Latest / Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger / Money, Family & Comedy w/Roy Wood Jr.

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Money, Family & Comedy w/Roy Wood Jr. · Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Men who have family have a different smile than men who have success.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00: When did that dawn on you?
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SPEAKER_00: I started hanging around people with families.
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SPEAKER_00: I realized that I kind of have that.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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I'm in a great co-parenting situation,
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but we're not all under one roof anymore.
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But I've been around comedians who have something to go home to
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after the gig.
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SPEAKER_00: And the comedian that's going home
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SPEAKER_00: To a family versus the one who's going home To,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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some last call sex It's two different grins It's one that's
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much more fulfilling
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There's a happiness that lasts beyond the stage When you have
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other people in your
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SPEAKER_00: life Who you can appreciate and who appreciate you
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SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, welcome back to Reasonably Happy.
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SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Roy Wood Jr.
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SPEAKER_01: who is one of the most brilliant American comedians of his generation.
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You know him from The Daily Show and from his acclaimed
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stand-up comedy specials
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SPEAKER_01: where he proves that smart comedy
1:02
SPEAKER_01: We'll be right back.
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SPEAKER_01: In addition to The Daily Show,
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SPEAKER_01: Roy has performed on The Tonight Show,
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SPEAKER_01: The Late Show with David Letterman,
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SPEAKER_01: BET's Comic View,
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SPEAKER_01: and many other top TV programs.
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He is now the host of the CNN current events comedy show,
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Have I Got News for You.
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SPEAKER_01: His 2025 memoir,
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SPEAKER_01: The Man of Many Fathers,
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SPEAKER_01: explores,
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SPEAKER_01: among other things,
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SPEAKER_01: Roy's complicated relationship with his father,
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SPEAKER_01: Roy Wood Sr.,
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SPEAKER_01: You're never going to be perfectly happy all the time.
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SPEAKER_01: The best you can hope for is to be reasonably happy.
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Reasonably happy Most of the time I don't think I've ever shown
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up with any restrictions.
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SPEAKER_00: Other than saying where I live on air.
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SPEAKER_01: Right.
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SPEAKER_00: What could possibly go wrong with that?
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SPEAKER_00: That's the only thing I don't do.
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And then what's funny is that I'll get on a show and lie about
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where I live and
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SPEAKER_00: then they'll ask me a follow-up question about that neighborhood.
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So now I have to learn the whole fucking history of a
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neighborhood just to maintain
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SPEAKER_00: the lie because you fuck up and meet a real New Yorker.
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Then I started lying and saying Jersey Cause that's
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uninteresting Wrong Right Until
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you meet somebody from Jersey Yeah Then they wanna know what
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street And why are you
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asking me these questions In front of rolling cameras Where do
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you live so everyone
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SPEAKER_00: can know Just tell all the people Let's dox you right here
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I did your introduction separately so we'll roll right in so I
3:04
gotta ask you about
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the correspondence dinner so you hosted that what was that in
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23 you hosted yeah
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somebody asked me because I didn't know the shooting had
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happened I was Saturday
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night I was in Las Vegas with my son watching a taping of
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BattleBots oh cool that's
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SPEAKER_00: awesome
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Wearing a Robot I don't know how to describe how I got into it
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but it's just
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wrestling but it's robots instead of people beating the shit
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out of each other it's
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two teams of engineers and strategy and it's interesting and
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I'm leaving and you
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SPEAKER_00: know Vegas is three hours behind
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So I'm like getting ready to go to bed and I'm seeing the text,
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did you see it?
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SPEAKER_00: Man, that was crazy, the correspondence then.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, the comedian, the mentalist or whatever.
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When you hear,
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it was crazy and then I saw the updates on my phone the next
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morning.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh.
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SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh shit, it was dangerous.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's interesting.
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SPEAKER_00: I think whether it was a plan or staged or whatever, bullets flew.
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SPEAKER_00: So that part of it, I don't think you can get around.
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SPEAKER_00: I think that part of it is scary.
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SPEAKER_00: Having done the correspondence dinner,
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SPEAKER_00: I know the degree of security,
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SPEAKER_00: but he was never going to get to the president.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00: Now I'm trying to think back to the security bubbles in 2023.
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SPEAKER_00: There is a metal detector when you come into the hotel at the very front,
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SPEAKER_00: like in the lobby,
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SPEAKER_00: there's a metal detector.
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SPEAKER_00: But before you even get to the front of the hotel,
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SPEAKER_00: there's like two or three outer orbit,
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SPEAKER_00: outer perimeter checkpoints.
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You have to show your ticket before you even get close to the
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fucking hotel.
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how this person got in there with all the guns and all the
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train and ran across
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SPEAKER_00: country and all of that.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
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It's to the point now with certain news stories,
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bro,
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I don't even read the first two articles.
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SPEAKER_01: You wait and see.
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SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be two more articles to refute what was in that article.
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So like if the shooting happened Monday,
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I'll start clicking links Tuesday,
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Wednesday.
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SPEAKER_00: Once there's more follow up,
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SPEAKER_00: once we know who the suspect and we have more information,
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SPEAKER_00: but all of the breaking news aspects of it,
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SPEAKER_00: Nah, when I left Daily Show I stopped watching the news every day.
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Because with the CNN show,
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that show that I host now is about the totality of the week.
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SPEAKER_00: As opposed to what happened that day.
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SPEAKER_00: Daily Show is every day.
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SPEAKER_00: You need to have a joke today.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: You need to show up in a writer's meeting today with the joke.
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SPEAKER_00: CNN, I don't need a joke till Friday.
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SPEAKER_01: So you can wait for it to gel.
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SPEAKER_00: The shooting happened Saturday.
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SPEAKER_00: I got six days, bro.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00: And the story and the narrative is going to change over that time.
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SPEAKER_00: So consuming news to be informed,
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SPEAKER_00: headline,
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SPEAKER_00: couple paragraphs,
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SPEAKER_00: USA Today,
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SPEAKER_00: New York Times,
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SPEAKER_00: that'll give me the what happened,
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SPEAKER_00: who,
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SPEAKER_00: what,
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SPEAKER_00: why,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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SPEAKER_00: whatever.
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But everything else,
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nah,
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I don't get into the weeds on that until later in the week.
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Chappelle talks about the difference between a good joke and a
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good point.
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SPEAKER_01: How do you know when a joke,
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SPEAKER_01: when a good point becomes a good joke in your television production?
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SPEAKER_00: I think a good point they clap, a good joke they laugh.
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SPEAKER_00: If you do both at the same time they cheer.
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SPEAKER_00: I think that's the thing.
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But I think also we have mistaken good points for good jokes
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because people cheer.
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SPEAKER_00: We think that cheering is laughter, and it's not.
