Live Shots: Roy Wood Jr. tore it up at Stanford Live

Stanford Live kicked off a series of comedy shows last month with Roy Wood Jr. at the beautiful Memorial Auditorium on the university campus. The veteran comedian is most famous for his role as a correspondent on The Daily Show, and his new CNN show “Have I Got News For You” lightens the mood of the usually very serious new station with his special brand of comedy. Woods also has two podcasts, “Roy’s Job Fair” and “Beyond the Scenes,” as well as his third hour-long stand-up special “Imperfect Messenger” currently streaming on Paramount+.

In his show, Roy hit upon themes that resonated with Bay Area audience, such as the lack of connection between humans in our ever digitally connected world, and the ramifications of that: people feeling more and more desperate. Of course, he talked about the upcoming election and pointed out how Joe Biden was not given a very graceful exit from his life in politics. It was an insightful and funny night. Opening for Roy was local comedian and substitute teacher Ashley Monique, who notably joked about the perils of dating and relationships these days.

The Stanford Live comedy series continues with Mike E. Winfield on November 9, Isabel Hagen on January 16, Alex Edelman on February 20 and 21, and Francisco Ramos on April 18.