The Comedy Corner: 3 Questions With Roy Wood, Jr.

Roy Wood, Jr., star of TBS’ “Sullivan & Son” and stand-up comedian, offers some insight into his life and comedy. Here’s our three questions with the funny guy, who reveals which career he might have followed.

1. What’s one of your favorite childhood memories?

“My first instinct is to say baseball — the time I got a hit in a baseball game that my mom was actually at. I sucked at baseball. I remember seeing my mom as I rounded second base, I remember looking up and seeing my mom in the stands high-fiving other moms. It was like one of those first times, I feel like I legitimately made my mom proud of me. That’s all you want, and that was one of the coolest feelings, man, because my mom didn’t come to a lot of games because she was always in night school, or some ‘let me figure out a way to make our life better [activity].’”

2. Who in the comedy world most inspired you to get into this and why?

“It’s hard for me to say. You know, a lot of it still goes back to Rickey Smiley, because he was from where I was from. And nobody speaks to you more than that, for me. A lot of that starts with Mr. Smiley because he really did, without knowing it. It’s not like I had any moments with him. Eventually, I went on to write for his morning show.

“I always enjoyed George Carlin’s word play. He was always the guy. The way he could kind of mend and bend words around a little bit was masterful.”

3. If you had to choose a completely different career, what would you do and why?

“I probably would have ended up on Sports Center.  My trajectory had me headed towards either firefighting or broadcast. I absolutely love firefighting.

“I think I would have ended up being a broadcast journalist. The reason why I went to college for journalism was because Stuart Scott was the first person I ever saw on ESPN who cracked jokes and talked about sports. And a light bulb went off in my head. I was like, that’s what we do every day at the lunchroom table.”

For more of Wojo’s interview with Roy Wood, Jr., check out her story over at Parade.com.