'It's an honor:' FAMU alum Roy Wood Jr. to host the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Humorist Roy Wood Jr., who started his career in comedy while studying journalism at Florida A&M University in 1998, will take the center stage Saturday night as host of the celebrated White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Wood is expected to bring his comedic wit and cutting-edge social commentary as he roasts some of the most prominent political and media personnel at the coveted event.

This year, Wood will have the honor to perform before President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be in attendance. Biden also appeared at last year’s dinner. His predecessor, former President Donald Trump, never accepted the invitation to attend. CNN and C-SPAN will have live coverage of the event. C-SPAN will also stream the event live on YouTube.

"It's an honor to be a part of a long-running tradition of celebrating those members of the media, who work so hard to uncover the truth, and hold our government accountable," Wood said in a White House Correspondent Association release. "It will be a great night that will go down in the history books, or not, depending on which state you live in."

The comedian is best known for his work as guest correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” since 2015. Comedy Central’s former host Trevor Noah took to the dinner’s stage last year as guest host.

Woods, who is considered a contender to fill the top job, served as Comedy Central’s guest host for the week beginning April 3.

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Tamara Keith, president of the White House Correspondent Association, says Wood’s background in journalism will add a different element to the evening’s satire.

“My aim with this year’s dinner is to lift up the importance of a free and independent press to a functioning democracy, so I am thrilled to be able to feature a comedian who gets what journalism is all about,” Keith said in the release.

Wood traveled to Tallahassee last year in March to discuss Critical Race Theory with Florida lawmakers for a segment on "The Daily Show."

Wood’s journey to the big stage

Wood remains very popular with FAMU friends and alumni and has been active in various fundraising events. He was keynote speaker for the 2021 homecoming convocation.

As a student at FAMU, Wood worked as a server at Golden Corral on North Monroe Street across from Lake Ella.

Inspired by comedy greats of the 90s like Eddie Murphy and Sinbad, Wood started performing stand-up at former Tallahassee venues like The Warehouse and the Cow Haus.

He would also travel on by Greyhound perform at clubs in Tampa, Jacksonville, and St. Petersburg to practice stand-up.

While still a student, Wood was the morning news reporter at the Wvht Hot 105.7, a former radio station in Tallahassee.

After graduating in 2001, he returned to his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, to produce a radio talk show.

But he didn’t stop performing comedy.

Wood had a three-year stint on TBS’ “Sullivan and Sons” before joining the team at Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in 2015.

The comedian has developed a long-standing relationship with Comedy Central, hosting two podcasts, “Roy’s Job Fair” and “Behind The Scenes”, and also two hour-long stand up specials, “Father Figure” (2017), and “Roy Wood Jr.: No One Loves You” (2019).

Contact Democrat writer Alaijah Brown at ABrown1@gannett.com and on Twitter at @BrownAlaijah.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU alum Roy Wood Jr. to host the White House Correspondents' Dinner