Roy Wood Jr.’s closing monologue at the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an amazing sight to behold. The comedian turned on everyone from President Joe Biden to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, drawing a mixture of laughter and groans from the audience of journalists in attendance.
“Surrender to Brandon’s Darkness,” Wood opens, a reference to President Biden’s alter ego that’s both melancholic and laser-hard.(Opens in a new tab). He then joked that Biden had left some classified documents on the podium: “Don’t give it to him, I’ll put it somewhere safe. He doesn’t know where to keep it.”
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Wood also turned his attention to the media, and to the firing of Carlson from Fox News and Don Lemon from CNN. “Tucker has been arrested!” He said. “You were caught like that dude off Vanderpump Rules– an allusion to an outrageous scandal.
Later remarks on Lemon included: “Yeah, Don Lemon was a singer, and he said two women were rough in the face, but that’s a promotion at Fox News!”
While the evening was filled with riotous jokes at the expense of prominent politicians and journalists, Wood also took time to address current news topics, such as anti-draw legislation and school shootings. He said, “Drag queens are not in a school to discipline your kids. Stop it.” “And even if they were, most of them would be kids who would get shot at school.”
To the audience’s audible annoyance, he replied, “Don’t groan, pass legislation!”
Wood also talked about the importance of journalism, drawing on his father Roy Wood Sr.’s experience as a reporter covering black factions in Vietnam and the Soweto riots in South Africa. Wood Sr. went on to found the National Black Network, now the American Cities Radio Network.
“The work you do as journalists is important. It’s necessary. It’s dangerous,” Wood said, adding to the supporters of local reporters and highlighting the horrifying reality of layoffs in newsrooms. The entire speech is worth watching: come for the Dark Brandon jokes, stay for the emotional breakdown of the current state of the press.