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SPEAKER_00: They're both positive responses,
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SPEAKER_00: both positive human responses,
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SPEAKER_00: but I would not equate those two things to being the same,
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SPEAKER_00: which is why you have a lot of claptor,
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SPEAKER_00: if you will,
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SPEAKER_00: in the industry.
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And that's just approval of you,
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that you're a good person,
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you're on the right side.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah!
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SPEAKER_00: That's not a joke.
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SPEAKER_00: Great points.
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they seem to be engaged and entertained okay fine but don't
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tell me that was a good
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joke you can tell me that people are entertained but you can't
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tell me that that
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was a hilarious way to present the thing yeah so you know I
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think we are we are
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SPEAKER_00: emotionally scarred as a society so anybody offering any type of salve
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Like anybody that's getting on stage and has a louder voice
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than you and further
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reach than your own voice saying the things that you believe in
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you're going to
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cheer them on because they're a germination of your ideology
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but Chappelle's right
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in that regard there's definitely a difference between a point
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and a punchline but
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SPEAKER_00: if you do it right you can make a point
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SPEAKER_00: with a punchline.
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SPEAKER_01: That's kind of your thing.
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I mean,
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that's,
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I watched three of your four specials getting ready for this.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: And this is,
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SPEAKER_01: each one is its own sort of polished gem with a beginning,
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SPEAKER_01: middle,
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SPEAKER_01: and end,
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SPEAKER_01: and a theme running throughout.
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SPEAKER_00: I tried to.
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SPEAKER_00: In the first one, Father Figure got a little shaky at the end.
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SPEAKER_00: I started talking about the Titanic movie and some other shit.
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SPEAKER_00: But that one...
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SPEAKER_00: But the most recent one,
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SPEAKER_00: the Hulu one,
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SPEAKER_00: Lonely Flowers,
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SPEAKER_00: was probably the most,
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SPEAKER_00: Imperfect Messenger too,
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but Lonely Flowers was probably the one that I worked best at
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trying to put
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everything under the umbrella of loneliness and human
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disconnection as a whole.
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SPEAKER_00: And then, all right, if that's what you're curious about this year,
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why do you like establish a thesis and then try and have jokes
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that support that
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through line of everything so yeah that's I enjoy because I
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feel like man watching
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George Carlin man George Carlin was the best at getting you to
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laugh at something
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you may not agree with or you discover something you see the
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world through a
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different prism yeah because of the way he's presented
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something so I've always
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SPEAKER_00: enjoyed that
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I don't think I've gotten near that stratospheric level of
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cleverness in writing
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but yeah I enjoy if you can make a point but make it funny
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that's a better that's a
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better task well I think I think you did do that in the and I'm
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sorry I don't know
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the name of the special but when you talked about as a black
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man buying an iPhone
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case at Best Buy yeah and the guy the guy asked you if you need
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a receipt and
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SPEAKER_01: This had never occurred to me.
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SPEAKER_01: And,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: in the last six years,
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SPEAKER_01: you get a lot of this kind of like,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: understand,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: black lives,
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SPEAKER_01: this,
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SPEAKER_01: that and the other.
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SPEAKER_01: But you don't it doesn't you don't understand how it affects daily life.
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SPEAKER_01: But you said base level you got it.
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SPEAKER_01: I got it.
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SPEAKER_01: I need a receipt.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have to leave the store.
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Me leaving without a receipt is not an option because I need to
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be able to prove
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SPEAKER_00: that I bought this when security potentially comes to tackle me.
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SPEAKER_01: And you told a story,
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SPEAKER_01: a funny story that broke through and it was like,
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SPEAKER_01: oh,
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SPEAKER_00: shit,
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SPEAKER_00: I guess that's true.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: And it's just but it's not me going.
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you white you bad it's just here's something you may not have
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considered not only
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do I need the receipt I need you to staple it to the outside of
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the bag like
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Chinese carryout because I need everyone to see this there was
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a there was a line I
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dropped it as the joke as the joke developed for the special
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where I say you have
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SPEAKER_00: to hakuna matata your food no that was in the special okay
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like yeah just the idea of something as simple as a receipt
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being freedom papers
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for a black customer right it's just a paranoia and I'm not
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saying every store is
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racist I'm just saying I'm gonna have a receipt there's gonna
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be a credit card
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there's gonna be one of my biggest paranoias is paying for
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something at one store
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without a receipt and walking into a new store with the item
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and that store sells
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SPEAKER_00: that item right like if I bought a Dasani at
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I don't know Chipotle in the airport and I've got a Dasani that
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I paid for with no
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receipt in my back pocket and then I go into the Hudson News in
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the airport to buy
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SPEAKER_00: something else but they also sell Dasanis.
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SPEAKER_00: They don't think there's Dasani in my back pocket.
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Bro I'll come in the store with the Dasani in my hand Statue of
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Liberty so the
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security footage like that's the level of paranoia I have
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sometimes and I know
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SPEAKER_00: that's not healthy but it keeps me free.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
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How long had you been doing comedy when you believed in
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yourself enough to start
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SPEAKER_01: making points as opposed to just making jokes?
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SPEAKER_00: 12 years, it was over 10.
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SPEAKER_00: Wow.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I started in 98.
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I did Letterman in 06 I was flirting with it then but it was
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more observational I
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wasn't trying to make a point and then Conan it started getting
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a lot more edgy
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just about societal commentary so that's like 2011 2012 I did
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Conan probably four
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SPEAKER_00: or five years in a row that was like my only
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SPEAKER_00: That was the only show that would book me at that time.
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SPEAKER_00: Because?
12:38
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
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SPEAKER_00: You have to ask the folks that tell me no.
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SPEAKER_00: There was a stretch where only Conan O'Brien would book me.
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SPEAKER_00: It was the only late night show.
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SPEAKER_00: It was the only late night credit I could get.
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SPEAKER_00: And so during that time, Conan had a booker, this guy named J.P. Buck.
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And I'd known J.P.
12:54
since 03 when he booked the Star Search reboot for CBS.
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SPEAKER_00: So J.P. would have me on Conan.
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and he kind of understood my edge or whatever and I guess it
13:08
came across in a way
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where it's it's likable anger or whatever and so that was the
13:15
beginning of the real
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transition and then I had my son and so my son is born 2016 and
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when that happens I
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really start sitting down and looking at the world with a much
13:26
more broader POV and
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SPEAKER_00: then I'm like all right this world's screwed up all right let me
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SPEAKER_00: really start firing from the hip.
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SPEAKER_00: But you also have to keep in mind, I started at 19, man.
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And so when you start standup that young,
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I believe it stunts your maturation.
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SPEAKER_00: It stunts your POV to a degree, potentially.
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SPEAKER_00: Why's that?
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SPEAKER_00: Because you're young, you don't know anything.
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SPEAKER_00: So your jokes are all just your world and what you know right now.
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SPEAKER_00: So you go through this period
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SPEAKER_00: from late teens to mid-twenties where you still act as if you're young.
