Roy Wood Jr.’s Dad Was A Civil Rights Journalist | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

I've always known that you are. very thoughtful and analytical about. what you're doing and it got me thinking. about you as a kid and thinking okay and. I can identify with this. I was funny in a very private way quiet. way. but not out loud to a lot of people I. always say I was not the class clown. neither was that yeah and what were you. like I was. well first off I didn't go to the same. school for more than two years until.

high school so I just got bounced all. over the city of Birmingham. so humor was the tool. to. kind of be like if someone cracked on me. or made a joke about me. I'd laugh at all sometimes I'd. self-deprecate yeah tag myself sure. maybe jab you back but just keep it. peaceful but I did not want a lot of. attention on me because attention was. bad like that was a. you're inviting the bullies I think I. read somewhere that once you used to.

talk to your hamster yeah yeah guinea. pig yeah Joel yeah going to the room. full-blown conversation like hey I. disagree yeah yeah you're actually. getting any response yeah not like just. you only understand me like yes what do. you think oh really. today they would medicate you that's the. problem not realizing that that was the. medication because that was the outlet. I went outside I played I stayed out of. trouble for the most part in the.

neighborhood. uh my mom got me a really nice. basketball goal there was a park. up the street I grew up on the West Side. um and there was a park on Pearson. Avenue called powderly Park and that was. the free public park with the courts. putting me drinking and fighting in it. like there was always something going on. so my mom to keep me from going to. powderly all the time she got me in the. boys club and then she also put a. basketball goal in my yard and the way. our yard was set up.

we had really high trees so we had the. only shaded driveway. in Peak 1pm. Alabama heat so everybody would come. from powderly why plan direct sunlight. when you go play a Roy Woods house. and so people just come to and it was. very smart of your mom to to do that. because it's they say when you become a. parent and then your kids as mine are. teenagers everyone says you want your. house to be the base. you want people coming over to your. house because it's safer yeah yeah and.

all you have to do is my mom is just. listen for the dribble of the ball so. you know I'm out there yeah and so that. became a way that I met everybody in the. neighborhood not a respect to my father. my parents all the Riff Raff that. happened in powderly never happened at. our house. just on some you know just on some. respect your elders types yeah I want to. make sure I educate anyone who's. listening that you mentioned your father. your father Roy wood senior. was a radio broadcasting journalism.

Pioneer and also in the tranches of the. civil rights movement in the 60s yeah. and you've said he was there's any march. with Dr King in it your dad good chance. three worlds back he's probably three. rows back. um. and people in the neighborhood then knew. that obviously. and that respect probably emanated out. from your father and your mother a. thousand percent gave you some some. sense of protection my father was the. voice in the car when their parents took.

them to school doing the news on the. black radio station so you can listen to. all the black music you want in the. morning but when they stop for that news. break on the fives. that's my pops yeah so. that that got me a lot of equity. within the city but I wouldn't say that. I was even remotely like on some funny. sense of humor until High School. and even then it was only baseball. because that was where you could be. silly because it's Sports it's a. permission especially in high school.

it's a sports is permission to behave in. ways you're not allowed to at school. hmm so you tell all the crash jokes you. make fun of each other like. and then we would just as a benchwarmer. in high school your job is to Heckle the. other team yeah just Heckle them into. Oblivion and. I was good. because that's all I had to do so there. were days where. I would literally sit.

and write. heckles in class to get ready for your. game get ready for the game. like and just that's great brutal. bro like stuff you couldn't even places. you couldn't even go with humor now but. just brutal and just yelling it across. the diamond at a total stranger and. seeing the look of frustration in their. face. like I know I'm getting to you. and then to the point where if you got.

the if you got the parents to chuckle. like that was an Applause break. if you got the Umpire to call time out. because the Umpire had to laugh that's a. standing ovation. and that was the goal the goal every. game was to break the empire. but not realizing that that was. essentially. just honing improv China sure yeah and. just working on. crowd work it's a crowd works well all. this stuff it's uh.

