Roy Wood Jr.

Roy Norris Wood Jr. (born December 11, 1978) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer who first became well known for his correspondent appearances on The Daily Show. Wood has been hosting the American adaptation of the news and entertainment panel show Have I Got News for You on CNN since September 2024.

A resident of Manhattan, Wood was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Ramsay High School in 1996, Wood began his career in stand-up comedy as the opening act for Tommy Davidson. He had a position as head writer on the WBHJ radio series Buckwilde Morning Show from 2001 to 2006. Wood has been featured on NBC's reality television series Last Comic Standing in 2010 and the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son from 2011 to 2014. He formerly hosted two podcasts for Comedy Central: Roy's Job Fair and Beyond the Scenes.

Wood was honored at Entertainment Weekly's "12 Rising Stars of Comedy" in 2008 and the 2010 Florida A&M University Young Alumni Awards. From 2015 to 2023, Wood served as a correspondent for The Daily Show on Comedy Central. He hosted the fourth season of Comedy Central's This Is Not Happening from 2018 to 2019. In addition to his Daily Show appearances, Wood has starred in the stand-up comedy specials Father Figure (2017), No One Loves You (2019), Imperfect Messenger (2021) and Lonely Flowers (2025). He has also been featured in television series and movies.

Wood was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York. His father, Roy Wood Sr., was a Birmingham, Alabama, radio broadcasting and journalism pioneer who covered the civil rights movement: the racism encountered by African-American soldiers in the Vietnam War, the Soweto uprising, and the Rhodesian Bush War, among other topics. His mother is Joyce Dugan Wood, a college administrator. His paternal three times great-grandfather, Sam Wood, was born c. 1790 in Africa. His parents separated for a time, and Wood lived with his mother in Memphis, Tennessee. When Wood was in the second grade, his parents reconciled, so the family moved to Birmingham; they lived on South Park Road in Birmingham's West End neighborhood. His half-brother is Roy L. Wood, a news anchor. He is a first cousin of the late jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette.

Wood attended Central Park Elementary and Center Street Middle School. He graduated from Ramsay High School in 1996. In 2001, Wood received a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism from Florida A&M University.

While in college, Wood worked as a morning news reporter for Birmingham, Alabama, radio station WBHJ 95.7 Jamz Hot 105.7. He began focusing on a career in comedy after filling in for the station's in-house comedian, Rickey Smiley.

In 1998, when he was 19, Wood began his career as a standup. Wood recalls that he passed on his midterm tests, essentially failing the semester, in order to open for Tommy Davidson.

In 2001, after graduating from college, Wood returned to Birmingham and became the head writer/producer for the Buckwilde Morning Show (WBHJ 95.7 JAMZ), a position he held until 2006. He continued working in radio, providing prank calls and content to various morning shows nationally and contributing to Jamie Foxx's Foxxhole station on Sirius XM Radio. Wood released three prank call CDs: My Momma Made Me Wear This (2003), Confessions of a Bench Warmer (2005), and I'll Slap You to Sleep (2007). Wood's pranks have been featured on numerous hip-hop mix tapes.