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SPEAKER_00: I feel like you're a teenager until you're mid-twenties.
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SPEAKER_01: That's when your brain becomes fully formed.
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SPEAKER_00: Unless you are first responder or troop or danger job.
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and you done seen some shit which matures you faster you know
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incarceration like
14:27
any trauma will mature you fast but if you're just a general
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college grad working
14:31
part time at a radio station and doing road comedy you still
14:35
think and behave young
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SPEAKER_00: you binge drink you're you just you're out late party party
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then you get into your late 20s early 30s and you still want to
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behave like you're
14:45
in your 20s but responsibility is starting to weigh down on you
14:50
a little bit you
14:51
may have a kid by this point you got a relationship and that
14:54
may be weighing you
14:55
down so now you have to start maturing even though you've had a
15:01
damn near 10-year
15:02
SPEAKER_00: run of not needing to
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SPEAKER_00: These jokes about my roommates eating my food, they work perfectly fine.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, why does Nelly wear a Band-Aid?
15:13
That joke works perfectly fine in your 20s and you keep trying
15:16
to write that type
15:17
SPEAKER_00: of material and then one day you're too old for it.
15:20
You know,
15:20
I did colleges for a good 10,
15:23
15 years and then one day you're just,
15:26
you age out.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: They're like, who's this old guy?
15:28
Unless you continue to be like proverbially young and youthful
15:35
in your material
15:36
which requires you to have a knowledge of things that in your
15:40
30s you may no longer
15:41
care about the same so now it's performative and if you're not
15:45
careful that eats
15:46
you alive inside because you're not being true to yourself on
15:49
stage like I know
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SPEAKER_00: college guys I know comedians who do colleges
15:56
and they are great and they still do them they do them into
15:58
their 40s and 50s
15:59
because they know how to connect with those kids but that
16:01
requires a level of
16:03
research and societal analysis and consumption of their world
16:07
like I remember late
16:10
SPEAKER_00: into my 20s early 30s before college money dried up
16:14
Like I would deliberately watch MTV too I would when
16:17
terrestrial radio was still
16:19
more of a thing I would listen to the top eight at eight songs
16:22
Cause I need to know
16:23
who these artists are I need to know what you're consuming To
16:26
have cultural touch
16:27
points Because relatability is your first weapon on stage
16:31
Especially when it's an
16:32
audience that you're getting further and further away from in
16:34
age Yeah So they're
16:36
gonna assume I don't know anything When I was 20 and doing
16:39
colleges We're all in
16:40
SPEAKER_00: this together Don't you hate book buyback?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah!
16:44
And then one day you're the old guy in your 30s and you go,
16:47
you hate book buyback?
16:48
SPEAKER_00: And they go, we download PDFs.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: We don't even go to the bookstore unless you're a med student.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Don't y'all watch music videos?
16:57
SPEAKER_00: No, MTV2 has been off the air.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: They took the TVs out of the cafeteria because everyone has their phones.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not keeping up with that type of evolution,
17:06
SPEAKER_00: you have to be forever young to perform for that type of audience.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: And so...
17:14
SPEAKER_00: My maturation into worldly views and stuff like that,
17:19
SPEAKER_00: I feel was delayed because it was never pushed.
17:23
I never needed to talk about real shit because I'm performing
17:26
for college students.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm at dive bars where I'm the youngest person in the room.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm 22 in a room full of drunk 40 year olds.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to hear about buyback.
17:36
You want to hear about college football and drinking and maybe
17:39
a little bit of sex
17:40
SPEAKER_00: and don't you hate Waffle House?
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Man, they sure can fight at the Waffle House.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to hear from a 20-year-old how the world should work.
17:50
A 40-year-old wants to get lectured at about politics by a
17:54
20-year-old and college
17:55
SPEAKER_00: students don't care about politics yet.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: So when are you going to discuss that?
18:00
I I was it'd be different if I were a city comic if I was 19 or
18:04
20 like the New
18:05
York kids that are here in the city now and they come up in an
18:10
environment with an
18:11
audience that almost expects you to have some teeth you need to
18:16
have a little bit
18:16
of edge to it then you're raised in a different you're raised
18:20
by wolves and that's
18:21
a different environment and it gives you the confidence to have
18:24
an opinion sooner
18:25
SPEAKER_00: like if you look at young people now
18:27
you know the generation we are now this this breed of 20 year
18:30
olds they they're
18:31
marching they're running for office they're sitting in and
18:35
fucking with politicians
18:36
and changing policy you know so if you're a comedian of that
18:41
ilk you're kind of
18:42
matching the ideology of your peers more than what I had to do
18:49
in 1998 when I
18:50
SPEAKER_00: started
18:52
SPEAKER_01: You talk about in the book connecting,
18:55
SPEAKER_01: well you were just talking about connecting with college students,
18:58
but you talk in the book about how you learn to connect with an
19:00
audience by waiting
19:01
SPEAKER_01: tables at Golden Corral.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that taught me people.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Everybody should wait tables.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: I waited tables.
19:09
Everybody,
19:10
you should either wait tables,
19:13
do a year of danger job,
19:15
or work outside.
19:18
Like working in the heat will humble you and give you an
19:21
appreciation for life that
19:25
SPEAKER_00: I can't,
19:26
SPEAKER_00: in the south as well.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: Allied van lines on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Atlanta, Georgia.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Man, we used to, outdoor jobs were the worst, man.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't wish yard work on anybody.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: God bless those people, but Golden Corral
19:48
and Shoney's to an extent but for sure Golden Corral because
19:50
Golden Corral forced
19:52
it like Golden Corral had this policy called the 100 Club and
19:56
so if you made the
19:59
100 Club the requirement to make the 100 Club is that you had
20:02
to know the names of
20:03
100 regular guests in the store and you had to know two of the
20:07
items that they like
20:07
SPEAKER_00: to get from the buffet and it seems like a weird thing to have to learn
20:14
But it's very easy It's very easy to learn 100 people's names
20:18
If you learn two
20:18
names a week Over the course of the year Got 100 And so Like I
20:28
don't have a lot of
20:29
time At this table with you But I need you to like me So I need
20:33
to figure out What
20:33
SPEAKER_00: you're into So you essentially socially profile people
20:37
SPEAKER_00: and you can immediately figure out what that person is into.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Usually jewelry is a big tail.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Tattoos are a big tail.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Wardrobe to some degree, but usually people's moods.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes leaving people alone is the way.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, it could be a thousand different things.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: If you come into the store, you got on a University of Florida shirt.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to talk Steve Spurrier.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: So
21:06
I would start reading USA Today so I majored in journalism and
21:12
my first year of
21:13
school I was in the business school I was in the Florida A&M in
21:20
the SBI program to
21:21
get an MBA before I transferred to journalism and one of the
21:24
requirements of SBI
21:26
SPEAKER_00: was for you to read the Wall Street Journal every day.
