This year’s White House Correspondents Dinner arguably happened at a perfectly fitting time for headlining comedian and Daily Show royalty Roy Wood Jr., as it happened very soon after Fox News split ways with Tucker Carlson, as well as after CNN terminated Don Lemon’s contract. Understandably, that gave Wood even more material than he would have already had for his 30-minute spot, and he used that advantage to deliver some fiery roasts for the currently unemployed news anchors.
Roy Wood Jr. could potentially take over as permanent Daily Show host if asked, having previously joined the rotating slate of guest hosts in the wake of Trevor Noah’s absence, and he further proved how excellent he is at winning over a crowd during the White House dinner. Even when that crowd is already preconfigured to laugh at political humor. He brought up what he dubbed the “elephant” in the room as he started off his time slot, as televised on C-SPAN:
Half this room think I’m Kenan Thompson. Other half think I’m Louis Armstrong. President Biden thinks I’m the daddy off Family Matters.
Reginald VelJohnson, who recently returned to Sitcom Dad status for a Geico ad, probably wouldn’t be the TV talent many would expect to jump on stage and rail on Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon. And even if he was, he probably wouldn’t be equipped with the zingers that Roy Wood Jr. had. Here’s how he first delved into the Fox News of it all:
Tonight, we are all unified under one thing: scandal..scandals. Scandals have been devouring careers this year. The untouchable Tucker Carlson is out of a job now. Some people celebrate it. But to Tucker’s staff, I want you to know that I know what you’re feeling. I work at The Daily Show, so I too have been blindsided by the sudden departure of the host of a fake-news-program. Tucker got caught up. Got caught up like that dude from Vanderpump Rules.
Wood then joked about how he couldn't remember which reality show Vanderpump Rules was, and joked about it being the white version of BMF, before going for a more racially sharpened punchline.
The longtime Daily Show comic brought President Joe Biden into his jokes quite a few times during his 30 minutes or so on stage, but perhaps this was the biggest barb where Biden wasn't Wood's direct target.
We got to get Tucker back on the air, Mr. President, because right now there’s millions of Americans that don’t even know why they hate you.
Which earned the below reaction from the POTUS:
Soon after, Roy Wood Jr. joked that Tucker Carlson's firing being somewhat rare for Fox News, in that it wasn't largely tied to harsh treatment of a woman, and then shifted his aim over to fellow ousted cable newsman Don Lemon, who is reportedly getting prepped for a possible legal battle over the millions still left on his contract. Wood continued:
[Carlson] shattered the asshole ceiling. Speaking of assholes, Don Lemon is out of a job. Don Lemon. My dog Don Lemon released a statement saying he got fired from CNN, then CNN released a statement saying that they offered Don a meeting. They had to part ways, because Don Lemon can’t even accurately report a story about Don Lemon.
That joke drew possibly the biggest laugh of any aimed at the two outgoing anchors, and that's as much a stellar comedic set-up as it is a burn on Don Lemon, even though it's indeed a great jab.
Roy Wood Jr. did vaguely address Lemon's on-air controversy involving Nikki Haley, referring to it as him saying "a couple of women were raggedy to their face." But Wood invoked another uncomfortably scandalous incident, and the offending journalist, when dunking on Lemon.
I still think that Don deserved more, CNN. That ain’t how you fire somebody. It’s messed up. How funny is it that you work in the news, then watch on the news that you got fired from the news? Don Lemon is now the most obnoxious guy in the history of CNN. That’s not fair. Even Jeffrey Toobin looking at Don Lemon like, ‘Ooh, he rub me the wrong way.’
Everybody remembers Jeffrey Toobin, right? He's the CNN and New Yorker guy who...yeah, that's right...while on camera with co-workers. Not the most timely reference to make, but then time isn't really the main issue there.
Currently, Tucker Carlson is rumored to be sparking a mega-offer from Newsmax, even if he probably can't take any jobs while still under any contractual non-compete clauses. The same goes for Don Lemon, who was also reportedly being courted-via-conversation by Newsmax. But as Lemon put it when asked about his future, he's doing just "great."
Could Roy Wood Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Don Lemon ever share the screen or stage together? Probably not, but one can certainly imagine how loud that room would get, regardless of its size.
