Comedian Roy Wood Jr.'s got his first big break doing prank phone calls on the radio. But unlike many pranksters, he often conducted these calls live on the air, which led to some problems. He even got suspended for one particular call, which he shared with host Ophira Eisenberg. "I called a cruise ship company and told them my Granddaddy left his wallet on a slave ship when he came from Africa...and I needed them to check lost and found." The call later went viral and can still be found on YouTube.
Today, Wood is a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. His work on the show has received much acclaim, particularly one video, "Black Trump," in which he performed Donald Trump's quotes in a rap video style. Since President Trump's election, people have reacted strongly to his role on the Daily Show. "Now people come up and they like grab your hand and they go, 'Thank you! Don't stop! You must stay, we need you.'" The responsibility isn't one he takes lightly. "I will not ruin this with a slave ship prank phone call!"
With his first Comedy Central stand-up special, Father Figure,Wood says he's trying to leave a blueprint for his son to help him make sense of the world. "How do I raise someone in a world where you might be treated like trash simply because of the color of your skin? How do I raise someone in a world where smoothies are nine dollars?" Wood continued, "Those are both atrocities!"
Wood says that one thing that helps centers him is puzzles — particularly high-definition photographic city-scape panoramic jigsaw puzzles. He completed a puzzle of Las Vegas he finds particularly exciting because "(It) glows in the dark...I know I'm a 38-year-old man, I shouldn't be excited about it...(But) sometimes at night I'll hold the flashlight to it. "
We decided to play to Wood's strengths in a special trivia game about jigsaw puzzles. See if you can guess the answers before Wood!
Heard on Roy Wood Jr.: Puzzle Banger After Banger
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAxNzg0MDExMDEyMTYyMjc1MDE3NGVmMw004))