21:29
And every day there was a quiz on the front page of the Wall
21:31
Street Journal.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: So you had to read the newspaper every day.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: You had to put 50 cent, figure out where to find one, bro.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Get a Wall Street Journal.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: I read the Wall Street Journal.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And then that got me in the habit of regularly reading the paper.
21:46
And now you're having to read articles you normally wouldn't
21:48
read because you don't
21:49
SPEAKER_00: know which one they're going to fuck with you on.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I get to the journalism department, same game.
21:55
Now I'm reading the USA Today every day But now they're
21:57
expanding it to the front
21:58
SPEAKER_00: page of each section So you got to read world,
22:02
SPEAKER_00: money,
22:03
SPEAKER_00: life,
22:03
SPEAKER_00: sports,
22:04
SPEAKER_00: hope,
22:05
front page And that gave me so much of a wealth of knowledge of
22:10
randomness That by
22:12
the time two years later when I'm at Golden Corral and I'm
22:15
meeting these people I'm
22:16
SPEAKER_00: figuring out ways to relate to any,
22:20
SPEAKER_00: if it's a family I know gas and fuel costs
22:27
There's a joke in that If there's a group of college kids Well
22:32
now we can talk
22:34
roommates Hey you guys get to go Let me know if you need a box
22:37
I know you need
22:37
something to eat later tonight in the dorm Chuckle chuckle
22:40
chuckle So it's finding
22:43
these common denominators And what I found more than anything
22:47
Is if you talk with
22:48
SPEAKER_00: most people About their family Some sort of love or relationship thing
22:56
Sports or entertainment or just how they make money like
23:00
generally speaking you can
23:01
connect with anybody on earth you have something you love there
23:06
is something that
23:06
entertains you we all trying to make money you have a job or
23:11
you're looking for a
23:11
job or you hate your job or you hate your boss or you don't
23:14
like your co-workers
23:14
like there's always these things that none of this shit is
23:18
political you got a team
23:20
SPEAKER_00: or you don't watch sports
23:23
you get the family and all the kids got on the sports shit but
23:28
the mom doesn't bet
23:29
you she watches HGTV or Food Network or some real housewives
23:34
yeah and so the
23:36
question immediately becomes well they don't well they're
23:39
watching sports what do
23:40
you watch and immediately you're connecting with her and you're
23:44
bringing her into
23:46
the thing it's really no different than crowd work being a
23:48
waiter is just crowd
23:49
SPEAKER_00: work yeah and so
23:53
I don't know it gave me an understanding of people which by the
23:57
time I was doing
23:58
stand-up and you're doing these weird dive bars and you know my
24:02
upbringing in
24:03
comedy was it's typical of a southern comedian but is this not
24:08
what is portrayed
24:10
like when you think about comedy in the sense of what's
24:13
portrayed you know like I
24:15
SPEAKER_00: know Will Arnett just had the
24:18
The Stand-Up Movie Is This Thing Gone Tom Hanks Had The
24:22
Punchline Movie and Pete
24:24
Holmes Had His Stand-Up Series Crashing Yeah That's All Big
24:28
City Comedy Every One
24:31
Of Those Projects It's A Comic In One City Going To Multiple
24:35
Mics In The South If
24:37
SPEAKER_00: You Want To Perform Every Night You Probably Have To Drive
24:41
SPEAKER_00: because your city,
24:42
SPEAKER_00: at least in the 90s,
24:43
SPEAKER_00: in the early 2000s,
24:44
SPEAKER_00: most southern cities did not have as robust a scene.
24:47
Outside of Atlanta,
24:49
there was no city with an every night comedy scene like that.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: It's two, three nights a week if you're lucky.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: So if you're performing every night, Comedy Zone used to have a run.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: This is a perfect example.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: Comedy Zone is a regional comedy chain down south.
25:12
Columbus Fort Walton yeah yeah the law bitch what you know
25:18
about it I've done it
25:19
SPEAKER_01: hey everybody we'll be right back with Roy Wood Jr.
25:23
in just a second now back to the studio where oh thank you very
25:27
much that's very
25:28
kind of you people to make me feel so welcome we're at command
25:32
central on the Upper
25:33
SPEAKER_01: West Side I want to take a second say thank you to Roy
25:37
For joining me today I think he is Something very special In
25:40
the comedy world And
25:42
SPEAKER_01: it's my hope That by um
25:45
SPEAKER_01: Learning a little bit about him,
25:46
SPEAKER_01: you will be inspired to check out his very insightful and deep comedy.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Real quick,
25:53
I want to make an unadulterated and unqualified pitch for you
25:59
all to check out my
26:00
SPEAKER_01: Substack.
26:01
I've put a lot of effort in creating a home in the digital
26:05
world at words.paulollinger.com.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: There's a link to it in the show notes.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: If you subscribe there,
26:12
you can get all my new essays directly into your inbox and
26:16
every episode of
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Reasonably Happy,
26:17
SPEAKER_01: you'll get a reminder every time the podcast comes out.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: Yes,
26:21
SPEAKER_01: of course,
26:21
SPEAKER_01: you can still listen to it on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify,
26:25
SPEAKER_01: but my Substack is where it all goes down.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to start doing some live stream interviews,
26:29
SPEAKER_01: some very brief five-question interviews,
26:31
SPEAKER_01: like 15 minutes long on the Substack.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: I've got Dave Barrett.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: I want to say is that you have the opportunity to contribute.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's an opportunity.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: It's not an obligation.
26:53
I was raised Catholic I'm not into obligation so much I'm into
26:56
opportunity you have
26:57
the opportunity to use your resources to inspire me to keep
27:02
going and to help
27:03
subsidize this non insignificant podcast production through a
27:08
paid subscription to
27:09
SPEAKER_01: the podcast and
27:10
The essays I'll write on Substack New recent subscribers And if
27:13
you become a paid
27:14
subscriber I'll also read your name On this here podcast And
27:18
you will win The
27:20
admiration of the podcastosphere By so doing These are the last
27:24
couple months We
27:24
SPEAKER_01: got W.
27:25
Kadaba Marnie in Atlanta Marnie thank you We know who you are
27:28
Hey Jay Howell Thank
27:29
you for all the inspiring words And for sharing the podcast
27:32
With your friends
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Enjoyed the note you sent I appreciate it very much And Mr.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Moore Excuse me Dr.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Moore Who's also a great substacker No we're not done with the
27:42
self-promotion yet I just want to let you know That I've got
27:44
shows coming up on the
27:46
road Next week May 20th At Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta At
27:51
The Punchline in
27:52
Atlanta The next night May 21st And then I'll be at the DC
27:56
Comedy Loft Friday and
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Saturday May 22nd and 23rd
28:01
I've also got shows on the road coming up in Chattanooga in
28:05
June at the Comedy Catch.
