Roy Wood Jr

Roy Wood, Jr

Roy Wood, Jr (born December 11, 1978 in Birmingham) is a stand-up comic and former radio host.

Wood, son of black radio pioneer Roy Wood and half-brother of former WVTM news anchor Roy L. Wood, grew up in West End, attending Central Park Elementary School and Center Street Middle School before he graduated from Ramsay High School in 1996. He was also a member of the A. G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club and attended First Baptist Church of Ensley. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism at Florida A&M University in 2001, sometimes taking time off from classes to polish his stand-up act and once skipping mid-terms to open for Tommy Davidson in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Wood began his radio career as a morning reporter at Tallahassee's Hot 105.7 FM, while polishing his stand-up material. He took a break from school to open for comedian Tommy Davidson on tour, but returned to complete his degree in 2001. After graduating he moved back to Birmingham and briefly held a job at the Golden Corrall in Hoover. He volunteered as an on-air prank caller for the Buck Wilde Morning Show on WBHJ-FM (95.7 JAMZ) in 2001 and earned a paying job as a writer and producer for the program in 2003. He collected his prank calls on CDs which he sold at stand-up performances and at Music-N-More in Birmingham. Many of them became popular on his website, on YouTube.com, and on 40 broadcast stations and Jamie Foxx's SIRIUS radio station nationwide.

Wood left WBHJ and moved to Los Angeles in 2006. During Operation Enduring Freedom he sent free compact disc recordings of his prank call sketches to troops stationed overseas. In 2008 he appeared on HBO's Def Comedy Jam and on the Late Show with David Letterman, among other programs.

Wood, who made it to the semi-finals of CBS' "Star Search" in 2003, auditioned for the NBC reality show "Last Comic Standing" in 2002 and 2007 before being accepted in 2010 as one of ten finalists to compete on the program.

Discography

• Wood, Roy Jr (2003) "My Momma Made Me Wear This"
• Wood, Roy Jr (2005) "Confessions of a High School Bench Warmer"
• Wood, Roy Jr (2007) "I'll Slap You to Sleep". Image Entertainment

References

• Guster, Chanda Temple (January 10, 2008) "Birmingham comedian Roy Wood Jr. sends copies of his comedy routines to troops overseas." Birmingham News
• "Roy Wood, Jr.." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 1 Jun 2009, 00:04 UTC. 1 Jun 2009 [1].
• Temple, Chanda (July 11, 2010) "Birmingham native Roy Wood Jr. is up to some funny business on "Last Comic Standing." Birmingham News
• Temple, Chanda (July 11, 2010) "Get to know Birmingham's Roy Wood Jr. of "Last Comic Standing." Birmingham News

External links

• Roy Wood, Jr website
• Roy Wood, Jr on YouTube.com