it's everyone has their own versions. about it versions of it but I know what. you're talking about which is. um you know we I come from a big family. so we all sit around this round table. that's still at my parents house and I. know exactly where I sat and I know that. that's where I tried to get the whole. table laughing I was in JROTC in high. school. and when we would have to do drill. um some mornings and we would start with. running they had like this quadruple.

tennis court yeah so we'd have to do. laps around the whole perimeter of this. tennis court. and as we're jogging I'm calling the jog. like a Kentucky Derby. and they're getting to turn two turn two. and they're pulling even it's Roy next. to Monica Monica coming up on the. outside coming up on the inside of. Sergeant Major sergeant major sergeant. major is coming in and you're supposed. to be controlling your breath because. you're running and you're doing this. it doesn't matter. um look falling shorts well it's falling.

short but as they get into that. that was that was who I was yeah just so. we're laughing as we're running around. the space and that's when you start. learning about comedy. as this like tool of manipulation. like it's it's literally. I bet you I can make you detour from. whatever your mental objectives are. right now by doing something. it's like tickling with your mouth yes. yes yes.

you know uh I'm curious your father this. very revered figure I think he passed. away when you were pretty young yeah 16. 16 years old would he have. what would he think of your career in as. a stand-up would he approve of that of. of that move. I don't think so. he would approve now based on the. material that I'm doing now right we. just have to remember.

my father like saw every horrible thing. that you could name because he just had. to cover it in the name of Journalism. yeah like foreign war reporting so he. saw like African Civil Wars which are. way worse in terms of. body counts and the heinousness because. a lot of that goes under reported right. so he's seen stuff so nothing's funny to. him and so case in point when he worked. at wvon in Chicago my father was the.

first news director at this black owned. black news station we are a news station. that only does black news like it's like. at the end in NPR. stood. say it no so. they were dedicated to the black. experience and uplifting black people my. father hires a guy named Don Cornelius. oh yeah. um to be a DJ he Don Cornelius was a was.

a police officer in Chicago he put my. father over gave him a ticket I didn't. know that yeah that's where Don okay Don. cornelius's origin story he was a member. of law enforcement for about a year. maybe less than two for sure. pulls my dad over. in the course of giving my father a. ticket my dad just goes you have a nice. voice here's my card. quit doing this and come by the. radio station so Don Cornelius starts in.

radio under my father as a reporter at. wvon and during that time as Don's. understanding the media grows he comes. up with the idea for soul train comes to. my dad my dad was one of the initial. investors. and. gave Don some of the money that he used. ultimately for the first pilot for Soul. Train and then when it came time to get. my dad his money back. John Cornelius goes to my father it's. like hey man. instead of me paying you back. why don't you just stay on board you. know I I wouldn't you know this this is.

I just want you to be a part of this. to which my dad told Don Cornelius and I. quote. nobody wants to watch. dance for an hour give me my. money. oh my God so my dad just was not with. party culture yeah he was not doing the. fun he just couldn't see also I mean. yeah and you it's hard to blame him. because of everything he saw and being. in the trenches of the Civil Rights. Movement like that and then what if we.

dance all day. froze yes he couldn't see it he couldn't. see it that that celebration of. Blackness creates the black pride that. helps to drive people if you want more. for themselves for their community. couldn't see it. uh when I was in Middle School I was in. a dunk tank. for our soccer team to raise money for. jerseys and my dad came into the dunk. tank and cussed me out and told me to. get out the duct tape. in front of everybody like get out of.

there you nobody's fool you ain't gonna. be Nobody's Fool all this joking and. shocking get that lesson I'm like it's a. dunk tank we're raising money it's just. I'm just gonna get splashed in some. water yeah we're raising money so we. have decent uniforms because when you're. a black Middle School you're only. playing whites this is soccer in 88. there's not a lot of black schools. playing soccer so we're playing all of. the our uniforms bro. um ping we had ping we borrowed jerseys.

from the partners in neighborhood growth. which was like the Police Athletic. League at the time in Birmingham. so you have a community League that has. jerseys we're barring their jerseys. that's how poor our school was and then. my dad is like nah get your ass up out. of there it was very embarrassing. and I just remember after that I just. never tried to be funny around him again. yeah because just you're not with jokes. bro he was a lot of things he was not. hilarious.