28:07
We'll be in Los Angeles at the Venice West July 21st at Cobb's
28:13
Comedy Club in San
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Francisco on July 23rd.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Show at Atlanta Country Club on August 8th.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Atlanta Athletic Club on June 4th.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I've got a weekend.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm headlining at McCurdy's in Sarasota, Florida.
28:27
August 13th through 16th you won't want to miss that one August
28:32
middle of August
28:32
great time to be in Sarasota folks anyway all my dates are on
28:37
my guess what on my
28:39
Substack that's right you can go to my Substack what is it
28:41
words.paulollinger.com to
28:43
check out when I'll be performing near you thanks very much so
28:48
now back to uh Mr.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Roy Wood they would put you
28:54
Tuesday in Columbus and it was like a dive bar called The Loft
29:01
on Broadway.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Go upstairs, do that.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: I think Wednesday was an off day.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it'd be something random.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Thursday was Ozark,
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Alabama at the MVP Sports Grill and it's essentially U.S.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: troops because Fort Rutgers right down there.
29:17
it's essentially US troops and a bunch of Asian wives that
29:21
they've brought from
29:22
overseas so like base towns are like super culturally diverse
29:26
because you're
29:27
fucking all over the globe and then you bring them home and hey
29:30
there's my wife
29:31
just leave her in Alabama at a sports bar while you go fight
29:34
for freedom and it's
29:36
on me to figure out what makes a hillbilly and a little tiny
29:40
Asian woman laugh at
29:43
SPEAKER_00: the same Asian woman with an Alabama accent mind you just weird shit
29:47
Friday Saturday is a mainstream night at the Comedy Zone and
29:52
then Sunday is Fort
29:54
Walton Beach at the Dueling Pianos Howl at the Moon with a
29:57
mechanical bull in the
29:59
SPEAKER_00: dance floor in the middle of the dance floor that is active while you are
30:03
performing and then Monday night to end the Tallahassee run
30:09
Monday night is Casino
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Magic in Biloxi Mississippi no one in the room is under the age of 70
30:17
SPEAKER_00: literal oxygen tanks being wheeled into the showroom.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: That's your week.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Now find me a joke that works in every one of those disciplines.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: And that's the joke you need to write.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Because otherwise you're writing a completely different set
30:35
For each demo Which tempts you to not be true to yourself
30:39
Because you're selling
30:40
out for whatever they're going to laugh at tonight So you have
30:44
to find the
30:46
connectors You have no choice And that's not counting Still
30:51
twice a month I'm doing
30:52
Def Jam rooms I'm doing hood rooms for Dope Boys So what's the
30:57
joke over there?
30:58
What's the joke that makes a drug dealer laugh And someone
31:03
dragging an oxygen tank into the room
31:06
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Write that joke.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a tall order, man.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Now write me 60 minutes worth of them.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:12
Well,
31:12
in those days,
31:13
I only needed 30 because I was the middle act,
31:15
but it's still a lot.
31:20
You write in the book that when you were starting up,
31:24
you would sleep in the Greyhound station.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: To get to a gig.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: What was driving you?
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
31:34
I just enjoyed doing it also at that time when I started stand
31:37
up I was on
31:38
probation so I got arrested for stealing credit cards when I
31:43
was 18 no 19 I was
31:46
arrested when I was 19 I started stand up right after that I
31:49
ended up getting
31:50
probation for three years but during that time I also got
31:55
suspended from school and
31:56
SPEAKER_00: so when I started stand up I just gotten suspended
32:01
And then got my financial aid check For $7,000 So This may as
32:08
well have been
32:09
Brewster's Millions bro I got $7,000 And Nothing to do Until
32:15
the fall It's February
32:17
I'm not back in school Until September Chilling So I took the
32:23
money And just
32:24
started buying bus tickets Wherever I could Wherever I could
32:27
get on stage Wherever
32:28
SPEAKER_00: I could sign up For an open mic
32:31
SPEAKER_00: I would go to city sometimes.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Take a bus to an open mic.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: Holy shit.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: If you want to perform this week.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:36
Tallahassee open mic is once a month and you just did it and
32:41
now you're itching to
32:42
SPEAKER_00: get on stage again.
32:43
There was a local comedy troupe and they would do a show but
32:45
they only perform once a month.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: So that's twice a month you can get on stage.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: What you gonna do with these other 28 days?
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Golden Corral only giving you 20 hours a week.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: You have no friends because you're on probation.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: So where you gonna hang?
32:58
You suspended from school You can't fucking go to campus So
33:03
what you gonna do?
33:04
SPEAKER_00: And with who?
33:06
So just go ride the bus Go ride the bus You get to town Why
33:13
would I spend $100 on a hotel room?
33:16
If I spend $100 on a hotel room 10 or 30 times That's gonna be
33:19
half of my money And
33:21
I need the money to get to the gig I can figure out the rest of
33:24
this shit Once I'm
33:26
SPEAKER_00: in town
33:27
SPEAKER_00: So that's what I would do.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: I'd get to the bus station.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: You'd get to Atlanta at like three.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: The show's not till eight.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: I would bring an iron.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Because this is back when I wore suits.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was 6'2", 170, bro.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: I was a stick.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: So I looked 14.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: And you're performing for these grown folks.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: So you need a suit so it at least exudes.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Please pay attention to me.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to be serious.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: And
33:55
and I would iron my suit in the bus station on the baby changer
34:00
and I would just
34:01
sit in the bus station magazines you know sometimes a little
34:06
book or two I didn't
34:07
have a laptop yet and this is I had a cell phone but like data
34:13
like these weren't
34:14
SPEAKER_00: touch screens still flip fine like a Sanyo 5900 man like
34:19
you're not playing words with friends or fucking wordle on your
34:24
phone just sitting
34:26
and writing write my sets out verbatim and then I would take
34:31
the Marta over to the
34:33
club do the show get booed or not usually be an hour to get
34:39
back to the bus station
34:41
and then sleep in the bus station till it was time to get on
34:43
the bus to go home
34:47
SPEAKER_00: same thing in Charlotte they had the cats
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Charlotte was a bitch though,
34:51
SPEAKER_00: because at the time the comedy club in Charlotte was way out the edge of
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Independence Boulevard,
34:57
SPEAKER_00: the comedy zone that was out there,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: and where the club was and where the bus line ended,
35:05
SPEAKER_00: it must have been like a three mile walk.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: In your suit.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: In my suit, my little duffel bag, Incredible Hulk fucking sad walk.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm walking into a new town.
35:18
Walk Do the show And then just walk People leaving the show
35:22
Waving at me and shit
35:24
Where you going man I'm gonna go here Cause like my pride
35:28
Wouldn't allow me to
35:29
Accept the help Get on the cats Go back downtown Wait to leave
35:35
town Like It was
35:36
like I was driving It was like it was fun Like I I didn't know
35:39
shit else I didn't
35:40
SPEAKER_00: have anything else So let's do this
35:45
SPEAKER_01: Your book is a moving story.
