the organizations she led. With its footing now secure, the MCO could find a proper office and finally start delegating. By the 1990s, the orchestra had hired Elise Anderson as its office manager, Jon Snidal as its designer and systems manager and violinist Boyd MacKenzie as its concert manager. 'Find(ing) good people. That was a real strength of hers,' says Vicki Young, Menzies' successor at the MCO. 'To bring on people like Elise and Jon and Boyd — I think is pretty incredible.' All of them are still associated with the MCO in some way, while today a new generation of staff and musicians carries the torch, including Sean McManus, executive director since 2023. The original team supported the orchestra through a showing at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, tours across the world and countless commissions of new Canadian music. Supplied Menzies was an accomplished organist, which can be traced back to her early practice sessions at the family piano. The MCO was also earning a rep as a solid stop for famous touring soloists, with Joshua Bell, Marc-André Hamelin and Liona Boyd all sharing the stage with the orchestra in those years. When Young assumed the MCO's reins in 2003, she had a rarity in her hands: a classical ensemble with loyal employees and musicians, a consistent streak of balanced budgets and a deeply engaged, supportive audience base. '(Rita) was always thinking ahead and setting a really good foundation for what was to come,' says Young. Over the next 20 years, the MCO saw a continued streak of balanced budgets, more growth and further professionalization of its board, touring and movement towards more multicultural priorities. It benefited not just from Menzies' foundation but something more ineffable. Menzies was valedictorian at her Grade 12 graduation. Veteran staff will tell you about a cultural throughline at the MCO — a democratic ethos with a strong, trusted leader acting as first among equals — that they trace back to Menzies. 'She was described as kind of having a calming effect on an organization,' says her daughter Jeannette. 'I saw her as a trailblazer. But I think my mom would probably be mortified (to hear that) because she really would give equal credit to Jon, Elise and others.' Though Menzies' so-called retirement was packed with Agassiz commitments and volunteer work, her tireless sense of industry found rhythm in the pastimes she loved most. She was known as an extraordinary cook and a lifelong learner, picking up watercolour painting in retirement. As a consummate hostess and longtime member of the Westminster Concert Organ Series Committee (founded by her husband in 1989 and running until the pandemic), she prepared many dinners for guest organists and the receptions following concerts. The couple sometimes oriented their many trips across the world around performance opportunities for Don and made regular pilgrimages to the Ottawa area to see their granddaughters, Grace and Olivia Kennedy. 'Behind everything was Rita's love of life, her family, music, the arts, of people and of the Winnipeg community,' says Marleyn. Menzies with her daughters Tanis, Jeannette and Jennifer. 'She avoided the stage and public attention, yet somehow quietly lead her workplaces with elegance, industry, effectiveness … Rita gave us all such a magnificent example of what the qualities of honesty, kindness, hard work and love can achieve.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