35:49
It's a great tribute to your son and to your mom and to your
35:54
very unique dad.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: What was your life like as a kid?
36:02
SPEAKER_00: So I'm my dad's only child.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm my mom's only child.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm the ninth of 11 by my dad.
36:14
And so in that regard,
36:18
you know,
36:18
I had a lot of half siblings older and younger than me.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: So my pops was kind of bouncing around a lot.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't always home, but I lived in my head a lot.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I had like little.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Full, like, scripted movie battles between action figures.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, have them talk to each other the whole lot.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, Transformers versus G.I.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Joe.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: That was a regular.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: It's a classic.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: It was a classic battle.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Nice little Hollywood crossover.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I, for the most part, I was alone.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: My mom, my mom worked.
36:57
My mom worked her ass off and then was always in like night
37:00
school,
37:00
like grad school.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: She got a master's.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: She got a law degree.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: She was working on a doctorate before my pops passed.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: So I essentially did not see my parents.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: I'll take it back.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: My mom would come home at like five or six,
37:17
SPEAKER_00: cook,
37:19
SPEAKER_00: and she's gone till 9 p.m.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: And then it's on me to put myself to bed.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: So
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I would stay up late,
37:26
SPEAKER_00: watch Nickelodeon,
37:27
SPEAKER_00: you can't do that on television,
37:29
SPEAKER_00: and Danger Mouse,
37:30
SPEAKER_00: and Mr.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Bean,
37:33
SPEAKER_00: you know,
37:33
SPEAKER_00: just like that was the comedy that I was kind of raised on.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Kids in the Hall, it was kids in the hall that had the head squishing.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm squishing your heads.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: I used to watch all that shit.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: But yeah,
37:50
SPEAKER_00: like,
37:51
SPEAKER_00: you know,
37:51
I had friends in the neighborhood and would play baseball with
37:55
tennis balls.
37:56
You play till you break somebody's window and then you run
37:59
inside and lay low for a
38:00
SPEAKER_00: week and a half.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, basketball, whatever.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: But for the most part,
38:06
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't allowed to leave my block,
38:11
SPEAKER_00: which was essentially like a four-house
38:14
SPEAKER_00: A dead-end street that extended four houses deep off of the main street.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: That was my strip.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: So we play street football,
38:23
SPEAKER_00: tackle football in the backyard,
38:25
SPEAKER_00: basketball,
38:25
SPEAKER_00: a bit of baseball,
38:26
SPEAKER_00: whatever.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, for the most part, I kept to myself.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't funny.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: When did you make somebody laugh for the first time that you remember?
38:38
SPEAKER_00: That I remember?
38:39
SPEAKER_00: Probably middle school.
38:43
I used to read comic strips growing up Calvin and Hobbes and
38:49
Garfield and Family
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Circus and all of that stuff and I remember writing a strip called Mr.
38:55
Goof's God I wish I could still I wish I still had that who
39:00
knows where that is
39:01
SPEAKER_00: it's in a landfill somewhere but I wrote a proper panel comic strip
39:09
Set up punchline,
39:10
set up punchline,
39:11
just three panels all the way down a page.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Wrote it out,
39:17
SPEAKER_00: bound it,
39:17
SPEAKER_00: stapled that bitch,
39:19
SPEAKER_00: and then gave it to classmates,
39:20
SPEAKER_00: and then they would just pass it around and read it.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: And then I wrote another edition.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: I think I had like three issues that I hand wrote.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: Didn't even think to make copies.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: Just wrote one.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: That was cool.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: But I think in terms of like,
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Premeditated humor with the idea of,
39:47
SPEAKER_00: huh,
39:49
I know exactly what I could say in this moment to evoke this
39:53
emotion from this
39:54
SPEAKER_00: person.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: Like humor is a tool of manipulation.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: High school, freshman year.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: I got cut from the high school baseball team.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: Well, I tried out and didn't make the team.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: And so I was a little upset about it.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't a great baseball player, but for the people you kept.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Come on, dad.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: You kept him?
40:20
SPEAKER_00: All right.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: But I just love the sport so much.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to be around it.
40:26
And I got it in my head that if I'm not good,
40:34
you say I'm not good enough to make the team?
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
40:38
I want to be around the team all season and I want to see what
40:41
since my baseball
40:42
bad show me baseball good so I volunteered to be the equipment
40:47
manager ball boy bat
40:49
boy whatever you want to call it for the varsity team so now as
40:52
a freshman
40:53
I'm traveling with the varsity team I get to take a little few
40:57
grounders here and
40:57
there I get to take a little BP all I gotta do is keep
41:01
equipment in order and just
41:02
shadow the team everywhere they go everywhere varsity went I
41:06
went so then during
41:08
the games they would heckle the other teams and that was kind
41:12
of what you did I
41:13
SPEAKER_00: don't
41:14
I don't know much about youth baseball now my son doesn't play
41:17
and I don't go to
41:18
enough games to really see if there's like proper heckling in
41:21
the high school game
41:22
anymore but in Birmingham city schools in the 90s you would
41:26
shout whatever the fuck
41:28
you wanted across the grass at the person batting and I used to
41:34
take pride in
41:35
getting chuckles from the varsity kids cause it felt like a
41:39
little felt like a pat
41:40
SPEAKER_00: on the head like a little bit of approval from the grown ups you know
41:44
And so then during the day in class I would start premeditating
41:49
What I was going to
41:50
yell That day at the game And you technically in the ump Can't
41:56
throw me out of the
41:57
game Because I'm not playing So I have nothing to lose I'm just
42:03
going to go sit in
42:03
the parking lot If you throw me out And I'm going to come and
42:06
collect the bats At
42:07
SPEAKER_00: the end of the big deal And so that was like the beginning of
42:13
oh this is maybe that was fun yeah that was fun because now if
42:19
you can make the ump
42:20
laugh that's like an applause break right if you can make the
42:25
other team's parents
42:26
laugh that's a standing ovation you shouldn't even be laughing
42:30
I'm yelling at your
42:31
SPEAKER_00: guy and you're laughing like that's gold yeah
42:36
SPEAKER_00: Man,
42:36
SPEAKER_00: we would sit,
42:37
we would wait to see what kind of car your mama dropped you off
42:42
in at the game.
42:44
We would talk shit about,
42:46
like,
42:47
if your mama had on terrible shoes,
42:49
like,
42:51
there were no rules.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
42:53
Like,
42:54
bro,
42:57
shit I can't even repeat now because society has evolved,
43:02
but we would yell it.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: we would yell it across the diamond and we would get it back too.
43:08
Like they were chirping at us and they got racial and racist at
43:12
times but even then
43:14
SPEAKER_00: it wasn't like it turned into a fight.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: It's just, I'm just gonna call you a peckerwood.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: Like in 92 old peckerwood used to hit.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: That shit bounce off white boys now but in 92 they.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: They didn't like that.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know what that means.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your dad.
43:34
We don't have that much time left,
43:35
but your dad was such an interesting dude.
43:40
I always wondered why you were Roy Wood Jr.,
43:42
because Roy Wood Sr.
43:43
was somebody.
43:46
My dad was a civil rights journalist who covered the inner
43:50
workings of black
43:54
SPEAKER_00: inequality across the globe.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't even say that he was exclusive to America, because he wasn't.
44:00
went to Zimbabwe or Rhodesia then covered their civil war
44:04
Soweto he was in Vietnam
44:07
like he was over in Britain for a little bit like anywhere
44:10
where just people of
44:11
SPEAKER_00: color were getting done dirty he would pull up with a tape recorder and a
44:18
microphone and would conduct interviews and then give
44:20
commentaries and you know he
44:23
was a pioneer in that for a lot of the radio stations he worked
44:27
at in the 50s he
44:28
SPEAKER_00: was the first black hire
44:30
But he had a booming voice And it was perfect for radio And
44:33
this is at a time where
44:34
radio mattered And so like that They didn't even know he was
44:40
black until he showed
44:41
up Didn't know he was black until he had already hired him over
44:43
the phone Sucker
44:46
Yeah And then it's just alright well Just don't come through
44:50
the front door Just
44:51
SPEAKER_00: come through the back door
44:53
SPEAKER_00: You got the job, just keep your head low.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: You can't come to any company parties.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: He didn't care.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: He was happy to have the job.
45:00
SPEAKER_00: So,
45:00
SPEAKER_00: you know,
45:03
my pops is a man that always fought for what was right and
45:06
always gave a voice to
45:07
SPEAKER_00: people who didn't have a voice.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: Now,
45:09
I think that comes at a price to a degree at home because
45:14
you're not home as often
45:15
SPEAKER_00: as you should.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: And because you have multiple kids, you're spread thin.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: So I think in that regard,
45:22
that left a little bit to be desired but you know when I wrote
45:25
this book it wasn't
45:28
initially like as you get older you become more aware of your
45:33
parents flaws and I
45:34
don't think it's until you have a child that you can properly
45:37
audit your parents if
45:40
you haven't had a child that there is a level of analysis of
45:45
your parents that you
45:46
SPEAKER_00: have not conducted that you're incapable of conducting
45:50
it's fun my kids are teenagers now and they have opinions and
45:54
they have they
45:55
critique me now and I can see them looking at me yeah I used to
46:00
be there I used to
46:01
be his hero and now he's looking at me going like oh you're not
46:04
perfect yeah yeah I
46:06
SPEAKER_00: didn't know what I was doing bro and so you know I feel like
46:13
SPEAKER_00: I did an episode of Finding Your Roots and through their research,
46:17
SPEAKER_00: I discovered that my father lost his dad when he was four years old.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: My dad never had a dad.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: There was no other male head of household.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: He never had a stepparent.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: So he missed some of the curriculum himself.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: And so it gave me a different viewpoint.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: And as much as I have to talk about what my upbringing was,
46:37
SPEAKER_00: the book was also about celebrating how fortunate I feel
46:41
to have so many other people in my life who imparted wisdom and
46:45
gave me game that
46:47
SPEAKER_00: they essentially were all in their own microscopic ways my father's.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: Hence the title.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: And so to me that was the impetus for writing the book.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't so much that my daddy didn't.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: It was these people did.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: So let me make sure I talk about them to a degree.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: And still give my father's just due but I have to own
47:11
the things that did not happen in the home that I would have
47:14
hoped to have happened
47:15
SPEAKER_00: because those things affected me.
47:17
And so I think you have to have an honest reflection in what
47:21
your life was if
47:22
SPEAKER_00: you're serious about trying to take account.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: For me to be a better father, I got to know what I missed.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: You said at the beginning of the interview,
47:31
SPEAKER_01: we're gonna wrap up here in a second,
47:34
SPEAKER_01: that when you had your son you started to see the world differently.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: How so?
47:40
SPEAKER_00: You see more of the dangers.
47:45
It's like if you came in a room and there was sharp cornered
47:52
furniture and it's
47:53
SPEAKER_00: just you in the room,
47:55
SPEAKER_00: big deal.
47:57
SPEAKER_00: You know how to get around.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: the furniture without cracking your skull open.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: But then if a toddler wobbles their ass into the room,
48:07
SPEAKER_00: Now you're way more conscious about the corner furniture.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Why does furniture have corners?
48:12
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't they just round all the furniture?
48:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank goodness.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: There's little soft,
48:17
sticky things you can put on the corner so that your baby
48:20
doesn't crack their skull
48:22
and now you care more about this world and how it's constructed
48:26
and we need
48:27
SPEAKER_00: furniture regulation.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: The world's just not safe.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: Or you have to sit your kid down and go, hey, this is a corner.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: It hurts.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: So manage yourself slowly around these corners.
48:39
So you become more intent about seeing where the corners are in
48:44
society and the
48:46
SPEAKER_00: ones that I cannot change are the ones I need to educate my son about.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what life is.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: I feel like as a parent is showing my son where the corners are.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: Here's the leg of it.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Here's where you're going to step your toe from time to time.
49:01
SPEAKER_00: Make sure to watch your step over there.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Does a little bit of the
49:05
SPEAKER_00: inequality, hey, there's a racial slur.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: Let that bounce off you.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: Those people aren't anything.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: The people that's doing the real racism don't even say slurs.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: It's that type of outlook, I'd say, is probably the best way to put it.
49:24
SPEAKER_01: We'll finish on your thoughts on this quote from your book.
49:28
SPEAKER_01: I think it was from your book.
49:29
SPEAKER_01: It might have been from something else.
49:30
But you said,
49:31
men who have family have a different smile than men who have
49:34
success.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: When did that dawn on you?
49:41
SPEAKER_00: I started hanging around people with families.
49:45
SPEAKER_00: I realized that I kind of have that.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:48
I'm in a great co-parenting situation,
49:50
but we're not all under one roof anymore.
49:53
But I've been around comedians who have something to go home to
49:56
after the gig.
49:59
And the comedian that's going home to a family versus the one
50:03
who's going home
50:06
SPEAKER_00: To, you know, some last call sex.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: It's two different grins.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: It's one that's much more fulfilling.
50:12
There's a happiness that lasts beyond the stage when you have
50:16
other people in your
50:17
SPEAKER_00: life who you can appreciate and who appreciate you.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: I hope that for every every person,
50:24
SPEAKER_00: especially every comedian,
50:26
SPEAKER_00: because it's a very lonely lifestyle just in general.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: Inherently, it's lonely.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: And so
50:34
SPEAKER_00: You know,
50:34
SPEAKER_00: there's been one or two comedians,
50:38
SPEAKER_00: not many,
50:40
there's been one or two that have welcomed me into their homes
50:43
before where I've
50:44
actually seen what they are like when they are offstage and
50:48
just regular in a
50:50
SPEAKER_00: kitchen barefoot getting a glass of water.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: And those people have a lasting,
50:56
deeper smile and a sense of fulfillment that the industry could
51:00
never give them.
51:02
And that's what I'm in search of And I hope that for my child
51:06
That's great man Well
51:06
I appreciate you sharing All your insights Shout out to Adele
51:10
Gibbons too Your
51:10
husband can cook Thank you Adele Anything coming up You want to
51:17
talk about Or point
51:19
people In the right direction Just watch Have I Got News for
51:21
you On CNN We'll be
51:22
SPEAKER_00: back
51:24
SPEAKER_00: In the fall of 2026, we may do a special summer run.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
51:30
SPEAKER_00: The CNN merger shit's gotta get finalized.
51:33
Once that's final,
51:34
then they'll decide where to fit us in the batting order.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think Roy Wood Sr. would be very proud of Roy Wood Jr.
51:41
SPEAKER_01: So thanks for your work.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: All right.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, brother.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: All right.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: Here's some takeaways from my conversation with Roy Wood Jr.
51:47
SPEAKER_01: I've said it already several times,
51:49
SPEAKER_01: but I think Roy Wood is one of the best comedians working today.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: He is something awfully special.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: Go watch those specials of his and admire the craft.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: that he puts in to 60 Minutes of Comedy.
52:02
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: All right, takeaways.
52:04
I could have talked to him for two hours and we didn't really
52:07
talk about why he
52:08
SPEAKER_01: calls his book The Man of Many Fathers,
52:10
but there's a lot of other men in his life who contributed to
52:14
helping him become an
52:16
SPEAKER_01: adult.
52:17
SPEAKER_01: There's some line he has in
52:19
SPEAKER_01: Paul Ollinger
52:38
He Was Able To Learn From And I Related To That A Lot Because
52:44
In Addition To Having
52:45
An Incredible Father Myself And For Those Of You Who Have Been
52:48
Listening To This
52:49
Podcast A Long Time You've Heard The Interview With My Dad My
52:52
Late Father And If
52:53
You Haven't Heard It It's One Of The Best Episodes I've Done He
52:56
Was A Great Great
52:57
Man Very Humble Very Charming But There Were Other Men In My
53:01
Life Who Helped Me In
53:02
SPEAKER_01: Other Ways You Know My High School Girlfriend's Dad Martin Turbity Was
53:07
Speaker 1 He was probably the most influential adult in my life
53:09
besides my parents.
53:11
His wife,
53:11
Sandy,
53:13
was just charming and delightful and encouraging and loving to
53:17
me.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: They were great influences.
53:20
And then just having friends with great dads,
53:23
Will Lydbrook's dad,
53:25
Doug Lydbrook,
53:27
Mike Webb's dad Den Webb Denny Webb not Den Webb that's his
53:32
delinquent older
53:32
brother just having good men around who were committed to their
53:36
families and who
53:38
set an example of what it was like to be a good person and to
53:41
be a strong man
53:43
SPEAKER_01: without being a jerk
53:44
SPEAKER_01: and to be a strong man who also doesn't take himself overly seriously.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: And there were many of these in my life.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: My parents' friends, Mike Schlenke, John Boggess.
53:55
You're observing adults as a kid without being conscious of you
53:58
observing them.
53:59
And I think that it just subconsciously sends a message of what
54:03
kind of adult you want to be.
54:05
I remember reading a statistic,
54:07
maybe it was from Richard Reeves,
54:09
who is...
54:10
He now runs the Institute for Men and Boys or something like
54:13
that but he's been a
54:14
guest on the podcast twice but there was some statistic that he
54:17
cited where it's
54:18
like the positive benefit of strong male role models exists
54:25
even if you don't have
54:25
a man in the home they exist if you live in a neighborhood with
54:29
more father figures
54:32
and so kids benefit just from being able to observe what that
54:35
looks like and I've
54:35
SPEAKER_01: certainly been a beneficiary of that so just like Roy was I want to say
54:40
SPEAKER_01: Thank you to all the positive male role models in my life.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, I want to talk about Roy's work ethic.
54:47
SPEAKER_01: He started working, raking leaves at a very early age.
54:50
SPEAKER_01: By necessity, he had to get out and work and earn his own money.
54:53
His dad was not generous with the cash and he waited tables at
54:57
all those places he
54:58
SPEAKER_01: mentioned,
54:58
SPEAKER_01: including Golden Corral.
55:00
And one of the things I took away from his book was the
55:02
importance of his work ethic.
55:04
SPEAKER_01: What he's talking about in terms of taking a bus to those open mics is
55:10
he made it sound like it wasn't that big a deal it's a huge
55:14
deal now he was 19 and
55:16
just like I look at the way I lived when I was 19 and think how
55:20
did I do that how
55:21
did we do that I remember being back in Memphis for a reunion
55:25
at Rhodes College and
55:26
driving by the apartment that I lived in one summer and just
55:28
thought oh my god did
55:30
SPEAKER_01: my parents know I lived there holy crap your old Roy put in the work
55:36
that was necessary for him to become the monster of a comedian
55:40
that he is today.
55:41
SPEAKER_01: And these things don't happen by accident.
55:45
Last week's podcast guest was talking about the importance of
55:50
getting up and going.
55:51
There's all these naysayers out there in the world that say
55:54
things can't be done.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: The American dream is dead.
55:55
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about the importance of getting up and going.
55:58
SPEAKER_01: Ain't nobody got up and gone
56:01
SPEAKER_01: Roy Wood Jr.
56:02
SPEAKER_01: His talent is undeniable,
56:03
but his success wasn't inevitable because it's talent plus work
56:07
ethic that gets you
56:08
SPEAKER_01: there.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: And he put in the work.
56:10
SPEAKER_01: All right.
56:10
SPEAKER_01: I think that's like two and a half, two and a half takeaways.
56:12
SPEAKER_01: I'll let you off the hook early.
56:14
SPEAKER_01: It's still like six minutes of takeaways.
56:15
SPEAKER_01: Hope you guys had a great time listening to Roy.
56:18
By all means,
56:18
check out his specials and spread the word about Roy Wood Jr.
56:23
He's a comedian that we can all learn from And have a damn good
56:26
time doing it We
56:28
will be back soon Be sure to check out words.paulollinger.com
56:32
Click that link in
56:33
the show notes Check out what's going on on our Substack over
56:36
there Lots of good
56:37
SPEAKER_01: stuff to come there Have a great week